The Island boys have come home. Sebastian “Seb” and Joseph Keefe, brothers from Martha’s Vineyard and members of the band Family of the Year, will be performing with the rest of their band at Nectar’s MV on Thursday, July 7 at 8 pm.
Whether touring in Europe, performing in Texas, or recording in Los Angeles, the Keefes are rarely ever in one place for a long period of time. Despite this, however, they have not forgotten where they call home.
While Family of the Year is based in Los Angeles, the band’s roots are truly on Martha’s Vineyard. While growing up on the Island, the Keefe brothers formed the rock group Unbusted. They achieved local fame quickly and had three of their songs included on the soundtrack to the Farrelly Brothers’ film, “Stuck on You.”
They then formed the Billionaires, a band with a sound that billboard.com praised as “pure pop” and “marked by a rare intelligence.”
With Family of the Year, the Keefe brothers tried out an indie feel. The band’s music has been described by some as eclectic, but their songs are all connected by an overall sense of “excitement and youthfulness and playfulness,” drummer Seb said in an interview with goodprattle.com. “There’s a lot of music out there that’s so very serious and negative right now,” he said. “That’s not to say it’s not something very serious, and we do take it very seriously, but… I guess we take being happy very seriously.”
Evident by sold-out shows and growing number of fans on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, the band’s cheerful vibe clearly has listeners addicted. In October 2009, Family of the Year was chosen out of more than 700 bands to open for Ben Folds and the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall in Boston. Since then, Family of the Year’s success has only grown. The band spent the spring touring throughout Europe and the States and is scheduled to perform later this month at Festival des Vieilles Charrues in Brittany, France. While life for these brothers is fast-paced and their futures are filled with new and exciting ventures, Martha’s Vineyard remains to them the place where it all became possible.
Music: Family of the Year, Thursday, July 7, 8 pm, Nectar’s, airport. nectarsmv.com.
