The Wright Brothers

Working with members of your family is not always an easy thing. There are four brothers though, who don’t seem to share the same opinion. Jacob, Jeremy, Joe and Johnny Wright, also known as The Wright Brothers, are four of seven siblings who decided to join forces and form the band of their dreams. Born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma they grew up in a musical household, with both their parents trying to pass on to their children the love for music they shared.

With their family’s support and the trust on each other’s natural talent, they overcame all the apparent obstacles that every new band faces and released their debut EP with the title You, Me and the Universe on Christmas day in 2012. Self produced -under their own label- and with “love” being the common theme of the six songs included in the album, they managed to receive lots of encouraging words and reviews to keep up the good work. And they never stopped working. Ever since that day, those four talented young boys have done a lot to take their progressive/cinematic/rock tone to a new level. They also “added” a new member to the band, which is none other than Joe’s newly born son, Hans.

Lately they’re working on their new songs for which they are extremely proud of and until the release of a new album, Rock Revolt Magazine speaks with them about music and hopes, and declares The Wright Brothers as INDIE BAND OF THE WEEK.

(CON'T with band interview on webpage) - Rock Revolt Magazine

If you've never been to Tulsa, Oklahoma, you may not be aware of just how big the sky is. When there isn't much terrestrial elevation to speak of, and not but a few small clusters of skyscrapers blocking your view, there's horizon everywhere you look, and the vastness of the atmosphere and beyond never escapes your attention.

One of my favorite songwriters, John Moreland, once wrote a song noting the significance of the "Endless Oklahoma Sky." It's that very sky that must have served as a source of inspiration for The Wright Brothers' EP entitled You, Me, and the Universe.

The six-track offering opens with "Awakening," an epic power-pop tour-de-force boasting far more larger-than-life qualities than you're likely to have prepared yourself for. Vocalist Jacob Wright soars above an impressive arrangement of wildly fluttering guitars and synths, only to lightly float back to earth to join in tastefully musical harmonies with his brothers.

After "Awakening," the rest of the record unfolds, each track more grandiose than the one before. The Wright Brothers have been sure to include all the musical elements that any modern pop-rock fan would be looking for, but have dramatically raised the stakes in orchestrational immensity for the genre.

Never letting go of the idea that this record was inspired by the sky, I couldn't keep from imagining light-speed space travel when I first laid ears on the exciting opening synth lines of the third track, entitled "New Science." The following track, "The Waltz" momentarily shifts gears with the gentle breeze of acoustic guitars and a relentlessly infectious humming/whistling melody in the introduction.

Now, don't get me wrong - if you enjoy a good pop record, You, Me, and the Universe doesn't disappoint. However, one thing that is glaringly obvious about this record is that the songs plead to be heard in a live performance setting. It really doesn't matter how much money you spent on your headphones - they won't do these songs justice.

When you really get down to it, I most certainly would recommend picking up or downloading a copy of The Wright Brothers' You Me and the Universe. But what you need to do, really, is make a point to catch them live. - Ears and Fingers

Patience is definitely a virtue.

Local rock prodigies The Wright Brothers are a prime example.

By all accounts, you’d think this group of talented, tight-knit, multi-instrumental Tulsa siblings from a musical household would have formed their pop-rock combo a long, long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away.)

In fact, the eldest three members — Jonny, Jacob and Joseph Wright — have been writing, recording and playing music since the early 2000s, just not always together.

They each spent years in and out of various musical projects before finally deciding in 2005 to form their own band, subsequently playing shows around town under the names GloSoul and Lightworks.

It would be another few years, however, until youngest brother Jeremy completed their lineup and the quartet changed their moniker to The Wright Brothers.

By that point, the band members had already embarked on a lengthy period of writing and recording at their home studio, working on what would become their transcendently beautiful, six-song debut EP, “You, Me and the Universe,” which they finally released in December 2012.

As it turns out, the wait was certainly worth the end result. “You, Me and the Universe” is nothing short of a sonic tour-de-force, perfectly capturing the band’s layered, complex, prog-rock-inspired “space/rock-dream/pop” sound.

“When Jeremy joined the band, it just seemed like a no-brainer that we call ourselves The Wright Brothers — that’s just who we are,” Jonny says. “We also think it’s very fitting musically. We love the concept of flight. We’re pretty obsessed with space and the cosmos and often describe our music as ‘soaring.’”

As for why the process of recording their EP took more than two years to complete, the answer is simple: the band is prolific ... and meticulous.

“We literally had dozens and dozens of songs we needed to get out of our heads,” Jonny says. “After we had a good collection of demos recorded, we decided to pick five or six songs and make a fully produced EP.”

He says that from the beginning the band put a premium on composing and creativity over live shows, shutting themselves away in the studio until their debut was complete.

“Our approach is definitely a lot different than most bands in that respect,” Jonny says. “Most bands focus on gigging all the time ... a lot of their songs are written that way. It’s the blues or jazz way of doing things ... playing three to four nights a week and developing your craft and process that way.

“We have more of a classical process: we spend a lot of time working on composing, writing and arranging, subsequently recording it. Then we debut it live.”

The band’s strategy seems to be working. Appropriately enough, they debuted “You, Me and the Universe” at the Center of the Universe festival this past July and have since gone on to play numerous shows around town to rapturous response, even placing first at the Guts Church Talent Showcase in 2013.

“We really love playing this stuff live, and the response has been great,” Jonny says. “I think people are not only impressed with the scope of it, but also the fact that it’s four brothers who are creating this style of music.” - Tulsa People Magazine