Hailing from Ontario, The Glorious Sons have been taking the Canadian rock scene by storm. With six consecutive top 10 radio singles and a Juno nomination under their belt, they have returned to the stage with their highly anticipated new album, Young Beauties And Fools. Despite the band’s busy touring schedule, lead singer Brett Emmons took the time to answer some questions I had for him.
To start, I ask Brett how he would describe The Glorious Sons as a band. “That’s a tough question” he admits. “A journalist referred to us as a post/classic rock band the other day … we had been compared to too many bands from the 1970’s and I myself grew a little tired of it. We are definitely influenced by the classics, but we are influenced by many other genres and styles that happened after 1979, and we wanted that to show on this album.”
The Glorious Sons have been hard at work. Before debuting their new album, they released two new singles, ‘Everything Is Alright’ and ‘Kill the Lights’.
I ask him what the inspiration behind these singles was. Brett explains how he wrote ‘Kill the Lights’ on a train home from Toronto but thought nothing of it until he heard fellow bandmate and guitarist Chris Koster’s “gigantic riff.” Emmons and Koster then put the song together “in a matter of 15 minutes”.
“I guess I just sat down one morning and let it all out”
“I was going through a breakup, and I think this song was a way for me to deal with it. I’ve always had been a bit pessimistic with the whole American Dream – get a job, meet a girl, get married, have a family… and this song is kind of just a pessimistic exploration of that” Brett explains.
Brett outlines how ‘Everything is Alright’ was written during a time he felt “stuck in life” – “I was waking up, brewing a pot of coffee, writing all day, then heading to the bars around dinner time, and staying out till four in the morning… [It got] to the point where I felt like I couldn’t move and my skin was crawling. I guess I just sat down one morning and let it all out”.
We move on to talk about The Glorious Sons’ new full-length album Young Beauties and Fools. “The album is semi-autobiographical. Most songs are a snippet into a day in my life, or perhaps a moment,” Brett states.
HAMILTON & CALGARY, find this chalk art around Mac and U of C campuses, take a ?, post it, tag us and #YBAF to win some sweet TGS prizes pic.twitter.com/aPDbstD3sz
— The Glorious Sons (@TheGloriousSons) October 23, 2017
It’s clear the band have gone through changes, but the new album offers a “personal, honest and vulnerable” side of Brett. Despite this, he does reinforce that it’s “still The Glorious Sons, but I think things sound a little more grown up … I think we pulled off something special and I can’t wait to get it off our chests”.
The Glorious Sons last album, The Union, was released in 2014. I ask Brett how it feels releasing a full-length album after quite some time. Brett admits he was nervous about the reception of the album, but it took “so much time and so much out of me [that] I’m just happy to get it off my chest”. He explains how he’s been through personal growth as a writer and he believes “in the process and our fans. It kind of became about trusting that your fans could grow with your work”.
As a bit of fun, I ask Brett to summarise the album in a sentence. He eloquently replies: “I fucked up.”
Finally, I ask whether The Glorious Sons have any upcoming plans for touring. Brett hopes they’ll be touring the world and admits he don’t really “care where we are, as long as we’re playing and the people are digging it”.
.@TheGloriousSons debut Uk show is London Decmber 12th and its FREE. tix only via Dice ticketing app. pic.twitter.com/GTs647JCq3
— Digby Pearson (@digearache) October 23, 2017
The Glorious Sons new album Young Beauties and Fools is out now.
Zoya Raza-Sheikh
Featured image courtesy of The Glorious Sons.
Image use license here.
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