Glorious Sons rooted in rock
If you happen to be a fairly straightforward rock band from Kingston, Ont. — not a punk-leaning outfit like the Headstones, or a Celtic-flavoured gang such as The Mahones — you are bound to draw comparisons to The Tragically Hip.
And that suits singer-songwriter Brett Emmons just fine.
Emmons and his bandmates in The Glorious Sons are one of the hottest rock bands in Canada of the year, with a Juno Award win (for rock album of the year) under its belt, a June gig opening for the Rolling Stones on its resumé; they also have a tour date at the Saveon-Foods Memorial Centre set for tonight — a room far bigger than their previous headlining show in the city, a 2015 appearance at Distrikt nightclub. But some members of the press would rather talk to the group about its relationship with Kingston’s most famous five-piece, which doesn’t appear to bother the good-natured Emmons one bit.
There is a familial connection — Billy Ray Koster, the brother of Glorious Sons guitarist Chris Koster, was a longtime member of the road crew for The Tragically Hip — but the musical similarities pretty much end there. If anything, The Glorious Sons have more in common with roots rockers from the ’70s and retrorockers from the ’90s than anything that has come from Canada in the past quarter-century.
Emmons, Koster, guitarist Jay Emmons, drummer Adam Paquette, bassist Chris Huot and touring multi-instrumentalist Josh Hewson have remained committed to the road for the last few years, and will do so for an undetermined amount of time going forward, Emmons said.
“It’s a classic rock ‘n’ roll sentiment, the touring band. It’s not magic, I don’t think. There’s a process we follow, and it’s been hard spending two-thirds of the year away from our loved ones and family. Touring isn’t an easy thing — never has been. But we know this is what we’re good at.”
The Glorious Sons have toured hard in 2018, through 12 different countries and 10 different time zones, including stops at England’s vaunted Reading and Leeds Festivals.
The band’s 14-date national tour started Tuesday in Kamloops in one of the smallest rooms on the run. Emmons is proud of his band’s commitment to the city and others like it; smaller stops in Canada are often eager to embrace up-and-coming Canadian acts, Emmons said from his Kamloops hotel room, hours before the tour got underway.
“We’ve been here a bunch. They’ve always been great to us. A lot of bands only go to Vancouver, and try to pull people from Kamloops into Vancouver. We’ve always had fun in Kamloops and have a pretty good following here, so I don’t see why we wouldn’t keep coming back.”
The band’s sophomore album, Young Beauties and Fools, has produced nine consecutive Top 10 rock radio singles in Canada, raising their profile to the point where the band appears ready to break.
Ten months ago, to better prepare for the coming conquests, Emmons said he began to slowly step away from alcohol. For a musician who makes his living on the road, the move was partly out of necessity.
In order to keep moving forward, Emmons said he had to take a look back. “You don’t really realize that bad things are happening to your brain until they have already happened. For a little while, I didn’t feel like the human being I set out to be. It scared me a little bit, so I decided to put the booze down.”
The band is sharpening its set in order to make the best of the run across Canada, which comes to a close Nov. 22 in Toronto at the Scotiabank Arena. The band used a recent U.S. tour with Welshy Arms as a warmup, and Emmons is hopeful The Glorious Sons’ success south of the border will match the steady momentum they have experienced in Canada.
“It feels like we are out there for a reason, which is extremely exciting. In Atlanta, Georgia, two years ago, when we were playing to three people, it seemed like it was all for nothing. Now that it’s starting to really pay off for us, we see why we did it. There is real momentum happening. ”