The Glorious Sons felt the music calling
As Brett Emmons was burying his nose in novels, his music career was calling him.
Technically, it was his brother and guitarist Jay and band mates picking up the phone, but it was their persistence and his lifelong passion for songwriting that drove him to drop his books and leave university in Halifax four years ago and head back to his hometown of Kingston to join what would become The Glorious Sons.
“When I went home for Christmas, I felt like I was missing something,” the vocalist said about hearing the band.
When the group first started playing shows, they mostly attracted their friends and family, turning it into a chance to hear some music on a Thursday night and “get loaded.”
Quickly, this evolved into three or more shows a week, doing 160 shows in Kingston over the course of eight months.
They met John Angus MacDonald of The Trews’ fame, after winning a rock contest, and he offered to produce their debut EP Shapeless Art and paired up with them again for most of their full-length 2014 album The Union – which earned them a Rock Album of the Year nomination at the Junos.
“We didn’t even know what a producer was,” Brett said, adding that MacDonald was one of their heroes. The band also worked with Canadian producer Gavin Brown on two tracks – the lead single Heavy and the followup single titled Lightning.
They’ve gone on to get serious radio play and become the winners of Group and Rock Artist of the Year at the 2015 SiriusXM Indie Awards.
Since Brett ditched his English studies, he’s been back to Nova Scotia several times for shows and to visit friends, always treating it as a celebration – a chance he’ll get again when he hits the stage at the end of the month for the New Glasgow Riverfront Jubilee.
“We’re the type of guys when we set our mind on something, we’re confident and strive to be the best,” he said, adding that their success unfolded fast, though. “I can’t say I predicted any of it to happen.”
The band is in the very early stages of recording its second album, a disorganized process Brett said, as they sift through ideas and continue writing.
Meanwhile, they’re playing plenty of festivals with Brett noting shows at the Calgary Stampede and the Pemberton Music Festival as highlights – though the best part for him as been the camaraderie with his band mates, “watching everybody grow and everything turning into what it is.”
The Glorious Sons take the stage at the Jubilee at 11:30 p.m. on Friday, July 29.
“We’re the type of guys when we set our mind on something, we’re confident and strive to be the best. I can’t say I predicted any of it to happen.” Brett Emmons