ACL Preview: He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister

Posted by Nicole Basham on Oct 10, 2012 in Austin Music Mama, Events, Features | 1 comment

We’re excited to be covering the Austin City Limits Music Festival (aka ACL) this year. As a part of our coverage, all week we’ll be bringing you profiles of the bands and artists that will grace the Festival’s 8 stages.

We caught up with Robert Kolar, one of the five members of the LA-based He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister, who answered some questions for us. Robert splits vocal duties with his sister Rachel, with Robert on the guitar and kick drum and Rachel on the tambourine. Lauren Brown adds full-body percussion with her fluid tap-dancing and drumming (yes, you read that right). Oliver Newell adds stand up bass and Aaron Robinson plays lead guitar on a lap slide.

The band is currently touring in anticipation of the 2013 release of their debut LP, Nobody Dances in This Town. Like most bands, He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister is hard to put into one genre, but the songs embody a mix of folk, rock, blues and rockabilly.

LiveMom: How would you describe your sound? Who are your musical influences?

Robert: We toss around flavorful expressions like Flamboyant Folk, Vaudeville Blues, Ragged Country, Desert Pop, and Cirque Rock. But it’s however you’d like to interpret it really.

Our influences range widely. For me personally I especially love the raw bluesy R&B of acts like Howlin Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, Otis Redding. The experimentation and psychedelic choices of Syd Barrett, The Beatles, The Coral. The sultry glam of early Bowie, T Rex and Gary Glitter. The hard hitting rock and roll of The Stones, Black Keys, early White Stripes, Iggy Pop.  And the Americana social folk rock of CCR, Dylan, and Jefferson Airplane. But there are so many acts we admire. Hard to sum them up here.

LiveMom: Is this your first ACL?

Robert: Indeed. And hopefully not our last!

LiveMom: Have you been to Austin before? Are there other things you plan to see and do while you are here?

Robert: We love Austin. Our bassist Oliver (Stefan) Newell is from here. Austin is great for many things. Good eats. Some great swimming spots and of course kickin’ it with Austinites who are both colorfully unique while still being down to Earth.

LiveMom: What bands are you most looking forward to seeing perform at ACL?

Robert: Neil Young. I’m curious to see Kimbra too. Not usually a pop fan but I like her weirdness and it seems she’d be an interesting performer.

LiveMom: Are you doing any aftershows?

Robert: Yes. Saturday night 10pm at Stubbs. We are playing an Official ACL Late Night Show, right after Civil Wars play outside. Personally I think this one is the best way to see us. Evening show with people dancing and singing. Proper lighting etc. Outside is always fun but the atmosphere and sound in a great venue is hard to beat.

If you can’t make it to the Festival, you can keep in touch with the band at  http://www.hesmybrothershesmysister.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/hesmybrothershesmysister.

A native Austinite and soccer-playing mom, Nicole uses her 6-year-old son as an excuse to rediscover her hometown through his eyes. In Thoreau’s words, her mission is to “suck out all the marrow of life”, or in her son’s words, to cultivate in him a love of “advenchers”.