Travers Brothership: Take ‘brothers,’ add ‘hip’
Blues and funk band headlines Riverfront Nights
Twin brothers Eric and Kyle Travers, 26, have been writing songs and playing in a band for half their lives. Since their first gig in a bar they weren’t even old enough to be in, the Travers Brothership has become known for its soulful blues and funk, and grown to the point that the band plays an average of 160 gigs a year.
The Brothership rolls into Chattanooga on Saturday, Aug. 3, to headline Riverfront Nights at Ross’s Landing. It’s not their first time here, but Kyle Travers believes those who’ve heard them previously will hear a lot of growth in their songwriting.
“We’ve all evolved music theory-wise and improvisationally when it comes to our playing. The third difference is our harmonies — we’ve really grown into them,” he says.
Here are five things about the band that Travers revealed during a recent telephone interview.
TWIN TELEPATHY IS REAL
Travers is a firm believer in the phenomena known as “twin telepathy,” where one sibling knows intuitively what the other is thinking or going to do without spoken communication, and it frequently factors into their performances.
“It’s really more of a subconscious thing; you don’t do it intentionally. I can hear a lick Eric plays, and it will trigger a thought with me to play something.
“I believe there is definitely a connection in twins emotionally as well, and music can be so emotionally involved that if you get two people aligned, as twins can, you can really get the emotional point across. It’s quite the experience to make music with someone in your family.”
MIDDLE-SCHOOL MUSICIANS
In fact, it was someone in their family from whom the twins learned music: their dad, Bob “Hurricane” Travers, who toured the East Coast during the 1980s and ’90s as a blues musician.
In 2007, the Travers twins, then freshmen, met eighth-graders Ian McIsaac and Josh Clark on their school bus in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. Before long, the quartet was jamming in garages, and the twins’ father would stop by the garage rehearsals to give them a few pointers.
“He is one of many musicians who have given us pointers,” says Travers. “We are always ready and able and wanting to learn more from seasoned musicians. I tend to believe that has helped us.”
Travers says the guys rehearsed as much as 12 hours in some of those early days, and before long had nine songs under their belts.
“One night, Josh’s father went out while we were rehearsing. A band had canceled at a small, local, dive bar, and John’s father told the manager he knew some kids who were good and would play for free. He came running in, waving his arms around, and said, ‘I got you guys a show!’
“That was the first Travers Brothers Band show. None of us were old enough to be in a bar. They had to X our hands for years before we were old enough to be playing bars.”
DECIDING ON A NAME
Although they began as the Travers Brothers Band, Kyle wanted a name that involved the group.
“It’s not just me and Eric and two other guys; it’s four guys presenting 25% each. I think we all wanted to be more imaginative with it. You had your Allman Brothers and Doobie Brothers already, and we wanted something different.”
The musician says the guys mulled over possibilities for three months and finally settled on the Travers Brothership.
“Take the words ‘Travers Brothers’ and add the word ‘hip’ to it.”
MUSIC IS A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
The Travers Brothership played seven weeks in Europe earlier this year, with stops in France, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Czech Republic. Travers says not only were the Europeans into their kind of music, the band already had followers.
“One of the cool things about the streaming industry is that it gives the chance for people abroad to discover younger bands who don’t have major label support. So there were already people listening to us, and that was a shocker for me.
“I wrote a song called ‘Do Confide,’ and at one show, one of the people right up front was singing all the lyrics with me — but with a German accent. That was a very emotional moment for me to think I wrote a song in North Carolina that somebody across the world cared enough to learn the lyrics.”
TOURING WITH NEW MUSIC
The Brothership’s current tour supports album “Let the World Decide,” released in December.
“I think this album was a little rebellious in that it’s very versatile and all across the board as far as styles of music,” Travers says. “If you are going to have a cohesive album, a lot of people want to make the content match. To me, it feels like it all fits together like a jigsaw puzzle.
“I feel like if you are writing earnest material, and the band is touring and spending the majority of every waking moment together, you naturally end up sharing a message. With this album, I was surprised in the cohesiveness of it all in spite of no intentional effort to make it cohesive.”
Travers says the majority of Saturday’s show will be cuts from “Let the World Decide” and other original music. But there will be some covers thrown in, as well.
“You can expect a blues tune and a ’70s soul tune, because we love that kind of stuff, in addition to Hendrix-guitar-style picking.”
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress. com or 423-757-6284.