FORTUNATE SONS! JOHN FOGERTY’S BOYS ESCAPE THE FACTORY TO FORM HEARTY HAR

“He said we had to make it a life or death thing.”

SHANE FOGERTY

TWO OF THE biggest tricks the rock gods can play on a band are having siblings at its creative core, and being the progeny of rock royalty. In which case, Shane and Tyler Fogerty’s psychedelic blues pop band Hearty Har have the cards stacked against them. It’s a full house.

The sons of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty, the brothers make no bones about their pedigree. Not only do they both play in their dad’s touring band, they also joined him and their 18-year-old sister Kelsy on a series of lockdown videos that gradually morphed into the Fogerty’s Factory album of family-reimagined CCR tracks, released late last year.

“They were really fun to do,” says Shane from the studio the brothers built in the Los Angeles suburbs near Ventura County. “It was especially fun to watch them get bigger and more idealistic, from being recorded on an iPhone to performing in an empty Dodger Stadium.” Hearty Har’s debut album Radio

Astro does nothing by halves. Brimming with baroque touches, instrumental wig outs and brotherly sunshine harmonies, at its heart is classic melodic songwriting. While similarities with their father’s legacy are easy to hear – particularly in the brothers’ voices – they claim a very different set of influences, preferring ELO, Stax and Kraftwerk to swamp blues. Which isn’t to suggest Dad hasn’t been a guiding light, even if he was a reluctant guitar teacher who would rather pay for an outside tutor.

“We’d go to him for little tips how to play AC/DC or Green Day,” Shane says. “In fact, he became quite a fan of The Offspring for a while because they were my favourite band when I was 13.”

Fogerty Sr also warned about the pitfalls of rock’n’roll – not that his sons always took notice. “He said we had to make it a life or death thing,” Tyler recalls, “and along the way people would drift off with a girlfriend or just not be interested. We were, like, Yeah yeah Dad, but it turned out to be true, so eventually we started listening.”

And will the curse of sibling rivalry ever raise its head to mar The Fog’s great work? His boys think they’ve got that problem licked, too.

“There hasn’t been a time yet when we’re recording a song and one person’s not been like, Come on, you can’t like this?,” Tyler says as they both burst out laughing. “I think we maybe have a different relationship than other brothers where we don’t step on each other’s toes too much. We have our disagreements but we’re pretty chill with each other and we really are best friends.”

Hearty Har’s debut album, Radio Astro, is out February 19 on BMG.