New Jersey boy-band, BRO4, is definitely the next upcoming boyband since One Direction. With its members Skyler, Levi, Madison, and CaseyJones, this band is definitely one talented bunch. YEM reached out to them and discussed their experience in the music industry and how it feels to be able to work together while doing what they all love!
YEM: How old were each of you when you first decided to create BRO4? Where did the idea come from?
B4: We all were kind of born into wanting to do music, and with each other, too. Our grandfather was in a band with his siblings, and later on our father was in a band with his brother, so it kind of set us up to do the same. There isn’t really any set age we can give but we did start really pushing for this occupationally about 3 years ago.
YEM: Where did the name BRO4 stem from?
B4: We had brainstormed a lot of names; some MUCH better than others but it kept coming back to the simplicity of exactly what we are, four brothers. I guess switching the words was just catchier than 4Bro.
YEM: What was the inspiration for your first song?
B4: Our first single released was “Dreaming.” We all were talking about our celebrity crushes and the fantasy or “dream” of what it would be like to date them or even meet them. Casey was fiddling with a guitar as we talked and started playing the intro to Dreaming, and next thing we knew our convo had become a song writing session.
YEM: Whose idea was it to form the band?
B4: It was none of our ideas. As we mentioned before we were born into a family that created bands within the siblings. There was kind of an unspoken desire instilled in our heads that we’d be musicians. It was never a question. We just knew we wanted to do music and we wanted to make that happen with each other.
YEM: What emotions did you each feel during your first live performance?
B4: When we first started, we were as sceptical as any sane human being would be. After being on stage and feeling that adrenaline and energy of the crowd wanting more and screaming our names it was such a crazy experience. The crowd was quickly catching on to the lyrics, and not only the covers but songs that we had written ourselves. We walked off stage realizing that this can really become something bigger than just four brothers with passion. We could become huge doing what we love.
YEM: How did you feel when fans first recognized your band/music?
B4: Surprised. Definitely surprised. We were showing up to shows having no social media set up yet, and people knew our name and were there for us. That was with little to no promo done. They just had seen us before, loved it, and searched for where to find us.
YEM: What has been the biggest challenge you as a band were able to overcome and how did you overcome it?
B4: Recently, we were talking about if this can really work and how much longer we want to try and make it before calling it quits. We decided that if by the end of 2016 we weren’t blowing up we should make music a hobby and get day jobs. On November 1st, our father was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and, obviously, we decided to put our music on hold to figure things out. One day we were in the hospital and he told us that he didn’t want us to give up. He told us he has faith and knows that music is our calling. He understood us. We had released an anti-bullying track that we made and that was based off of Madison being bullied in high school. Our dad knew that our music contains powerful messages that can touch hearts and hopefully put an end to bullying. On January 4th, he passed away and as time went on we put his words to work and we truly believe that he is helping us succeed today from where he is, now.
YEM: What would be your ideal first destination be for a world tour?
B4: Probably England, just so that the language barrier doesn’t fall too deep. If that was a non-issue our answers would probably differ from one brother to the next.
YEM: What five songs from other artists best represent your sound?
B4: That is a very hard question to answer because we don’t really have a very relatable sound. We are definitely pop but it’s a bit deeper than that. Though we are a very close set of brothers, we all listen to different styles and we all have different musical influences. Our favorite artists are Brian McKnight (Skyler), Michael Jackson (Levi and Madison), Bruno Mars (Madison), and Adam Levine (CaseyJones.) We have been told, however, that our band as a whole is reminiscent of a Beatles meeting One Direction.
BRO4 will definitely continue to rise up and receive the success they obviously deserve! Be sure to check out their new single, “Sorry Not Sorry”, available now.
