Chauntelle, Sherri, Stacy, and Weston DuPree, along with family friend Jonathan Wilson, make up the cool new band Eisley. The beautiful, floaty melodies on their debut EP, Laughing City, earned them the admiration of the Brit pop band Coldplay, not to mention an opening slot on their U.S. tour. Guitarist Chauntelle, 21, and songwriter Sherri, 19, dished about their first tour, mixing business with family, and what's still to come. Then listen to their single, Telescope Eyes, here.
How did you all decide to form a band? Chauntelle: I used to draw a lot and wanted to be an artist. Then one day, I picked up the guitar and my dad showed me a few chords (her dad is a drummer and her mom, a singer). That was about six years ago. Then I showed my two sisters a few chords. One at a time, we started getting into it. We didn't consider ourselves a serious band until two years ago, though. We'd been writing songs in our room, just the three of us. Eventually my parents, who ran a coffee house, booked us shows there. That's when we realized we could do this for real.
So how did you get discovered? Chauntelle: We played at clubs in Deep Ellum, Texas, on a regular basis and built a fan base. Then we did a show for a talent scout, who is also Coldplay's manager, and he signed us to Warner Bros. Now he's our manager, too.
How would you describe your music? Chauntelle: We used to listen to The Cranberries a lot so we're really influenced by them. I would call our sound melodic rock. It's ethereal and ambient and kind of dreamy. The lyrics take you to this different world — my sisters read a lot of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and fairy tale stuff.
How did you come up with the band's name? Chauntelle: A friend thought of MossEisley [a reference to a space station in Star Wars: Episode II]. We're all Star Wars fans and we felt it fit our music's celestial sound. But we didn't want to cause any legal problems like getting sued by George Lucas or anything, so we just took off Moss and left Eisley.
Why didn't you just use your real last name instead? Chauntelle: It'd be too much like Hanson and people wouldn't take us seriously. Sherri: I can see the similarities between Hanson and us — the whole home-schooled sibling thing. But as far as our music is concerned, it's totally different.
What are your personalities like? Sherri: Chauntelle is definitely the older sister. She's the one who will take the crappy bed and is always the first to be like, "Okay, I'll do it." Stacy and I are almost exactly alike. We like to have fun and be stupid and act like little kids. Weston is definitely the clown of the band. He'll have us laughing forever in practice. Jonathan definitely gets wacky with Weston, but he's more reserved like Chauntelle because he's an older sibling in his family, too.
Do you guys ever fight while on tour? Sherri: We argue, but not a whole lot. Actually, right before we went on the road with Coldplay everyone was like, "You guys are going to hate each other." But it went really well. We argued less on tour than we do at home. We're all best friends and don't have anyone else to hang out with, so we can't really afford to be mad at each other for that long.
So how was opening for Coldplay? Chauntelle: It was really fun. We'd seen them play about two years ago in Dallas and I remember thinking, "Man, that'd be cool if some day we got to play with them." I had no idea it'd actually happen. Sherri: We would get to every new venue and walk into another huge auditorium. It was ridiculous. And it was definitely encouraging to see Coldplay and know you can still just be a normal person. You don't have to turn into a big, dumb rock star.
Okay, admit it. Any crushes on Chris Martin, Coldplay's lead singer, or his band mates? Chauntelle: Not really. We were just way too busy and none of us were even thinking about relationships. Plus, they all have girlfriends and stuff. They're cute, but you know...
Listen to Eisley's "Telescope Eyes": QuickTime:HI | MID | LO WindowsMedia:HI | MID | LO
