MW: Megan Warburton

AR: Angus Richardson

HR: Hamish Richardson

RK: Roel Kuiper (drums)

AR: G’day, I’m Angus, I sing, play the bass and the bagpipes, and I sometimes play the fool.

HR: I’m Hamish, and I warble, play guitar, and play the bagpipes and I play the didjeridoo, and up until about eighteen months ago I also played tennis.

MW: All right, um, just to get an idea of your background, how did BROTHER get started?

AR: Well, it started with the two of us being brothers, I guess, y’know, we’ve played music, and our younger brother as well, as long as we can remember, y’know, but since we came to America about ten years ago I guess is when the evolution of BROTHER took place. We’ve always been a rock band, on the one hand, and on the other hand we’ve always played the bagpipes, um, which has been a part of our heritage, y’know, a cultural thing.

HR: Legend has it that we were actually born with bagpipes slung across our shoulders.

AR: That would be mini ‘pipes.

HR: Yes, mini bagpipes.

AR: Yeah, so, we came here and we were doing the rock band, but we also had to get out on the street, street perform, busk, to play the rent, and we started using bagpipes with big percussion grooves. Hamish taught himself, and made himself, a didjeridoo, and from there we just started exploring different ways of using those instruments with the rock’n’roll.

MW: All right, all right, so it was just sort of a natural…

AR: Evolution…

MW: So, you said that you guys played the ‘pipes, did you come from a traditional Scottish background?

AR: Well, both sides of the family have strong Scottish heritage, goes back about 150 years, because we’re Australian, but yeah, both sides of the family are Scottish, also have some Irish heritage in there, so it’s very strongly Celtic…

HR: But yeah, we just happened to go to a high school that had a bagpipe band that competed regularly, so that was why we started playing the ‘pipes, it’s wasn’t that our dad played them or anything…

AR: In fact our dad doesn’t play them.

HR: But he plays a good game of tennis, too. There’s the connection.

MW: What do you have in the works for the moment?

AR: Where do we start?

HR: Oh, Megan, Megan…

AR: This is a big year for us, we have a lot of touring booked, we’re going to be on the road all over the country and other countries as well, um, all year. We have a lot of new material that we’ve just started recording, so we’re basically coming off the road and recording what we can, on the fly, and…

HR: We’re about to launch a new website, brotherrock.com, um, we’re doing that in conjunction with Sega. And um, really marketing out of San Francisco, and yeah, just doing a big web push this year, in conjunction with our live work. And we’ll be going after radio, as well, when…we’ve got a couple of tracks recorded for our new album which is getting great response – the best stuff we’ve ever done, I mean, our biggest challenge has always been to capture what we are live. I think for most bands, if you’re a good live band that’s always the challenge. And I think we’re sort of – we’re doing that pretty consistently for the first time ever, yeah, so the new stuff’s feeling great.

AR: We’re matching the studio with what we’re doing live, and we’re definitely feeling good about it. It’s a great team.

HR: We have an amazing team...we’re also working with Paul Mitchell. And, uh, yeah, we’re working with ah…a bloke called Robert Cummings who’s a Scottish guy, and ah, it’s a bizarre connection; the woman that, ah…we’ve got this hot young American designer that’s designing all of our stage stuff, on and off stage, leather kilts…

AR: You name it, she’s probably designing it.

HR: And she does the design stuff for the fashion and hair shows that Robert Cummings does, so we’re doing a lot of stuff in conjunction with them, and…Robert’s sort of the Bono of hairdressers, I mean, he’s very inspiring and revered in that world, and…yeah, it’s crossing over, we’re getting into markets we haven’t been before, in a really different sort of way. The whole thing now is to take the music to as many people as we can, using different channels; you’re not using the regular music industry channels, because…

AR: Because we’re independent, we have seven independent albums which we’ve recorded and released ourselves, and at this point, it’s how we’re doing it. We’ve got another album, should be ready sometime this year, and we’re releasing it ourselves.

MW: All right, let’s talk about your wreck…I know you’ve probably heard that a lot, but…

AR: Well, we’re very lucky…we feel like we’re, that someone was looking out for us, feel pretty blessed.

((sound of bells))

HR: Let’s get that out of the way…

AR: I forgot to introduce my belly-dancing bells…they’re a gift.

HR: Yeah, we’ve got a few creaks and groans, but we’re pretty much as good as new, y’know, we’re very lucky, all of us. I’ve still to hit the tennis court again, but I’m working on it. Yeah, we’re got nothing to complain about. Logically, we shouldn’t be here, and we’re just grateful that we are. Y’hear differently, it’s ah, it had a pretty big impact on us. We’ve sort of come back stronger than ever. We’ve had a real focus and direction, we have a new passion for what we do.

AR: We had quite a few months recovering, to decide that this is what we really wanted to do, and it was, so we’re stronger than ever.

MW: Would you say that it has inspired any of your new material?

HR: I would, Megan.

AR: Yeah, it certainly has.

HR: In a lot of ways, yes. Both the playing and obviously the writing. Yeah, we’ve certainly found, after the accident, we all talked about it. We all felt that wow, okay, there’s got to be some big sign, y’know, after something this momentous, you get a sign, a big epiphany or…but really, we all realized that, having talked about it amongst ourselves, it’s kind of up to the individual to find the meaning in something like that.

AR: You can choose to go…go under…

HR: Yeah, you can choose to feel sorry for yourself, and we probably all went through that a bit, as well, but yeah, go under or triumph. I think that’s the ultimate challenge, when you…it’s always up to the individual to find the message. So yeah, we feel stronger than ever.

((break in tape, Roel Kuiper, drummer, comes in))

RK: Have we started yet?

HR: Yeah, we’re halfway through…

((laughter))

HR: Okay, Roel, what’s the most exciting about the things that are currently up with the band, for you?

RK: I think the most exciting thing about it is we’re doing something that’s totally different, something totally new, and the fact that there’s a future in it, that’s what propels me personally forward. I mean, I think I can speak for the rest of the guys, too. Having something almost like a carrot, dangling in front of you, y’know, chasing this thing that you know that you believe in, you know it’s going to work and that you want other people to hear about. You try to get everybody else’s attention. I think that’s really exciting.

MW: Would you say that interest in Celtic music is growing?

RK: Absolutely, I think a station like yours is a case in point, y’know, to put in a shameless plug. ((laughter)) But I think just the fact that that sort of thing can exist on the web…and that’s all new.

AR: Certainly, the ten years that we’ve been in the country, we’ve noticed a marked increase in the interest in Celtic music. The number of people that are, y’know, wanting to find out about it, to play the ‘pipes themselves, or just go to Celtic festivals…it’s been amazing.

HR: The interesting thing for us is that we’re…we made a conscious decision, after the accident, or really about a year ago, once we put our toes back in the water and got back on the road, to not go after major labels and go that route. We felt that what we’re doing is distinctive enough to, that we needed to retain that control, that independence. But while we do get labeled Celtic rock a lot, it’s kind of as misleading as saying we’re just a rock band. And I think that’s what’s really spurred us on as a band, is that the sound we’re sort of creating is definitive in itself. It’s not just Celtic, it’s not just rock, it’s not just pop, it’s a real, um…

MW: Celtic potpourri?

((laughter))

MW: I didn’t coin that term…

AR: Yeah, well, it’s a world potpourri…

((break in tape))

RL: By the way, as I was walking up I thought one of you had let a bomb of a fart, because you were like wafting the stuff out. I thought that’s gonna look attractive, let’s trap little Megan in a car with and just blow one…

((laughter))

HR: Actually, Megan just said to us, "D’you guys mind if I let one rip?" Yeah, we said, "No…" but I guess as she rolled onto one haunch it just, let fly! We were very impressed.

((laughter))

HR: Yeah, we’re enjoying ourselves…it’s a very exciting time. It’s exciting to…things are moving very fast for us, so we’ve got a lot that’s happening, we’ve got a lot of interest.

AR: It’s just…things that we’re planning are manifesting themselves in exciting ways.

HR: Often unpredictable ways…

AR: But it’s great to be progressing and evolving.

HR: Most bands, if they stay together long enough and hone their craft, reach a point where it’s not so much them making the calls to other people, people are making the calls to them.

AR: It’s good to still be in control.

HR: It’s fascinating to watch that happen, the turnaround…

((sound of bells again))

RK: (in falsetto) Fairies are here, fairies….

((laughter, more bells))

MW: He keeps them in his pocket…

RK: ((makes "fairy" noises"))