The sibling advantage

Fateema Sayani, The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Thursday, January 31, 2008

Curtis has the baby face that belies his wisdom; Matthew parlays his magnetic stage presence even when nowhere near a riser. The two play as The Brothers Chaffey. Curtis, 28, is on lead guitar, with Matthew, 29, on rhythm guitar and lead vocals along with their bandmates Dave MacDonald (bass) and Nick Diak (drums).

Since coming together in 2004, they've graced Ottawa's club stages, finding a receptive audience at Irene's Pub and the Black Sheep Inn where the crowd likes dancing to the country tunes that are more barroom than backwoods.

The middle and youngest of three children, Matthew and Curtis grew up in Ottawa and found roots rock early playing as teenagers in their high school band The Stoned Poets and later as the Midnight Riders, so named for The Allman Brothers song.

The band toured across Canada and after that fizzled out, Matthew started his own band and asked his kid brother to join. "This was his dream before it was my dream," Curtis says. "Matthew helped me figure out that I wanted to do this as well."

Matthew says Curtis has come a long way. "He wasn't so much of a lead guitarist when he started out, but now he turns heads every time he plays a solo."

Curtis plays a B-bender guitar, which mimics the sound of a pedal steel. "It adds a relly nice tone and dynamic," Matthew says.

As well as other brother bands - in Ottawa, The Watters Brothers come to mind - the advantage of rocking with your sibling is a shared history and ability to hash out differences. The Chaffey choice? A bit of after-school-furniture-smashing, wrestling ruckus. "We used to get into it when we were younger and a little bit of that dynamic carries into what we're doing now," Matthew laughs.

These days they're building on the country-with-a-scraping-of-soul sound, finding a rock bend to kick up the hum. Their 2005 album Harbord Street Soul was all hurtin' and howlin', while their 2008 album - set for a spring release - capitalizes on the rock 'n' roll leanings.

The Brothers Chaffey have been working on the songs and arrangements for the past year, sounding them out at shows and in practice. The duo will head to Ken Friesen's Almonte studio in coming weeks. Friesen was at the helm for Hawksley Workman, Jeremy Fisher and, most interestingly, The Sadies, a band that's managed to stamp rock 'n' soul to country.

Soundwise, that's where The Brothers Chaffey are headed. The Brothers Chaffey play Irene's Pub, 885 Bank St, tomorrow at 9:30 p.m., $6.