Talking to: Hembree
© Jonny Marlow
Meet Hembree - the sunniest, dreamiest sound to come from over The Atlantic in quite some time. The Kansas City-based indie rockers’ second album Its a Dream! was released in February and finds the quintet pushing their established sound—first glimpsed on 2019’s debut House on Fire—to new, colorful zeniths. Possessing a funky looseness and hip-shaking approach that perfectly pairs with Isaac Flynn’s emotionally kaleidoscopic lyrics, It’s a Dream! is a record about getting freaky even while you’re freaking out. It’s a beyond relatable sentiment couched in music that burrows its way into your mind and stays there.
Tell us a bit more about yourselves and where you are / what you are doing at the moment.
Hi! We’re Hembree, and I’m Isaac Flynn! The band is comprised of two brothers (Alex and Austin Ward), two brother-in-laws (Eric Davis and myself) and one of my childhood best friends, Garrett Childers. So it’s a very tight-knit crew that goes back many years. Currently three of us live in LA and two of the guys live in Kansas City where the band was founded and is also where we’re all from originally.
I’m one of the LA Hembrees and I work a lot in music production and songwriting out here in between touring and writing Hembree songs. We’re currently about to go and watch the university we all went to’s basketball team play in the NCAA Final Four. By the time this is published we’ll know if our team (University of Kansas) are national champions or not. Fingers crossed!
Tell us about the music scene in Kansas City.
The Kansas City music community, much like the actual city, has really taken off over the last decade. It’s a very artist-friendly city and so many creative people have moved there to be a part of a budding arts community. The music scene is unbelievably supportive, across all genres. I think all of us from Kansas City just want to see artists from KC get attention at a national or international level, so everyone really roots for each other.
There’s a lot of civic pride within the community, and that definitely translates to the music scene. Lately some amazing things have been coming out of the city. Radkey toured with Foo Fighters, Blackstarkids signed to the 1975’s label, The Greeting Committee is selling out rooms all over the states, Kevin Morby and Waxahatchee are based in KC now. I could go on and on, but it’s so awesome to see the Kansas music scene thriving.
How did you all meet and end up forming Hembree?
I touched on this a bit with the first question, but we’re almost entirely family! That said, I met Garrett in 6th grade, and our moms discovered we both loved playing music. They would set up times for us to get together and jam, and we always talked about forming a band together and one day it finally happened. I met Eric in high school, and we played in different bands. By the time I started dating his sister, we realized we actually had a similar taste in music, and we got along incredibly well. We started playing in several bands together, and then those bands would play shows with Alex and Austin’s band. We thought Alex and Austin were just the most incredibly fun and talented people in the world, and when the opportunity opened up for Hembree to start touring more we thought “who do we want to hang out with all the time?” Obvious answer, the Ward brothers! They joined in 2018, and the chemistry with this lineup just feels so great.
Was music a big part of your life growing up?
It was a massive part of my upbringing for sure. My parents are both musicians who played in bands, and still continue to play music to this day. My dad owned a guitar shop, and we had a small home recording setup in my house growing up. I was always recording my friend’s bands and playing shows at a very young age. I was constantly surrounded by music and encouraged to pursue all of my musical goals. We’re all so fortunate to have such supportive families and friends who don’t think we’re crazy for still doing a band, which we might be! I’d say we’re all a bit of a mix of formally trained and self taught. Lets just say the best of both worlds.
Who are Hembree’s main influences?
My parents introduced me to the Beatles, Tom Petty, Blondie, The Police, Prince, The Pretenders etc. My friends and I liked a lot of bands like Jimmy Eat World, Death Cab for Cutie, Arcade Fire, hip hop artists like OutKast, and hip hop adjacent artists like Gorillaz. On this record I really fell in love with Talking Heads - that’s pretty evident in the tracks. I feel like if you mash all of these influences together, you sort of end up with Hembree.
© Jonny Marlow
Tell us all about It's a Dream!. Has it been received well?
It’s always so hard to tell when you’re on the inside of a project, but I will say I’ve never received so many texts from friends about any piece of music I’ve been a part of. It’s always so great to hear from peers that they’re really digging what you’re making. It seems like most people who have written about the record see it as a jump in artistic growth for the band, so we are thrilled about that. We really love this record and are just so happy it’s resonating with people.
What experiences and ideas shaped the album?
Weirdly, it sounds like a pandemic record, and in some ways it is, but I had written a lot of the lyrics prior to lockdown. I think we could all tell things were feeling off, it really weaves in and out of reality; not being able to decipher what is real and what is a dream. I didn’t want it to be entirely about the pandemic, but I think once we all realized the magnitude of the event, I didn’t want to stray away from incorporating some of the experiences we were going through at that time. Lastly, I wanted the record to have glimpses of optimism and hope. The hope that, despite all of life’s difficulties, it’s also a beautiful experience.
How does it differ from your previous releases?
I really like our first record, but it’s more of a straight up alt-rock record; just ten rippers front to back. The new record (in my opinion), showcases the depth of the band and really pushes our creative boundaries. There’s a real spectrum of songwriting and mood on this album, and I’m really proud of that. I feel like It’s a Dream! is a fully realized vision of the band.
Who have you loved working with the most so far?I always love working with our co-producer, e.hillman. He’s a brilliant producer who always pushes me to be as creative as possible as a writer and producer. He’s been the secret sixth member of Hembree for both of our records.
Do you have a favourite live gig highlight?
I think my favorite live show was our album release show for our first record. Our friends used to play in a wonderful band, Cowboy Indian Bear, and they reunited for the show. It was a sold out show in our hometown with our best friends; something I’ll remember forever.
What other music is exciting you all at the moment?
I’ve been really into a lot of 80s classics at the moment. I’ve been jamming The Cars, New Order, Madonna and Prince. As far as new music, I’ve been digging Yard Act and I’ve got to be honest, the new Harry Styles song blew my mind; such a jam.
Do you have any plans to hit the UK any time soon?
We really hope so! We’ve only been there once, and we cannot wait to get back. We’ve had some great support from 6 Music and Radio 1 which still blows our minds, and we really hope we can get over there for a tour soon. If any UK bands are reading this and wanna take us on the road, we’ll return the favor in the US!
What is next?
We’re going to be playing some great shows and festivals this summer in the states, and then recording and releasing some new singles. We’ve been on a real creative high lately, and we have a lot of music we want to get out into the world. I think that probably spawns from finally being able to all work together again. It’s so fantastic to be able to make music together in the same room again.
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