Q&A: Duo BROODS speaks on whirlwind success, working with Lorde’s producer

A few years ago, brother and sister Caleb and Georgia Nott, of the New Zealand alternative band BROODS, were living in a town of less than 50,000 people. And now, according to SoundCloud, more than 40 times that many people have listened to their single “Bridges.” BROODS began gaining a lot of buzz in the music world after working on its first EP and now its new record “Evergreen” with Lorde’s producer, Joel Little. The duo also received exposure when opening for Sam Smith on part of his U.S. tour in September.

The Daily Bruin’s Leyla Kumble spoke with Caleb and Georgia Nott before their show at the El Rey Theatre on Monday, while they are on tour promoting “Evergreen,” which was released earlier this month. The two talked about their journey from playing in a high school talent show to headlining their own show.

Daily Bruin: When and how did you start writing music?

Caleb Nott: There were so many instruments lying around the house when we were kids.

Georgia Nott: We didn’t really have a choice.

CN: And we were never allowed to play video games. We had one (PlayStation) once and Georgia broke it … but it was mainly in high school we started writing because we had this awesome music teacher who made you write your own music and perform your own music.

DB: What is your songwriting process like?

CN: We write together most of the time and sometimes we write separately but when we write separately, it’s a completely different kind of writing. Georgia writes just lyrics and melodies and piano.

DB: Does working with your sibling change the band dynamic at all?

GN: We balance each other out, not only as musicians but also as people. We are very different. It’s kind of like an opposites attract situation. It’s just that the things that I struggle with, Caleb makes up for. It’s kind of like a “two halves make a whole” type of thing.

DB: What were the exciting and challenging things about writing your first record, “Evergreen”?

CN: The challenging part was that we only had five weeks. (Time constraints) make you write and focus on the good ideas you have, like you don’t spend time on songs you’re only 50 percent on. I feel like everything that came out of it was really positive. Only one or two tracks didn’t make the album. That’s all we wrote.

GN: We wrote some half songs and gave up on them just to get it done on time. We had a really good producer that we’ve known for a while. So we got to skip the process of hiding the lyrics and your feelings, being like, “I don’t want to tell you what the song’s about.” It’s honest. Which makes it easier because it makes it a lot easier. It means that other people can, one, take the weight off of what you’re feeling, and two, add another perspective to it. There’s more than one side to some songs.

DB: Since Little is Lorde’s producer, and Lorde is also a New Zealand artist, were you afraid of getting pigeonholed?

CN: We had been working with Joel before (he worked with Lorde). It doesn’t bother us. When he first started working on it, he played me Lorde’s music. I was like, “Wait, that’s so good.”

GN: He asked us what music we thought we’d write.

CN: And I told him exactly what I wanted to write. And he said, “I think I’ve just been working on that,” and played us her stuff. So we decided we had to do it differently.

DB: What inspired you while writing “Evergreen”?

GN: We just wrote about things that were on our mind. There’s heaps of love songs, and everything that we’ve been going through as BROODS, like leaving home behind.

CN: We had no massive vision of what the outcome was going to be when we started it.

GN: That’s when it’s the most honest, when you just say what you’re thinking.

DB: What’s been the best part about getting so much success and buzz so fast?

CN: I was looking at my favorite group (Bombay Bicycle Club), one I’ve been following for quite a few years, and I realized I’m playing the same venues as them and that’s surreal for me.

Compiled by Leyla Kumble, A&E contributor.