To say it’s been a significant year in the career of Kingston, Ontario rock band The Glorious Sons is a pretty epic understatement.
The band released it’s second full-length album, Young Beauties and Fools, which became a chart topper and was both critically and popularly acclaimed across the country, eventually earning the band a Juno Award this past spring for Rock Album of Year. The talented quintet has toured throughout North America, Europe and beyond, and more recently had the chance to open for ‘The Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World’ – the Rolling Stones, in front of a packed audience of more than 60,000 people at a football (soccer) stadium in Marseille, France.
Last weekend, the Glorious Sons shattered a ticket sales record for the popular Empire Rockfest concert series in Belleville, Ontario, as they drew slightly under 4,000 fans to the outdoor venue on Saturday, July 28 – the final evening of the three-night event. The writhing, jumping, ebullient masses of fans danced, cheered, banged their heads and sang along to every song as they were whipped into a frenzy by frontman/primary songwriter Brett Emmons, his guitarist older brother Jay, lead guitarist Chris Koster, bassist Chris Huot and drummer Adam Paquette.
It was the third year in a row that the band had headlined the festival, which was located 40 minutes from their hometown, and which drew in legions of loyal local fans, as well as many others seeking to revel in the presence of one of Canada’s best and most evocative and authentic rock bands. The local support has been there from day one back in 2011, when the Glorious Sons began to make tentative steps into the music world, first playing at the popular club The Merchant Tap House on Kingston’s waterfront.
Much in the same way as The Tragically Hip became beloved by Kingston 30 years ago, the Glorious Sons are held with similar affection by their hometown.
“It’s about community and family, right? It didn’t take very long for people to be very open and supportive to our band. We have a real family, a real community in Kingston and it’s something that a lot of bands try to have. We got lucky. Our town is pretty big, but it’s not too big. And I think our fans are supportive because there’s not a huge among of bands that come out from a smaller community and tour the world and release music internationally,” said Brett Emmons, taking a break from fishing on Loughborough Lake, a popular cottage spot north of Kingston.
“I think they were very excited to have a band like us to represent them. The Hip have been around forever, and the guys are still around even after Gord Downie’s passing. You can still feel the Hip in the air. And I think we’re feeling some of that support and I think it’s because people want to get behind something and support something that is homegrown and is becoming successful on a bigger stage. It’s always been a great music community that way.
“I don’t want to jump the gun but a part of me also hopes that we’re not just limited to being a great Kingston band. I want to be bigger than that; I want more people to hear our songs. I want people all over the world to look to our music for comfort and to feel like I do. So yeah, I hope that it continues along the path that it is. I am very proud to have the community support we have and I am very thankful for that and I am hoping that translates through the entire country and even internationally.”
One big step towards that goal happened with Emmons and his bandmates were chosen to open the Rolling Stones show. It happened through a member of their promotions team and management inner circle, who had contacts within the Stones’ camp and managed to get a live video of the song Sawed Off Shotgun and some of the Glorious Sons’ music in front of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, who made the call themselves to book the band.
“It can’t get much more organic than that, especially in this business. And it was also cool because the Rolling Stones are a favourite band for my entire family. My mom is a huge fan. I find it hard to believe that everybody wouldn’t grow up with the Stones on the radio and in their CD players. I have been to three Stones’ shows before this one and my mom has been to probably 10 or 12. And they’re my brother Jay’s favouring band of all time. Jay was really excited, and he doesn’t get excited very often.”
Opening for the Rolling Stones is one of those moments in one’s life and career that will always be an important benchmark and an experience that will only gain in its significance in its retelling over time. The Glorious Sons found out in early May that they had been added to the bill of the June 26 Rolling Stones show in the French Mediterranean seaside city of Marseille.
It was a momentous occasion for the band and the friends, family and fans who made the journey to witness it in person. For Emmons, it was indeed an exciting moment and one that he will always cherish, but the rigours of being a hard-working touring band didn’t allow for much celebration or reflection. An individual who possess a unique sense of perspective, Emmons isn’t one to hyperbolize or idealize anything in life, looking at the Stones show as another step forward in the band’s career – one of many along the journey.
“I came down after that the next day because we had a 7:30 a.m. flight. Honestly, everything happened so fast. It was a lot of fun and a huge deal and everything was magnified and there were 60,000 people there in the stadium. It was the biggest stage I had ever played on. It was wild, but at the same time, afterwards it’s business as usual. I was more thinking, ‘did we turn some fans? Yeah. Did you meet the Stones? Yes, and that was pretty cool. Did you get to go watch the rest of the show and hang out with your family girlfriends and buddies, yes,’” Emmons said.
“After that we got ice cream cones and walked around Marseille for a little bit and then we ended up on a flight the next morning. I was back home in no time. It was great and all, but I never had that moment where I it was ‘oh my God! I just did that. What am I doing?’ I didn’t have that kind of epiphany moment, the Hollywood moment. It was more like, ‘this is pretty cool. There’s a lot of people out there.’ And then I realized, holy shit, the stage is gigantic and that I’d better catch my breath. And then I remember thinking the Stones look pretty good for 75. Before you know it, I was hanging out with my family and everybody was drunk and merry and soon I was kind of ready to go back to the hotel and sleep it off, you know, because we had been travelling all through Europe for two weeks before that.”
Emmons’ priority is not just being able to namecheck a legendary band on the Glorious Sons’ resume, but to use the opportunity to win over new fans – something that he and his bandmates try to do with each and every show they play in unfamiliar territory throughout Europe and the United States. Winning fans through their incomparably high energy and emotionally intense live shows is the modus operandi of The Glorious Sons.
“We’re just trying to get in front of people down there in the States and keep turning those people into fans. I love going out as an opening act and playing a 45-minute set and watching people’s faces change who didn’t know the band before. They are some of the funnest shows that I have ever had. It’s not the same as a headline show where you can kind of take people on a journey. But when people go from starting blankly at you, to slowly smiling and then dancing and singing along is one of the coolest things,” he said, adding that the band has and will continue to spend a lot of time south of the border.
“We really have started to break into parts of that market. We have started to sell out rooms and play for bigger audiences. People are starting to know our name and sing our songs back to us. So, it’s definitely translating. And we can go to the UK and sell out clubs basically right off the hop, but we’re not going to see huge audiences in Norway and places like that. In Germany we have played some of the bigger festivals and that should translate into bigger audiences when we go to play clubs there.
“It’s still very early to see how far our reach will go. We just need to keep on touring and keep on playing in front of as many people as possible. I have no doubt that when people see our live show they want to see us again. It’s just a matter of getting in front of people and putting the work in and having the ambition to keep going. I don’t want us to get comfortable with the success we have, especially in Canada. When you go to new parts of the States and to places in Europe like the Czech Republic, you’ve got to remember that the people don’t know who the hell we are. We’re not going to get the same perks and the same reception that we do playing in Belleville, right down the road from our hometown.”
As with the Rolling Stones show, Emmons is thrilled but also realistic when it comes to the band’s Juno win in the Spring, which he sees as a validation of the band’s music, but also just another milestone along what is meant to be a long and fruitful musical expedition.
“It was a nod of the cap. It meant that people were listening, people understood. It’s great to know that people thought the same thing about our album as we did. We thought we made a great album. We did exactly what we set out to do with Young Beauties and Fools. But we didn’t expect to win. We were on tour and we thought about travelling home but we decided ultimately that we’re not going to win, so let’s stay here in the States and keep touring. It’s wonderful but, again, it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change the way you feel about your music or who you are. It doesn’t change anything for you as an artist, and it shouldn’t,” he said, adding that the band found out after getting a text from their manager that simply said, ‘Congrats Boys.’
“I am not making music and writing songs to win awards. I am there to connect with people. And if the award gets us one step closer to doing that, then that’s fantastic. But other than that, we are very thankful to know that people were thinking of us and thought our music deserved the honour. For me it’s a small step on a much larger journey. And it’s great but in the grand scheme of things I know plenty of Juno winners that aren’t around 20 or 30 years later and making music for people and connecting with people. If that’s all you want to do is get honours and awards, then you’re probably not in the right business.”
The Glorious Sons are planning a substantial tour for the fall, starting off with a host of American dates opening up for up and coming U.S. band Welshly Arms, before coming back to Canada for a headline tour of theatres, big clubs and smaller arenas beginning in November, with The Beaches opening.
In the interim, Emmons said he is basically always writing and sharing ideas with his bandmates. Fans who come out to their remaining shows of the summer and into the fall are also able to purchase a limited edition live album called Little Prison City, which was recorded at the K-Rock Centre (now the Leon’s Centre) in Kingston in February during the Glorious Sons’ sold out hometown show.
“I have a bunch of songs kind of waiting to be explored and I need to explore them a little more but for the last few weeks I have been trying to take some time to myself just to do some fishing and try to relax and clear my head a little bit. But I never really stop. I am writing even now. I don’t think I could really keep myself sane and happy if I wasn’t writing,” he said.
“It’s a way for more to organize things in my mind and understand my thoughts and my feelings. It’s also the only thing I am good at.”
For more information, visit http://www.theglorioussons.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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