Fun, fun, fun for Brothers Dubé
Bruce Ward catches up with the young Ottawa rockers, who open for the Beach Boys in Toronto this weekend
In summer, the average young male is known to sleep late and hang out. But there’s nothing average about the Brothers Dubé, the Ottawa rockers who open for the Beach Boys in Toronto on Sunday.
The brothers — Liam, 16, Jan, 14, and Quinn, 12 — have been relentlessly practising for the past five weeks to prepare for their show at the Canadian National Exhibition.
The CNE Bandshell show is a “fantastic” opportunity for the band, Jan said in an interview.
“We’ve been rehearsing three hours a day,” Jan said. The rehearsals are always followed by lessons to improve their musicianship, he added.
The boys saw the Beach Boys perform at the 2011 Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee and now they’re sharing the stage with them — it could only happen in rock.
Both Jan, bass, and Quinn, drums, said they’re not prone to nerves before a big show but Liam, guitar, was more cautious.
“I don’t usually get stage fright, but we’ll see,” he said.
The band will play five songs during their 20-minute set, including the anthemic One from their CD.
The Dubés have a raw, punkish sound, and play loud enough to shake the freckles off their faces.
They’re also developing their own highenergy sound, which Liam has described as Rage Against the Machine meets Rush.
“We’re still figuring stuff out,” said Liam. “We had to change some songs around when Jan hit puberty and his voice dropped. Our voices have changed a lot as we get older.”
The brothers feed off the crowd’s energy at live shows, and try to bring that spontaneity to their recording sessions.
“We come prepared so we don’t waste anyone’s time,” said Liam. “It’s a blast.”
The band tries to nail the sound they want from the first take, he explained. “We usually get it in three or four takes.”
The Brothers Dubé have played the Subway stage at the Bluesfest, but the 8,000-9,000 crowd expected at the Bandshell will be the largest audience the band has faced.
For the CNE show, the brothers are asking for donations of used musical instruments. The instruments are intended for an orphans’ choir in Haiti.
“Once we have enough instruments for the choir, we’ll send the rest to schools,” said Quinn.
The brothers know the pain of losing a parent. Their mother, Michele Forget-Dubé, passed away in 2008 at the age of 38.
While she was battling breast cancer, the boys learned to play some of her favourite songs to raise her spirits. After the songs were posted on YouTube, the Brothers Dubé — now billed as “Canada’s youngest rock band” — started busking on Ottawa streets to raise money for cancer research.
When Haiti was struck by an earthquake in 2010, the brothers began raising money for children orphaned by the disaster.
The trio has raised more than $150,000 for Haiti — an achievement that brought them a letter of recognition from the prime minister.
Besides the CNE show, Quinn is also looking forward to the band’s annual fall trip to Tennessee for recording sessions.
“It’s 24 hours in the car, but we listen to music and play a lot of air guitar and air drums. It’s great.”
Is he eager to head back to school in September?
“No, not really, kinda have to,” he said, showing that the Brothers Dubé may have something in common with average teens, after all.