(logo whooshing) (peaceful music) - [Carolyn] I'm Carolyn Curry, singer, songwriter, mother, and lover of music.

Join me as I listen to and speak with some of Maine's premier musical artists on "Sound Waves."

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Thank you.

(peaceful music) (upbeat guitar music) ♪ Here we go ♪ Out across the universe of what we know ♪ ♪ Galaxies away from you, you supernova ♪ ♪ Coming over on a week night ♪ Moving slow ♪ You and me are five years in from our hello ♪ ♪ How he broke your trust in men and how they love you ♪ ♪ I would love to build your trust with time ♪ ♪ 'Cause we're over our heads ♪ Under prepared ♪ In love ♪ On Earth ♪ I'll never know ♪ How it broke your heart when Mama had to go ♪ ♪ Every time you think of her, it splits you open ♪ ♪ Open ocean and a swollen sky ♪ No, honey ♪ What's the use ♪ Of loving if you're always only bound to lose ♪ ♪ If I lost you, I would walk the world unsteady ♪ ♪ Would you let me put my love on the line ♪ ♪ 'Cause we're over our heads ♪ Under prepared ♪ In love ♪ On Earth ♪ Ooh, ah-ah ♪ Ah ♪ Over our heads, our heads ♪ In love ♪ Ooh, ah-ah ♪ Over our ♪ Our heads ♪ In love ♪ Over our ♪ Our heads ♪ In love ♪ On Earth - So, as I was going through stuff and trying to learn more about you, I did the inevitable dive down the YouTube rabbit hole... - [Sean] Mm.

- Into Filmland.

- Dangerous.

- Well, yeah, 'cause you guys have put one or two videos out.

- (laughs) One or two.

- How many videos have we done?

- Like 1,000, right?

- Well, we have like 40 songs at least, and we really do a video for every song almost.

- Do you really?

- Pretty much, yeah.

- So about 40 music videos.

(Jamie laughs) - And do you do other videography?

- I guess just music videos.

Not really.

- Just music.

- Just social media.

- All those.

- Random, boring things.

- Okay, all right.

(Sean laughs) Boring things, not really.

All right, so I have to go back.

You guys are so talented and you've brought so many different instruments into your show and so many different elements.

You do it all yourself, which is quite amazing to me, and probably many people as well.

So, what do you play?

Tell me what you play.

- I'm Sean, I play keyboard, bass, acoustic guitar, not electric guitar.

- But I give you the electric guitar sometimes on stage.

- Yes, and I hold it sometimes to look cool.

- Yeah.

- I'm sure you do, too.

- And he sings, he writes most of the songs.

- Yeah.

- And cooks the food when I'm playing.

- I'm the stylist for the band also.

- Oh, is that right?

- But Jamie plays... God, you play everything.

- That's why he was wearing your shoes.

- I play guitar.

Yeah, it's true, it's true.

Play drums, guitar, bass, piano, keys.

- Fiddle.

- Fiddle.

- Shaker things.

- [Sean] Shaker things, yeah, shaker things.

- And then a bunch of other things that you can kind of fake once you know one instrument.

- You're looping.

- And then some looping.

- Looping.

- So recording live and then playing along to yourself.

- Okay.

- And yeah, just a lot of... Too many things.

- Yeah, you could probably keep going, but let's, you know... - Keep it short.

- All right, so how did you learn how to do all this stuff?

- We grew up in a musical family.

There were always guitars and instruments around our house.

Our parents are musicians.

- You can imagine us, like, you know, this tall, singing together.

- Playing the drums.

- And are there just the two of you?

- Yes.

- Yeah, just the two of us.

- All right, and what's your age difference?

- Three years.

- And you like each other?

- We used to not.

- Most of the time.

(both laughing) - We work at it, I think it's... Well, this band is really important to us both, and it's our full-time job and... - People always come up and say, "Wow, I could never do this with my brother."

But, you know, just like... - Or sibling.

- Sibling, and... We also could never do it, but we just do.

We just keep doing it and keep working at it and keep fighting and... - Our answer is like, "Yes, you could, you just gotta work at it."

And we do.

- So, all right, so you do a lot together, you tour.

- Yeah.

- That was sweet, do that again.

- Okay.

- [Carolyn] Oh, Sean loves Jamie.

So nice.

- Come on, Jamie, come on.

- He said, "Yeah, I'm not doing it.

(both laughing) I'm sorry.

I love you so much, no."

All right, so you tour together.

Do you do a lot of touring?

- Yeah, we do, it's how we make most of our living, and so... - I know, right now.

- [Sean] Gotta be out there playing music.

(upbeat violin music) ♪ Use me until I'm done ♪ Heartbeat ain't like a drum, baby ♪ ♪ Breakdown to smithereens ♪ Built up your throne, my queen, baby ♪ ♪ And how can you do this ♪ How can you do this to me ♪ I scream and I shouted ♪ You walk by with nothing to see ♪ ♪ You left me and I'm ♪ Once loved but then forgot ♪ New things to see you saw, baby ♪ ♪ My life was always fine ♪ Until you changed your mind, baby ♪ ♪ And how can you do this ♪ How can you do this to me ♪ I scream and I shouted ♪ You walk by with nothing to see ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ How can you do this ♪ How can you do this to me ♪ Do it to me ♪ Baby, scream and I shouted ♪ You walk by with nothing to see ♪ ♪ You left me broken - [Carolyn] So you have another story to share with me.

- Yeah, we play music all over the place.

We've played bar gigs.

We have played in fields in the woods.

- In front of thousands of people on stage, on islands in Maine.

- On golf courses.

(Sean laughs) Golf parties.

- Yeah.

- Private parties.

- Yeah.

- Weddings.

- Private, yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, just so many places, and then on tour in small... Yeah, for thousands of people one night, and the next night, for three people.

- Yeah.

- And tour... - St.

Augustine.

- And tour is just so many different things, so varied.

And the weirdest gig I've ever had is a Civil War reenactment.

- Where all the people were there, and then he started playing.

- And everyone laughed.

(both laughing) But... - That's not your fault.

That's the producer's fault.

- But we've been writing about, and you know, because we're constantly on the road, home is... Is more of a person than it is a place for us.

And even though Maine is home for me, it's more of a person.

And so, writing a love song about home is really for someone who I have a big crush on.

So, that's this next song, which is "Destination."

- Does that person know you have a crush on them?

- Oh, yeah, they're... - Quite aware.

- They're quite aware.

- Gotcha.

All right, let's hear it.

(smooth alternative music) ♪ Missing you in orbit ♪ Tokyo to Portland ♪ All conditions are temporary ♪ My love ♪ Call me from the graveyard ♪ When did life get so hard ♪ All conditions are temporary ♪ My love ♪ Moonlighting as an optimist ♪ Though love endangers us, I need the rush ♪ ♪ Soon, darling, we'll be through all this ♪ ♪ My destination is you ♪ I hate switching timezones ♪ You don't sleep when I'm gone ♪ ♪ Nah, nah, nah, nah ♪ All conditions are temporary ♪ My love ♪ Moonlighting as an optimist ♪ Though love endangers us, I need the rush ♪ ♪ Soon, darling, we'll be through all this ♪ ♪ My destination is you ♪ Destination is you ♪ Coming home, I'm en route ♪ Nah, nah, nah, nah ♪ All conditions are temporary ♪ My love ♪ All conditions are temporary ♪ My love - One song that I wanna ask you about is "1942."

That's about Japanese internment camps.

- Yeah, yeah.

- In 1942.

- That's right.

- And you spoke about it, you talked about thin walls and some of the other stuff that one might have experienced.

Do you know someone who... - Yeah.

- Went through that?

- Yeah, so "1942" is a brand new song.

We haven't recorded it yet.

It's not available online, but someday it will be soon.

- I think soon.

- And video, the video thing is going, you know, you're just like, "Yeah, I know what I'm doing."

- But last year, in May, I was in Salt Lake City with my mom, and we visited the internment camp that my grandfather was in for a few years.

And his family, along with... - Topaz.

- You know, thousands of other Japanese folks got a notice in 1942 that they had to show up somewhere and they were brought into the middle of the desert and put in a concentration camp, basically.

So I visited that camp, a camp where so much beautiful art and, you know, so many stories.

We've heard of really cool experiences.

But it was such a hard time.

Our grandfather didn't really like to talk about it very much.

But we've been kind of revisiting some of his stories and writing about them.

We feel like it's an important thing to share.

And so, that's what "1942" is about for us.

Yeah, it's about our Japanese side a little bit.

♪ Ooh ♪ Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh ♪ Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh (peaceful guitar music) ♪ California used to dream ♪ Called it home 'til 17 ♪ Grew up hearing Japanese ♪ With brown eyes, blue jeans ♪ Then the harbor felt the hit ♪ Though I was born American ♪ Suddenly, I'm counterfeit ♪ In the land of the free ♪ 1942 ♪ History to you ♪ Took our homes in California ♪ Locked up out the blue ♪ 1942 ♪ Time will tell the truth ♪ Generations came before us ♪ I am one of you ♪ Built with paper-thin walls ♪ Sleeping cots and coal stoves ♪ ♪ Barbed wire, no doors ♪ They shoot us if we try to leave ♪ ♪ Using the artillery ♪ Of fear and inconsistency ♪ Echoing in history ♪ And I don't know what to believe ♪ ♪ The year 1942 ♪ Before that in my youth ♪ I thought that I was one of you ♪ ♪ At least a little bit ♪ I knew that I was different ♪ But I'm the same kid ♪ With my blue jeans innocent ♪ War with the land ♪ Where the sun shines through ♪ But I only know our flag ♪ I was born here too ♪ My parents lost the laundromat ♪ ♪ And now we're on a bus ♪ Through the desert of the soul ♪ ♪ Where the hope dried up ♪ Feeling alone and scared ♪ Even as we're together ♪ Going to be locked in Topaz ♪ As I look at the sun-drenched sky, I wonder why ♪ ♪ I know a little bit ♪ But still feel I could cry ♪ But I'm strong for our mom and you ♪ ♪ And it scarred me ♪ Sometimes in my life, I was blue ♪ ♪ Red and white wine to soothe me ♪ ♪ But I don't want to be a threat ♪ ♪ So I tried to act goofy ♪ Aloof, just to put you at ease ♪ ♪ But through it all ♪ In a good life, I believe ♪ And afterward I stayed here ♪ Was born here, I prayed here ♪ I played here ♪ Nothing else I know but betrayed here still ♪ ♪ 1942 ♪ History to you ♪ Took our homes in California ♪ Locked up out the blue ♪ 1942 ♪ Time will tell the truth ♪ Generations came before us ♪ I am one of you (soft piano music) - So, do you fight over how the direction of a song is gonna take, or how it's gonna be produced?

Not fight, that's too strong.

- [Jamie] I feel like the song... - Do you have different visions?

- Honestly, I'm continually surprised how much we do agree on, on what we're listening to, when we're sending each other music to listen to and what we wanna dance to or whatever.

It's often so similar, it's pretty crazy.

- And also, yeah, we just grew up eating the same food and talking to each other all the time, so, so often, yeah, we are on the same wavelength.

Sean will go into a store and buy something from the person, and then I'll come in the second later and I'll compliment the person on the exact same thing.

- Yeah, we'll have the same interaction all the time.

It's crazy.

- And they'll be like, "Your brother just said that to me."

- So, you're synaptically linked.

- Yes, indeed.

- Yeah, okay.

Interesting.

When did you get to a point where you suddenly thought, "Okay, we're gonna do this and we're gonna be pop stars?"

- That still hasn't happened for me.

But that happened to Sean.

- Sean, yeah.

I can tell by the way you're moving when you're singing.

- When I was like 10, I decided that I wanted to be a musician.

- Forever.

- Was ready, was already doing it.

I was ready to go for that.

- Okay.

- And yeah, I've always wanted to be a pop star, so... - I can understand that.

- Here we are.

- I know, is that great?

- This is our job.

- I know, you're living the dream.

- But he started at like 18.

- Yeah, yeah, writing songs and stuff.

- [Jamie] Took his time to figure it out.

- And you just were right there with him.

- He was always ready to support.

- Mm-hm.

Interesting, all right, so you have become pop stars.

(Carolyn laughs) - Loosely, loosely.

- Very.

- So I want to know, what is the highest moment you've had so far?

- Oh, gosh.

Well, I feel like we've still got to get there.

- That's a good answer.

- But we've had so many special moments on stage with people.

I think especially sharing the stage with people that we just adore and have loved for years, like if it's Maggie Rogers or Ani DiFranco, or, oh, God, so many different people that we look up to.

And whether that be on a festival or on a cruise ship somewhere, or just meet people in the business, you know, be in Nashville writing songs.

That's the best part, I think.

Those are the highest highs, is doing what you love and being fully in it and seeing people do it around you that you look up to.

- And it's a lot of time driving.

It's a lot of downtime, it's a lot of sending emails, you know, there's plenty of low moments.

And then, yeah, and then getting on stage, getting to act like, "Oh, yeah, I play music."

Like, remembering that is always magical and the most fun.

Always.

- Jamie was... He was on tour with Amos Lee playing electric guitar earlier this year, just for a few shows, subbing in, and, you know, we've been listening to Amos Lee songs since we were kids.

It was pretty special to be doing that.

- Crazy to be in front of lots of people.

- So, is that your pinch me moment?

- Say, yeah, that's it.

- Yeah, definitely terrifying to suddenly be in front of, not only a huge audience, but also musician saying, "Jamie, take a solo."

(Sean laughs) - [Carolyn] Oh, okay.

(upbeat alternative music) ♪ Turn out the light ♪ Tangerine sky ♪ Is painting you ♪ In the eclipse ♪ Two silhouettes ♪ You make the move ♪ Ooh, we could throw our keys on the dresser ♪ ♪ Ooh, we could make love or espresso ♪ ♪ Baby, you choose ♪ You're the only drug that I need ♪ ♪ You're the love in my bloodstream ♪ ♪ Morning and night ♪ I'm drinking you in ♪ Drunk on your skin ♪ Filled up to the edge ♪ Smooth aftertaste ♪ Kimono all day ♪ I never wanna leave this bed ♪ Ooh, we could throw our keys on the dresser ♪ ♪ Ooh, we could make love or espresso ♪ ♪ Baby, you choose ♪ You're the only drug that I need ♪ ♪ Only drug that I need ♪ You're the love in my bloodstream ♪ ♪ Morning and night ♪ La-La-La love ♪ And espresso ♪ Come on, baby, let's go ♪ T-shirt from the dresser, yeah ♪ ♪ Come on, baby ♪ La-la-La love, mm ♪ And espresso ♪ Come on, baby, let's go ♪ A T-shirt from the dresser ♪ Come on, baby, come on, baby, ooh ♪ ♪ We could throw our keys on the dresser ♪ ♪ Ooh, we could make love or espresso ♪ ♪ Baby, you choose ♪ You're the only drug that I need ♪ ♪ You're the love in my bloodstream ♪ ♪ Morning and night (logo whooshing) (peaceful music)