Grabbin’ A Slice With Brothrly

After seemingly coming out of nowhere, presence pop duo Brothrly has been making some noise with three very strong singles released so far (“Forever”, “Different”, and “Quiet”), as well as highly stylized social media content.

“Forever” is their newest single, out this past Friday, and the song is super glossy and catchy, achieving a unique feat by combining vibes in a way that isn’t easy to do but is so rewarding for listener: the sound is both chill and upbeat. It is extremely well-produced, while still having a bedroom pop feel. “Forever” is short and sweet with massive replay value.

I sat down with the two men themselves, Lane Simkins and Sawyer Weber, at Five Points Pizza in East Nashville to chat all things Brothrly, and also to indulge in some of the best pizza you can get in this town.

Welcome to Five Points Pizza here in East Nashville, gentlemen. Thank you for meeting up with CLIFTN.

Lane: “Mhmm!”

Sawyer: “Absolutely!”

Could you both describe the pizza you went with and give a rating?

Lane: “So, we got The Boss. It’s a standard cheese pizza with pepperoni, Italian sausage, and local hot honey. I’d rate this an 8.7/10. It’s a little hot (temperature).”

Sawyer: “I strongly agree. If you hold the piece straight out, it holds its form. It doesn’t flop over. Perfect amount of sauce. It’s tasty. It’s good. The meat’s great. What did you say, 8.7? It’s right up there. I’d probably give it an 8.2.”

If Brothrly were a pizza, what would that look like?

Lane: “That’s a great question. I think Brothrly would probably be something a little zesty, similar to this pizza. It would have a hot honey or similar sauce. Or a truffle sauce. Definitely something classic with some zest.”

Sawyer: “With some chipotle aioli and jalepenos for sure.”

What does the name Brothrly mean to you both?

Lane: “We’re both from right outside Philadelphia, city of brotherly love.”

Sawyer: “Lane and I have been best friends for the last 11 years and we’ve become absolute brothers. Separated at birth. I’ll say too we are brothers in Christ as well.”

Lane: “Yeah, we both grew up in the church.”

Sawyer: “Worship leaders and stuff.”

What is the mission statement of the band, if there is one?

Lane: “We want to create something light, where people experience joy listening to the music. Something fun, engaging, and energetic that pushes back against ‘downer’ music. Really, it’s something that wouldn’t sound like anything on either pop or Christian radio. Finding a space to meet people where they’re at.”

Sawyer: “Yeah, not shoving anything down anyone’s throat. Being like, ‘hey, we experienced this joy and newness of life and we want everyone to experience that.’ I think there’s a picture: Brothrly is a house and we’re believers and not everyone is. We don’t want to just look out the window and say hi, we want to go out in the yard and meet them there and love them and hopefully through the music they experience that. Bring them into the Brothrly family.”

Lane: “There’s this big beautiful house with food and everything you want, to keep that for yourself and not share is living in an empty house. Sharing that is what faith and Brothrly is all about. There is this community here that we’d love you to join.”

With presence pop you have a very unique and stylish genre blend of indie pop and worship, how did that come to be?

Sawyer: “Lane and I have been doing music together ever since we became friends. Over time, we grew a sound with a ton of influences from both Christian music and non-Christian music: The 1975, Lany, etc. as well as all the folky stuff that Lane was into. The synth sound mixed with the genuine, authentic feeling you get from folk music feels real and fun.”

Lane: “I think something that’s easy to miss with our music is a lot of the melodies and lyrics are coming from that folk influence with so much of it coming from the acoustic guitar.”

Do you think artists that incorporate religion into their music get unfairly boxed in?

Lane: “I think so from a few aspects. I think some people come in with an assumption because of the bad taste many have with personal, childhood experiences where there was something negative with religion. In our world, it’s often framed as a harmful thing. I can’t say I haven’t experienced some of those same things and perspectives, but I think it boxes artists in with how our culture views it and how labels are working in the CCM (Christian contemporary music) space. If it doesn’t go to radio and isn’t accepted by all generations and platforms, they say that there isn’t enough scripture or doesn’t mention Jesus enough. The song won’t get played on the radio because it isn’t ‘Christian enough.’”

Sawyer: I think a lot of times for Christian artists it’s easy for them to get stuck in the church. This is a big thing for Lane and I that we talk about often. If you look in the Bible, the last thing Jesus did was stay in the church. He’s having dinner with non-believers, people that don’t walk with him. I feel like a lot of Christian artists nowadays get stuck playing church events, which is great don’t get me wrong, but what is their mission statement here? They’re preaching to the choir. They’re not reaching new ears. We should be getting out of the church and making music that reaches people that have never set foot in a church before and make it fun and palatable so that it doesn’t have the same stereotypical sound of church music.

Lane: “I think too that the language found in worship music is hard for a lot of people who didn’t grow up listening to that music and they don’t get a lot of the lyrics because they didn’t come from that world.”

Sawyer: “I think some of it is the fault of the artist for not trying to step out and break out of those walls. I guarantee that people will hear that Brothrly makes ‘Christian songs’ and some will box us in and say we’re just CCM artists, and they have already been saying that.”

Is that something Brothrly is trying to change?

Lane: “We’re trying to disrupt this. It’s the way it’s always been, and we want to upset the industry. We’re going to go against the grain. We’re not CCM, we’re not pop, but presence pop is an interesting take because it’s kind of both, kind of neither.”

Sawyer: “Yeah, the biggest thing is that it’s real, it’s genuine. The things we write about are things we’ve experienced in our lives, not just using popular church lingo for lyrics.”

Lane: “For us religion, God, and faith is not a marketing tactic.”

Sawyer: “It’s our personal walk and belief and we’re not sugarcoating it.”

Are there any upcoming live performance or touring plans?

Lane: “How do I say this…”

You may assert your 5th Amendment rights if you wish.

Sawyer: “No, we have big plans. When the time comes, make sure you come to a Brothrly concert because it’ll be one of the best experiences of your life. We’re working on the logistics to make it happen. We’re not just going to show up and stand there on stage with instruments. It’s going to be an experience. It’s going to blow your mind.”

Lane: “I think we’ve held ourselves back from pushing into live performances because when we do it we want it to mean something. We want it to be a space that feels incredible, not just two guys singing at you. We want it to be a community experience.”

Sawyer: “Intentional. We want every single person who comes to the show to walk away and be like, ‘what the heck happened?’”

Do you consider Brothrly to be a Nashville band?

Lane: “No. I think being a Nashville band, being somebody who does live here myself, means that you’re active and playing around town and growing your audience here. For us, this journey has been growing in multiple locations at the same time. While we work out of Nashville, I wouldn’t say we’re a Nashville band.”

Sawyer: “Yeah, that’s a good way to put it. As someone who has worked and lived in Nashville in the past, I agree completely.”

Is there any message you’d like to leave your fans?

Sawyer: “I’m just kind of blown away by the response to it all. How it’s been accepted. It brings joy to my heart that I feel like Brothrly is succeeding in our mission so far in making people feel joy.”

Lane: “I feel grateful for how it’s launched and the feedback we’ve gotten, it’s been received so well. We’re thankful for the people that have believed in the project and pushed us along as well.”

Stream “Forever” now and follow Brothrly to stay up to date on what’s next for this exciting presence pop duo. If you live in Nashville or are passing through town, be sure to stop at Five Points Pizza and tell them Lane and Sawyer sent you. They’ll know what to do.