The members:
The Wiitala Brothers are 27-year-old twins Christopher and Trevor Wiitala, who are originally from Detroit and now live in Chicago.
The history:
“We’ve been playing music together nearly all our lives,” Christopher said.
“In junior high and high school, we were in bands together and after high school, we joined a post-hardcore band called The Blamed that toured the U.S. and Europe extensively.
“We were still writing our own songs during our time in The Blamed and in 2001 we compiled a CD of songs to give to friends and called it ‘The Wiitala Brothers.’
“When the Blamed disbanded in 2003, we kept working and writing new songs for a couple of years and we played our first show as The Wiitala Brothers on Feb. 19, 2005.”
What's up with the name:
“Wiitala is our last name, so the name is pretty self-explanatory,” Christopher said. “The record we are going to make in March is called ‘Bad Blood.’
“Most of the songs written for it have been inspired in one way or another by my experience with hepatitis C, which I contracted from blood transfusions as an infant.
“As of October, I have been clear of the virus for two years, thanks to a successful treatment.”
The style:
“We want to make music full of passion and melody — music that is real and honest, and that will connect with people when they hear it,” Christopher said. “We are influenced by everything and everyone around us.”
Got anything recorded?
“We have a demo CD recorded that we sell at shows, but we’re making our full-length debut record in March, hopefully,” Christopher said.
“Chances are we will be self-releasing the record in the late spring or early summer, so keep an eye on our Web site for details (thewiitalabrothers.com).”
Tell us your future?
“Music is definitely a big part of our lives, and we want to continue to write, record and tour with the hopes of being able to do so for a very long time,” Christopher said.
“Until then, we are doing our best to play as many shows as we can. We are hoping to do some sort of national tour this summer or fall, and if we actually release our record at some point in the near future we’ll be very happy with ourselves.”
Website:
www.thewiitalabrothers.com
