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10 Questions with ... High Valley
November 13, 2016
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/HighValley Twitter: www.Twitter.com/HighValley App: High Valley Official (iPhone)
Comprised of brothers Brad and Curtis Rempel, High Valley is unlike any other Country sound, because they never knew how Country was "supposed" to sound. Brad and Curtis grew up Mennonite in LaCrete, Alberta, Canada, where they were cut off from the world of pop culture throughout their early lives. Relying on records from their parents and an AM radio station 300 miles away, the brothers got their first FM station in their town when they were in high school. Despite that, High Valley has already earned over 10 million streams on Spotify, more than 4.7 million views on YouTube, and sold over 40,000 albums. They have also earned multiple award show wins, including Canadian CMA Group of the Year. High Valley is promoting their current single, "Make You Mine," and will release their major label debut album, "Dear Life," on Friday, November 18th. Brad and Curtis sat down with All Access at a hockey rink - in the penalty box - to discuss their new project, what radio means to them, and much more.
1. You grew up in LaCrete, Alberta, Canada, and you didn't get your first FM radio until high school. How did you find music - or, how did music find you?
Brad: I was in 10th grade, and the first Pop song I heard was "All Star" by Smash Mouth, so anything prior to that, we missed. Like, Michael Jackson.
Curtis: Anything prior to that we would have only heard after that, if we heard it.
Brad: So this year for Christmas our attorney bought us the 20 most famous CDs that we never heard, and it included Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Chicago, The Doobie Brothers, and Elton John...
Curtis: The Statler Brothers...
What kind of pop culture do you feel like you missed out on because of that?
Brad: "Star Wars," "Star Trek..." Every movie that people are like, "Oh of course you've seen that!" Never have we seen that...
Curtis: We've seen "The Mighty Ducks!"
So in terms of music, how do you think missing that Pop culture affected you - either in a good or bad way?
Brad: I think in a good way. If you hear our new record and you know our story, you can hear that we were raised on very old-school Bluegrass stuff and that we discovered cool music very recently, and that our songs are actually a blend of very old and very new at the same time. Some people call our record progressive, and then other people call it old-school. So it's kind of perfect when they call it both at the same time.
2. How did you decide you wanted to pursue music as a career? What kind of music specifically really inspired you guys growing up?
Curtis: Honestly, our mom and dad were completely in love with Country music even before we were born. They had a couple records that they picked up. We have three older sisters, and they got into the harmonies and everything that they heard on those records. Music was huge in our house before we were even born, so it was pretty natural for us to get into it.
Brad: Ricky Skaggs is the biggest influence and the biggest inspiration. There weren't very many options, but at the CMA Awards the other day, it was cool for them to pay honor to Ricky Skaggs as well as Buck Owens, because those are two of the three. It's Ricky Skaggs, Buck Owens, and The Everly Brothers - those were the three most-played records in our house. And later on we got a CD player. For a long time we had records and even an 8-track player from a car stereo that our dad hotwired to the car battery. And we're not old guys, but we just had this old school stuff.
How special was it having your Opry debut accompanied by Ricky Skaggs?
Curtis: It was amazing! We grew up idolizing the guy pretty much, and he came out and sang the second verse of "Make You Mine" with us, and it was pretty awesome!
Brad: The YouTube version of "Make You Mine" is the Ricky Skaggs collaboration.
Curtis: So we recorded it with him as well as performed it on the Opry with him. He's been a pretty big part of that song, so it's been pretty cool for us!
Also, we hear there's a good story about him involving your visas?
Brad: He offered to endorse us to the American government, because we are aliens of exceptional ability. So we needed to prove to the U.S. government that the culture of the average American would go downhill if High Valley was removed from the country, and Ricky Skaggs offered to vouch for us, haha! I don't know how true it is...
Curtis: So there you go! Those visas are a funny thing.
Brad: Depending on the election, it may go up or down in price... we may get evicted...this could be our last interview in Nashville.
3. What does radio mean to you, having been without it for so much of your childhoods?
Brad: Keep in mind, we always knew about radio, and there was an AM radio station that I would listen to on the tractor. It was mainly like farm report and price of wheat and stuff, and every once in a while you'd hear a Diamond Rio song or something. So we always knew about radio and would hear it occasionally, but then of course in high school when we got FM radio, I started listening to it all the time. We're very, very familiar with the fact that radio is what drives a career. And very shocked, and thrilled, and pumped. I look at it this way - I always explain to my wife that no matter what number we are - If we're number 20, I say 19 Country songs on the planet are getting played more than us. And that's pretty cool.
How important do you think it is in getting your music out there?
Brad: I can tell you from experience, in January we went out and played some festivals, and now we go and play the same region, and people are singing not just to "Make You Mine," but they're finding out about "Make You Mine" through the radio and then they're doing their research and looking up our other songs. The atmosphere at our shows has changed completely. Just because of radio.
Curtis: Radio is huge for growing the fan base. Like Brad said, I think radio kind of introduces the fans, and then a number of those fans will go online and research the rest of the music.
Brad: When we went to the U.K., they had done so much research. They were singing along! There's one song we hadn't recorded yet, and they had done enough research ... it hadn't even been released on iTunes, and they found us playing acoustic versions of it on radio tour - a song called, "I Be U Be" - and by the time we launched into at the O2 Arena, they were all singing along as if it was a massive hit.
4. Just from chatting with you before the interview, it seems like you're very into watching the charts and in tune with adds. How active are you guys in the promotion aspect of your record?
Brad: We've been on promo tour since mid-January, so we've been very spoiled and blessed to have a big fancy bus, and Warner has made it very easy. Everybody keeps feeling sorry for us, but honestly, it's been very, very easy and very awesome! I've wanted to be in radio since I was a little kid. Mom and Dad bought me a tape recorder, and I did a fake radio show: news, weather, sports, introduced the bands, interviewed the bands, did commercials, etc. They're all cheesy and horrible.
Do you have them all saved?
Brad: Unfortunately, yes. There are a couple of them. The best one was, "I saved enough money to buy a plastic bunny..." That was one of the commercials.
Curtis: Yeah, some kind of car insurance commercial...
Brad: But either way, I've always been into radio. I worked at a radio station six years as a teenager. I worked at a little Christian radio station where I did a Bluegrass show. I used to come to Nashville, and I'd get backstage passes to the Opry from all the Bluegrass labels, because they thought I was a big deal. They didn't know my radio station actually was being played for like seven people in the North. Anyway, it got me to the Opry. So I've always been into radio big time! They don't want us to pay too much attention to the chart, so we try to not... but we're definitely the band that our regionals will call us and say, "You just got added in Miami!" and we'll all do a dance. I'm constantly in contact with the regionals, for sure.
Curtis: I'm a little more on the other end - more removed from the stats.
Brad: But the thing is, I'm such a fan of Country music that I've always gone to the chart every week, for as long as I can remember, and downloaded the top 50 songs. Way before we were anywhere close to doing anything on the chart, I always would look at it to make sure I knew all the new music. And then I would go to every website every day and see if they announced a tour. And I'd call our booking agent and bug him, and say, "Hey this person just announced a tour, let's see if we can open for them." That's part of how we got to the Opry the first time. I go to the Opry's website every day, and I saw that they only had two people booked for January 5th, and I called Cindy [Hunt] and I'm like, "It's a week 'til January 5th, and there's only two people booked for the Opry," and she called back two days later and booked us on the Opry!
5. Tell us about your new project and major label debut, "Dear Life." What do you hope listeners take away from it after a full listen?
Brad: I hope they want to hear the whole thing. I hope they see us as way more than a one-song band. We're not trying to create a movement by any stretch. If anything, we're trying to bring back something that's been around for 150 years, which is acoustic-driven, harmony-driven music. It's not really anything new. If there's anything new about it, it's that our producer brought it to a much more commercial, young, hip production style, but we're still writing these old-school songs with very old-sounding lyrics. The ideas are very nostalgic. What I loved about Country when I first started knowing it was those story-songs, or emotional songs, that made you feel something. A lot of Diamond Rio stuff did that for me, and a lot of the songs that Tom Douglas wrote would do that for me, and he's got songs on his record. I think that if they can see that "Make You Mine" is the bullseye of the record, that everything points to that sound and there's stuff that's more progressive and stuff that's more conservative than that, that's definitely the bullseye of who we are. If you had to listen to one song to figure out who we are, "Make You Mine" is the right song. The album won't shock anybody and be like "Holy crap, I can't believe that's the same band." But we are more than just a one-song band, and we definitely had our fans vote on all these songs. We played them all our demos and used our app to make sure that these fans can hear all this stuff ahead of time. Instead of releasing a bunch of music and hoping fans would like it, we basically found out what they liked and then recorded it.
6. Heather [Conley] sent it over on Friday and I was listening, and I said, "Heather, I need to listen to this on repeat!" It's so positive, and it's awesome! I love hearing the backstory on the songs. Is there a particular song that has a good story behind it?
Brad: Yeah! Well "Don't Stop," the title track "Dear Life," "Memory Makin'," and "Dear Forever" were all written and the lead vocals were all recorded on the beach at Portofino Island, which is Pensacola Beach. "Dear Life" in particular maybe has the coolest story. We use this saying a lot in our family, and I am overly nostalgic and overly obsessed with memories and memory making, which is obviously a song on the record, but I come home one day and our boys are sleeping. My wife and I are talking about how long they looked in bed and how big they had gotten, and she said, "Man, they're growing up so fast! I feel like we're hanging on for dear life." And then I said, "Wait that's such a good song idea!" And the whole time I knew that I wanted "Dear Life" to say "I'm hanging on for dear life," but I also wanted a twist where it was like, "Dear life," like a diary. And I don't know if you ever had a diary, but I definitely never did, and this album is kind of like our first time having a diary where we're saying out loud things we would say to our diary. And that song is obviously exactly that. I think as a fan of music, I would love to read other artists' diaries if they would allow us to. I think it's kind of cool that we have this one song that is letting all our fans read our one diary.
7. Why do you think your album - and the single - stands out? How is it different from anything else on Country radio right now?
Brad: I think the biggest thing is - and I'm sure a lot bands would be able to say this - but for us, one hundred percent for sure...we've been doing this long enough that, unfortunately, we had moments where we gave up on our true sound and started trying to record things that sounded like Country radio, which ultimately made us just sound like a cheap version of somebody else. This was the first record, "Make You Mine" being the first song, where we said, "Screw it! Let's just do what we've always done!" And that's what we did. We wrote it in a few minutes. Our band heard it, and instantly we started playing it live, because it was so easy and natural. It reminded us of "I'll Fly Away," which is what we were trying to do, just something everybody knows. And I think that's what makes this record sound so different and unique to everybody is that it wasn't us saying, "Hey, how can we be the new version of this band or that band?" It was, "How can we do what we've been doing since we were four years old?" And thankfully, we found a producer who knew how to make that sound cool!
Yeah, it definitely sounds authentic, and has an identity that is you! This album made me so happy. I needed a pick-me-up and put this on.
Curtis: Yeah, that is one thing we've been accused of a lot. And we love it. People are like, "Are there any songs that aren't supposed to make you feel happy on this record?" and we're like, "Nope. They're all supposed to make you happy."
We all need a little bit of that.
Curtis: It's not like there's too much positivity going around.
Brad: Yeah, if people want to accuse us of having too much positive stuff, that's fine.
Curtis: Maybe in 20 years we'll just do the most negative record ever! Haha! "Life sucks!" "Everybody hates me!"
8. My first assumption was that you guys would be less active on social media, but that is totally not the case. What has it meant to you to be able to instantly connect and interact with your fans?
Curtis: Maybe it's because we were so deprived of connecting with the world as children, now we're like let's make sure we use this to its fullest potential. It's just an amazing way to connect with people. Brad and I - whether it's music, or merchandise pieces, or whatever - asked our fans, "Hey what do you like better? Do you like this, or do you like that?" And then we just moved forward.
Brad: Down to whether we should wear a bow tie or a regular tie for the red carpet, we ask fans everything. We have our own app. It's just because of where we were located; we had such a bad chance of ever getting a record deal or meeting fans that we had to use the internet. We had dialup until I graduated from high school. I used to illegally download Ricky Skaggs songs on Napster via dialup. I'd start it, go to bed, wake up in the morning, and there'd be half a Bluegrass song.
9. So how did you end up with Warner?
Brad: We had some very good friends in this town! Cindy put out a press release on "Make You Mine," and Ken Tucker at iTunes got on the phone. And all of a sudden we had sold enough copies of "Make You Mine" that we had four different record deals at the same time come in and offer us. When we met with Warner, they felt like a family. And we love all the labels in town! But Warner was the one that felt like a bunch of people hanging out together. We were in [Warner Music Nashville CMO] Peter Strickland's office, and it felt like we were in a coffee shop in 12 South.
Curtis: It just felt super casual and relaxing. That's just the vibe that we're all about.
Brad: We grew up doing everything as a family, so the idea of us having everything separate at a record label made us really nervous. Whereas being at Warner - where A&R and Marketing were in the same room hashing things out with us - felt amazing.
Curtis: At Warner we can walk down the halls and be like, "Hey what's up!" It's like a break in high school, walking down the halls seeing everyone and saying what's up!
Brad: And [Warner Music Nashville Chairman/CEO John Esposito] Espo booked a private jet during CMA Fest and flew us to the Stanley Cup final and back in the same day! Pretty hard to beat!
10. So this is your first radio tour with Warner. You had a deal a few years back as a trio. How has this radio tour and experience differed from previous outings?
Brad: It's a massive difference!
Curtis: It's night and day! They put us on the nicest bus we've ever seen.
Brad: And every PD has shown up. On the first one, people would be like, "Oh yeah, I forgot..." and just not be there. Whereas now, everybody is there.
Curtis: Obviously with a name like Warner behind you, people take things a lot more seriously, and it's been night and day!
Brad: They kind of expect you to be sort of good if you have a record deal, haha! Whereas opening for people, they still expect you to suck, which is our favorite thing ever! Like right now, we're opening for Martina McBride, and you can just tell when you walk out there that they just expect us to quietly play our songs and get off. But instead, we're forcing them to get on their feet, and by the time we get off stage they're all fans and come and buy stuff and get autographs. And that's like our favorite thing: having a 30-minute challenge. Taking people that are just staring at you, and by the end of it they're giving you a standing ovation - that's the most exciting thing in the world! Same with radio tour...when you walk in and they have their arms crossed, and hopefully you can get them to care about you by the time they leave.
Bonus Questions
1. Your dream tour - what would it be?
Brad & Curtis: Taylor Swift!
Brad: It was always Ricky Skaggs - we answered that for years, and then he took us on tour and sang on our record.
Curtis: Now we want to tour with T. Swift! I think it would be a good time!
So you're headlining, and she's opening?
Curtis: Haha yeah, that's what we're talking about!
Brad: We think she would love "Make You Mine" if she heard it! I think it would remind her of her song, "Mean."
Do you guys secretly have a song that was written by Taylor that you're going to announce later...?
Brad: That was a pretty cool move, but no...
Curtis: We would like to!
Brad: We're at the same publisher, so... who knows! It could happen!
2. So you guys are big into grilling - and apparently have a black bean turkey burger recipe that is killer. How did your partnership with "Fire & Flavor" come about?
Brad: Yes! Have you tried it?
I have not.
Brad: It is very filling and very grilling! I just said that because it rhymed.
Curtis: Brad and I are kind of hard core about food. We love finding great food on the road, and Brad a little more than I likes to find great healthy food. I'm still into greasy burgers and stuff. Half the time I'm trying to eat super healthy stuff. Cheese burgers are our favorite food! If we could have the healthy version of that - like this black bean burger - that's the perfect combination.
Brad: So they heard about us being into food and into grilling and all that. Country music and grilling go pretty well together, so we were excited to partner with them!
Curtis: I actually made my own grill out of bricks. It's called a rocket stove. It looks like a brick chimney. You use this cast iron pot and make soups on it or burgers. We've grilled shrimp on it. It's fun - I make stuff on that thing as often as I can.
So you're clearly foodies. What is your favorite place to eat out in Nashville?
Curtis: Oh man... Martin's BBQ or Monell's. And Brad loves Mexican.
Brad: Yes, I love Pueblo Real in Franklin.
Curtis: Ok, Paletas Tocumbo in Franklin is this Mexican popsicle place next to Pueblo Real! It's authentic, you feel like you're actually going to Mexico. The popsicles are about three times the size of regular ones!
Brad: The first state in the U.S. to really give us a chance was Texas. I think that influenced our food tastes quite a bit. We were in Texas a hundred times a year, so brisket is huge. Chicken fajitas are huge. That's never really left... those are still my favorite.
Curtis: Brisket 'til I die! I need that bumper sticker.
Brad: Brisket can get you there pretty fast...
Curtis: Brisket 'til I am a diabetic.
So if we took a trip to your hometown, what would you recommend everybody eat?
Brad: There's only one restaurant, haha!
Curtis: There's a restaurant and a bakery...
Brad: Just go to our mom's house!
Curtis: You'll definitely get the best food in people's homes. Like pastries and soups and -
Brad: And varenyky, which is pierogi with cottage cheese inside, boiled, and then with creamed gravy and strawberries on top with a smoked farmer's sausage. That's a normal wedding meal in our Mennonite culture.
Curtis: It's unbelievable!
Brad: For when our record comes out on the 18th, we're going to be opening for Martina in Dodge City, KS.
Curtis: Which is only 20 miles from one our favorite restaurants, called Eva's Kitchen. They serve this Mennonite dish there. It's a Mennonite restaurant!
Brad: But there's no music in Mennonite restaurants...so you open the door and walk in and everybody just turns. There's no background noise. When the door opens, literally everybody shuts up and stares and you walk in, and they're like "May I help you?" and everybody is listening.
Curtis: Because they can tell all of these guys aren't from here.
Brad: Because our jeans are too skinny.
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