It’s not every day that South Florida gets a taste of some real live soulful rock n’ roll. But on September 10, that’s exactly what Brothers of Others delivered at Clematis by Night in Downtown West Palm Beach. It fueled our excitement for fall and other local festivities. And more than anything, the all-familiar classic songs helped us to connect with fellow rock fans.
Based in Miami, Brothers of Others has three lead singers, and each plays every instrument in the band. “Even though I’m the guitar player and lead vocals 70% of the time, the drummer plays a lot of guitar, too. On a specific song, he'll come up to play the guitar; I'll go to the drums,” said Vic Kingsley. “The bass player plays keyboards, so we switch instruments, too.”
Brothers of Others sounds like a Netflix movie, a band that’s achieved real-world success by performing all over the country. When asked where they got the name, Kingsley gave us a play-by-play.
“This was back in 2011. We were just musicians for hire, working in a bunch of different bands in Miami, touring, and playing with pretty well-known artists. I had just moved back from LA and I was looking for a little more stability. I just wanted a home base and to stay in Miami for a while.”
As Kingsley tells it, he got together with Derek Cintron and Joshua Stedman, the other guys in the band. They started just a project to fulfill a contract at the Loews Hotel in Miami Beach.
“I guess maybe we kind of look a little alike, or have the same height, hairstyle, and build. I'm not really fat, but I'm definitely not as skinny as the other guys. And we sing really well together,” said Kingsley. And he is right. When they sing, their voices blend seamlessly like a single instrument, creating a unified and resonant sound—like siblings. People asked them all the time if they were brothers. And their ready reply would be, “Nah, we're brothers from other mothers. And that quickly merged into “We’re brothers of others.” And the name stuck.
Officially in 2014, Brothers of Others became a company. “ We played with other bands, but Brothers of Others was bringing in the most income, and it was the most exciting. So we just all said, let's make this our full-time thing,” said Kingsley.
Their sound is unique because they blend different styles, but they fall best under alternative rock. But they also play Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, classic rock, Americana, and funk. But really, they are an American band that covers a lot of ground.
“We’re songwriters, but we also are interpreters of other songs,” explained Kingsley, who likes to play 50% pop—the songs that you already recognize—the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Coldplay, to name a few.
And the other 50%? Originals.
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It’s always refreshing when you see a band that rotates. Now, he’s on drums—oh wait! Now he’s on guitar…on keyboards.
“Well, we always put on a good show,” said Kingsley, who reminds us of the Grateful Dead. “The Grateful Dead never played the same show twice, and that's kind of like us. We really go off of the vibe and the energy of the audience. So if the audience is kind of digging more of our funkier sound, then we do more of that. If the audience is resonating more with, like, a Led Zeppelin type of vibe, then we go more classic rock, rock n’ roll.”
After they play a few songs, they can gauge the audience. And they know the West Palm Beach crowd. Over six years ago, they had a residency at The Colony in Palm Beach, where they played every Saturday for six months. Now they play there once a month.
That fan base followed them to Clematis by Night. And as Kingsley described them—a really cool crowd.
“We like playing for that group because I would say Palm Beach and West Palm have more of the style that we kind of are into—similar influences,” he concluded.
For Brothers of Others fans, the band hopes to be in the studio by the end of the year and release some new material by springtime. Visit brothersofothers.com for the band's latest news and releases.