All In the Family
L.A.-based Indie Rockers Family of the Year Bring California Jams to Montreal
Artists, actors, filmmakers and musicians alike are known to flock to Hollywood in hopes of making it big—but few can say they’ve climbed Mount Improbable and reached the golden beaches of success on the other side.
You can count indie folk rock band Family of the Year among those few.
It’s been a wild ride to success for the band—since their move to Los Angeles in 2009, they’ve topped the Billboard charts, played their up-beat songs on Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night shows and had their music featured on multiple television shows such as Weeds and Degrassi.
The band members hail from from all over the U.S., from Massachusetts to Florida to California. The four-piece is embracing the newfound success from their sophomore album Loma Vista, released in July of last year. The cohesive record brings to mind bands like Fleetwood Mac and The Smiths, and songs range from summer beach jams such as “St. Croix” to heartfelt acoustic tracks like their hit “Hero.”
Family of the Year are a tight-knit group that are often compared to being like a real family, and rightly so—vocalist Joe Keefe and drummer Sebastian Keefe are actual brothers.
Like a real family, the band even lived under the same roof at one point, which guitarist and vocalist James Buckey says wasn’t always easy.
“It sounds really nice, but when you get into it [we have] all the faults that a family has,” he said.
Trying to make it in L.A. took a toll on the group as well.
“It’s been hard but it’s starting to pay off,” Buckey said.
“I mean, I was living on the floor for a year and a half.”
In 2008, the members were in different bands on the East Coast of the U.S., and knew each other through mutual friends. Impromptu jam sessions among members quickly led to the formation of a band, and eventually to their migration to L.A. in 2009.
“[We thought], ‘What the hell, we should hang and start playing music,’” said Bukey. “Next thing you know, we are playing together, have a manager, and then we are playing with Ben Folds.”
It was no small feat for the band to open for Ben Folds, alongside the Boston Pops Orchestra at Symphony Hall, and it was especially awe-inspiring for them considering that the Keefe brothers are originally from Massachusetts.
“[It was] the sweetest homecoming ever […] To have that experience, especially for our third or fourth show, it was very nice,” said Buckey.
The group has encouraging words of wisdom for artists just starting out, as told in their song “Stupidland” off of their first EP Songbook, about when they all left everything behind to pursue music in L.A.
“With a little bit of perseverance, you can never know what can happen,” says Buckey.
Booked with a show at Le Cabaret du Mile End on Oct. 6, the band is excited to return to the Great White North.
“We’ve been [to Montreal] a couple times,” said Buckey. “We love coming to Canada; we always have gotten a really good response and are looking forward to coming back.”
Family of the Year // Oct. 6 // Le Cabaret du Mile End (5240 Parc Ave.) // 9 p.m. // $16.50
