Tommy: “When we got to Callaghans, the power was out, so we soundchecked in the dark. It was going to be a good night, even if we had to play the whole show without power. We can make anything fun.

Jimmy is my brother; Galen is our cousin. We grew up singing and writing silly songs and performing them in family talent shows. One year, we came up with six or seven different genre renditions of ‘Shoefly’: we sang it, rapped it, and sang it reggae. It was bad. We kept it going and sang on trips. Our families went to Spain when we were kids. We walked up and down the streets singing Bob Marley and the Beach Boys.

Galen: “The theater folks in our family also directed us in silly plays and skits. We had a couple of days of rehearsals, then a big performance in the living room. We were a creative family who lacked inhibitions.”

Tommy: “It was a blessing to have that many adults interested in our lives.”

Jimmy: “They tolerate us now. We became less cute as we got older.”

Galen: “They are dangerously supportive of us. ‘You guys sounded great tonight.’ Thanks Mom. We’ll keep this going another year.”

Tommy: “We played in bars for fun. It wasn’t supposed to go anywhere, so we never had a band name. Some called us The Curry Boys or The Curry Brothers. We finally took some agency, getting them to call us The Currys. Then we got serious about writing songs.”

Galen: “One of us comes up with an idea and records a demo, bringing it to the group to tear apart and rewrite. We started a podcast, This Side of the Mic, during COVID to workshop songs and give each other notes.”

Tommy: “It seemed like a good idea to take a private and delicate process and air it to the public.  Every other week, we release a song demo on the podcast; this is the first time the other two have heard it. You can tell the varying levels of enthusiasm in the response.

We’re honest with each other. We have to be willing to say the chorus is great, but the verse sucks. It’s not always pretty or agreeable, but managing conflict gets us to a good place.”

Jimmy: “The podcast forces us to keep writing because one of us is always on the hook for a new song. Knowing people are listening sometimes keeps us on our best behavior.”

Tommy: “Jimmy and I can argue for hours about whether bananas or banana pudding is better. That was this week.”

Galen: “It’s exhausting.”

Tommy: “The podcast makes me more disciplined about writing. There are moments when something clicks, and the writing is easy. Other times, I come up with a great idea and write a whole song. The next day, the song sounds like garbage. That’s part of the game. It’s still rewarding when people find something valuable in our songs.”

Jimmy: “It’s hard to stop fiddling with a song while it’s a secret no one knows about. When do you say, ‘Enough,’ and let it go?”

Tommy: “Our fans donated $30,000 through Kickstarter to help us record our new album, ‘Keepers.’ Crowdfunding restructured the industry, allowing bands like us to make good professional music. We couldn’t do this without the people who care about us.”

Jimmy: “People paid in advance for new music. Now it’s just us standing in our way.”

Tommy: “We’ve been playing together for ten years, but we’re still figuring out the rules of the game. What do we like? What do we think other people like? How do we keep this fun and interesting for each other? Music is important, but our relationship is much deeper than that.  Yes, Galen. You love me, even though you won’t say it out loud.”

Galen: “I won’t say it when the recorder is on. That’s for damn sure.”

Tommy: “Let the record show Galen loves me. Honesty and laughter. That’s why this works.”

In the photo, left to right: Galen, Jimmy, Tommy