Joined by a collection of indie-minded bands on their Love Is All Around Us Tour, alt-pop duo He Is We played for the first time at D.C.’s 9:30 club to a fan base that has been growing since the Tacoma, Wash., duo hit the charts.
Their album, “My Forever,” released on Universal Motown, debuted on Billboard’s Heatseekers Album at No. 6 and almost immediately climbed to No. 3 on iTunes’ Pop Album chart. The band’s perfect blend of melodious acoustic guitar and idyllic vocals only enhance the fresh and intoxicating anthems of love and passion that flow through their lyrics. In an interview with The Eagle, vocalist Rachel Taylor and guitarist Trevor Kelly discussed their rapid transition from two friends working at a local music store to musicians signing a major label deal.
After performing to a group of eager fans, Kelly, in a sensible, candid tone, said that while they only hear about their Billboard chart positions from Taylor’s dad, “the fan response has been humbling and we’re really excited.”
“The band grew from a lack of challenges at our job at the music store,” Taylor said. “Our boss didn’t let us play with the instruments, so when he would leave we would practice and it grew from there.”
The two explained their desire to write music that spoke and appealed to just about everyone. The band’s name is a way of reaching out to people in every community and letting them know the lyrics could be about whomever the listener wanted them to be about. Kelly spoke of the importance of a band’s name.
“We wanted our fans to know we sing for everyone and since ‘OneRepublic’ was taken, we came up with a different name” that highlighted the same idea, Kelly said.
The group’s hit single, “Happily Ever After,” has achieved rave reviews. The duo has folksy, revitalizing anthems like Kelly’s favorite, “Prove Me Wrong,” a song that, as a metaphor for the band’s progress, started as a simple idea that turned out to be very successful. Taylor’s favorite, “Forever and Ever,” is a song she dedicated to her fiancée to express how much she loves him.
He Is We’s progress has been a fast track to success. Their journey from small-town friends to a recognized, thriving band has been quick, but the duo said they have learned and grown since they began. They added that the support of their families and the hands-off, encouraging approach of their label, Universal Motown, have made it a natural process that has allowed for the writing of many songs.
“Every time we go to the label, they treat us like a family,” Kelly said. “Fans get worried when bands get signed by big label companies. I know that as a fan, I do, because they change the essence of the band and bring in writers. But we’ve been treated as part of a huge family of artists.”
They went on to add that they do not have a writing process – songs just flow naturally no matter where they are, and the label respects that.
Their appearance at 9:30 club was a pleasant and refreshing addition to the show’s lineup. Coupled with Trevor Kelly’s dulcet guitar, Taylor performed the album’s single as well as songs like “All About Us,” which is about feeling the “poison-like effects” of being in love, and “Fall,” an ode to women that highlights that “when women fall in love they give it their all,” which closed on a beautiful instrumental ending that simply mesmerized the listeners.
For a debut record that has sold quite well since its digital release in January and its physical release in March, “My Forever” has set the band on the path for success.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
