(Premiere) The Hirst Brothers New Music Video “Nah!” + Interview
The Hirst Brothers have just released a new music video for their music video Nah!, tackling the issues of social media and fake personalities/artists in today’s climate. Shot by Dropout Entertainment, the music video features the funky, fun and authentic trio playing a whole range of characters and puts them in a series of sterotypical music video settings in different genres. Johnny says.
“Nah!” considers insecurities about the music industry and refusing to be inauthentic just to gain attention. Transparency, authenticity, and humility are what the Hirst Brothers are all about.”
“It’s about time we start to encourage people to be themselves – not what you think people want to see or hear – but your truest, most authentic self” says Mark
Alongside the new single, The Hirst Brothers are proud to announce the release of an EP that captures their easy-going and electrifying style – a seamless blend of Hip-Hop, Rock, and Funk that showcases genuine and relatable lyrics over rhythmic and powerful music. “Groove Town,” is launching February 1st, 2022. The EP has drawn the attention of many already, including rising TikTok personality Stoney McBlaze who is “stoked” on the Hirst Brothers sound.
The Ontario-based brothers make music with a purpose. After their youngest brother Jake was diagnosed with a condition rendering him legally blind, the Brothers began using music to raise funds for vision research. “Music is a universal language and regardless of the quality of Jake’s vision, he’ll always be able to listen and enjoy,
The Brothers are also passionate about helping other indie artists, which started by hosting a podcast focused on exposing new talent, providing real feedback and of course, entertaining with their whacky, funky and raw sense of humour.
If you’re looking for another run-of-the-mill Rock album, look elsewhere. The Hirst Brothers are ready to bring you something fresh, fun, and exciting. Click above to watch Nah! by The Hirst Brothers and keep scrolling for our interview!
For anybody who hasn’t heard your music before, how would you describe The Hirst Brothers?
The Hirst Brothers is a collaborative effort by us, (brothers John & Mark Hirst) to create music that we enjoy. We try to incorporate inspiration from a vast array of influences, including funk, indie rock, dance, hip-hop and alternative music. We like the idea of creating a unique clash between the type of music you would expect to be played live with your traditional guitar, bass and drums with some more unusual elements such as funky/hip-hop influenced lyrics and layers of harmonized vocals in choruses. It’s really hard to put a label on it, but part of our vision is to create music that stretches beyond the boxes that your usual genre may hold, and of course compelling you to get up and dance.
You’ve just released your latest single and music video Nah! can you tell us about the message behind the song?
Nah! is a really fun song that lays the foundation for the brand that is the Hirst Brothers. Uninterested in complying with traditional societal norms and trends, the song is a sort of anthem for those that want to go against the grain. The lyrics play on some of the habits we see online and confirms to our audience that we aren’t interested in faking an act for social media and clicks, we are authentic, genuine and a little weird. Take it or leave it.
What originally inspired the song?
Like all Hirst Brothers songs, we start with jam practice and continue building on spontaneous ideas and riffs between guitar and bass. Once we come up with a groove and sound that we like, we typically have brainstorm sessions to come up with a theme/idea for what kind of message we want the song to convey. In this case, the “nah” parts of the chorus were hummed out as a placeholder for the melody, which eventually became the actual chorus for the song and inspired a lyrical story about what we want to say “nah” to.
Can you tell us about the music video behind Nah!?
Creating visual concepts for Nah! was extremely easy, as we thought it would make sense to play off the exact social media trends we were rebelling against. It’s almost sarcastic in the sense that we did everything we could to go over the top and outrageous, so that from the outside-in it appears as though we are striving for attention. It isn’t until the listener takes a closer look and examination that they
realize we are making fun of those types of people.
The video features a wide range of costumes, where did they come from?The Hirst Brothers do truly love costumes. We can frequently be found at our cottage with theme-parties, outrageous outfits and looks, all to try and get a laugh out of our friends and family. Normally, none of that would be captured or posted online. Luckily, this hobby of dressing outrageously plays into the concept for our video, and so sourcing outfits was merely a trip to the Hirst Brothers costume box.
What was one of your favourite memories from the video shoot?
The shoot was an absolute blast. Being the first time we’ve worked with someone else for shooting a video, we didn’t know what to expect. I think we can both agree that the best memory was watching Jesse’s face while we were playing and shooting different scenes. The sheer energy and excitement from him was contagious and we all knew when we were getting a good shot.
The single is being followed up by your upcoming EP Groove Town” which is launching on Feb. 1st, what can you tell us about the album?
As our first EP, Groove Town is a 4-song compilation of Hirst Brothers tracks that fit together like a puzzle. There is some variation in style between the songs, but the songs all tell a story about our lives, interests and influences. We think many of the messages and concepts in each song are very relatable and fun, and when compiled together it gives great insight into what is to come from the Hirst Brothers in the future.
Your music has caught the attention of rising TikTok personality Stoney McBlaze, can you tell us about how that interaction came to be? And what are your thoughts about the importance Tik Tok will play in the lives of musicians in 2022?
Stoney McBlaze started gaining popularity on TikTok while we were working through final steps of our EP and in the midst of recording episodes for our podcast; The Hirst Brothers New Music Review. He seemed like a genuinely cool guy and when we asked if he’d like to guest on the podcast he was “stoked.” After chatting for a few hours and learning about his passion for music, we sent him the unfinished tracks and Mr. McBlaze can actually be credited with naming the EP. We think TikTok is a very powerful tool for getting quick engagement from an audience. As newer generations have a shorter and shorter attention span and desire for consuming content, TikTok could be super helpful in getting attention very quickly.
However, it also takes a lot of effort, time and persistence. Unfortunately, TikTok also required you to play into the algorithm a bit and potentially stretch yourself further than you’d like to in order to chase the virality. We’re not super interested in going “viral” we’d rather slowly build an organic fanbase of people who like us for who we are. We’ll post occasionally on TikTok for the few people that follow us
there, but not quite our cup of tea.
After your youngest brother Jake was diagnosed with a condition rendering him legally blind, you began using music to raise funds for vision research. Can you tell us about this philanthropic journey, what you’ve accomplished and what more you have in store?
Really, it’s all about purpose. We make music for a purpose. It’s not for fame, or money, it’s because we have an opportunity to do something that we love and potentially create an impact on the world in a positive way. We chose vision research because it’s obviously something that is close to us and our brother may one day benefit from. We started this journey with live fundraising concerts where we played covers, engaged with our friends/family and guests and tried to create a super fun evening that people would be willing to buy tickets to. In 2020 we were so thankful and surprised to have been able to raise over $14k for Fighting Blindness Canada. When the pandemic slowed our momentum down and didn’t allow us to continue pursuing live events, we decided to focus more on creating originals and
content instead. This is really how we got into the whole world of producing, recording and releasing our own music. We’re still working on another concert for 2022 with hopes it’ll be safe to do. Everyone really needs that at this point.
You don’t only create music, but you promote other indie artists as well through your podcast; The Hirst Brothers: New Music Review. Can you tell us about the podcast and what inspired it’s creation?
Absolutely. We first launched a few singles in 2020 and quickly realized that there are so many good musicians releasing music, and yet it’s really difficult to get your music in front of an audience without spending massive amounts of money. While Mark was studying in Ireland, we decided that instead of just catching up each week over Zoom, we’d record our conversations and at the same time listen to 3 new indie-artists songs per episode. This concept spiraled into the ridiculousness that is the podcast, with a crazy biscuit-rating leaderboard and variety of fun and exciting guests. The whole idea is to entertain the audience while showing you a few new
bands you may have never discovered. We love being able to help them out and have honestly discovered so many great bands and songs that have landed permanent places on our playlists.
How has the pandemic affected you as artists and do you think it will affect the sound of your music going forward?
Really the pandemic gave us the time and motivation to start creating original music. We are still learning, and most musicians would agree that there is quite a learning curve to the art of writing, recording and producing your own music. We’re hoping that going forward we can continue utilizing some of the relationships we’ve built with people in the industry and skills we’ve gained from various resources to improve the quality of our music and content so that we can continue pursuing our goal of raising funds for vision research. If you were to listen to the music we produced pre-pandemic and compared it to Groove Town, there is a massive difference in just the quality and style, and we are excited to see how that evolves in the future.
What were your top 3 most listened to songs of 2021?
Sue – No Suits
Goodie Bag – Still Woozy
Dang! – Anderson Pak & Mac Miller
Who are your favourite Canadian artists right now?
I’m going to stick with indie artists that we’ve discovered on our show. In no particular order I’d say Wanted Skies, Faded Element and Shane Free. Those are the first three that come to mind anyways, there are way too many to choose from and we’re super excited in the direction Canadian indie music is heading.
Asides for the new EP, what do The Hirst Brothers have planned for 2022?
We’re working on a variety of things for next year. Including but not limited to season 2 of the podcast with a new and improved format. New music, as we have a few singles to release and our second EP which has been in the works for many months already. Continuing filming and releasing music videos for Groove Town songs, as well as new unreleased music. Live shows and fundraising events. Last but not least, we’re looking forward to connecting more with people and social events. We’ve met so many great local people throughout our journey and we really look forward to a safe way to interact, play shows, help promote, and get more involved.
Do you have any last messages for our readers?
A huge thank you to anyone that has read this and helped support our journey thus far. An even bigger thanks to Jesse and Shannen at Dropout for being fantastic supporters of our journey and putting together an amazing music video for us. We can’t wait for the next one – it’s going to be even bigger and better than ever.
