Family affair
For Echosmith, blood is thicker than water.
WE’RE just a day away before Echosmith takes the stage at KL Live at Life Centre! OK, keep calm and read on.
The American quartet – comprising siblings Graham, Sydney, Noah, and Jamie Sierota – landed a recording deal with Warner Bros Records in 2012 and tore up the music charts the following year with the inspirational Cool Kids.
Star2 caught up with the band on being cool, its musical influences and making music as a family in an e- mail interview.
A lot of indie pop bands have emerged and experienced mainstream success in recent years. How do you think Echosmith stands out?
We have our own sound and message! We’re proud of it. We feel like our songs never sound like anything else on the play of a radio station. We love that.
Success didn’t come immediately after Cool Kids was first released. It took about a year before it became a hit. What was running through your heads during this time? Were you guys frustrated?
No, we haven’t been through this process before, so it’s all new to us. Every experience is our “first time”. We just wanted to reach people and play as many shows and that was happening. We’re really happy about everything.
Do you guys have any experiences where you were bullied or made to feel you weren’t one of the “cool kids”?
Growing up like everyone else, we got teased by someone. Whether it was being short, or needing braces, or asking for help on a question in class, there’s always someone who tries to make you feel bad at some point.
You just have to ignore it and realise that the person saying that is probably hurt inside.
What is your definition of “cool”?
Be you! That’s what makes you cool.
The messages on many of your songs are decidedly positive and uplifting, is this something you intentionally strive to put out?
It sure is. We want to share hope. There’s enough in life that’s hard and that can tear you down, so we don’t want to add to any of that.
Echosmith started out doing a lot of covers on YouTube. Did you guys have any trouble shedding off that “cover band” image at first?
We didn’t really get much attention for the covers. We always wrote original songs; we tried the covers many years ago and it just didn’t go anywhere.
Tell us what it was like developing Echosmith’s musical identity. Was it easier deciding on the band’s sound since you guys grew up in the same household?
We are all influenced by a lot of the same bands: Coldplay, The Bravery and U2. So we found our musical identity seamlessly.
Your dad co- wrote every song of Echosmith’s debut album,
Talking Dreams. Does writing songs with your siblings and dad hinder you from touching on more personal experiences?
Chemistry in songwriting is so important and we’ve found that chemistry with our dad. He’s a brilliant writer and musician. We tried writing with a lot of different people and they just seemed to tell the same old stories you hear again and again. It’s not that way with our dad.
What is one advantage and disadvantage of being a family band?
We get each other, and we can anticipate musically where each other is going. Of course, we know how to push each other’s buttons too! Digi customers can listen to these tracks on their smartphones without worrying about bill shock when they activate Digi Music Freedom. From now until Sept 30, fans can activate the service for free and get 120 days of unlimited music streaming. Find out more at musicfreedom.my.