England in 1819, a father-son band, is set to make its first appearance in Tuscaloosa Saturday at Chloe’s Cup downtown.
Comprised of father Liam Callaway and his two sons Andrew and Dan, the group is based out of New Orleans, La. The band released their third album at the beginning of 2013, and Tuscaloosa is one stop of many on the way to the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas.
“This will be our first time at SXSW, and we’ve heard it’s an awesome time, jam-packed with bands and all types of music industry people,” band member Andrew Callaway said. “There’s almost going to be too much going on to take it all in, I think, so we’re just going to try to play as much as possible and meet whoever we can.”
Although the band has never played a show in Tuscaloosa, they are hoping for a good turnout. Students regularly at Chloe’s Cup for studying and socializing said they were excited to have live performers added to the atmosphere. Presley Morgan, a junior majoring in accounting, said adding live music will be an added bonus to the already inviting environment.
“The atmosphere, coffee and service at Chloe’s are all great,” Morgan said. “I usually go there to study, but it’s such a cozy place, it makes for a great concert venue as well.”
Callaway said they hope their stop in Tuscaloosa will bring some new fans out to see the band.
“We’ve been touring all around the South for about a year now, but haven’t yet made it to Tuscaloosa,” Callaway said. “We’ve heard great things about the town, and this time we were fortunate enough for the kind people at Chloe’s to give us a date. It’s always hard coming to a city for the first time because no one really knows about you, but hopefully we can get the word out about us and our show and get some good people out.”
Callaway describes the band’s music as atmospheric textures that float seamlessly across new wave electronics, post-rock swells and dream-croon vocals, with evocative surges of sound, combined with haunting lyrics and massive chamber rock that unfurl into sweeping, evocative surges of sound. Andrew Callaway said the band’s music is comparable to a combination of Sigur Ros, Future Islands, Radiohead, Explosions in the Sky, Beach House and The XX.
Callaway said playing in a band with family can be interesting and sometimes tricky to balance family roles and band roles, but the group has found a dynamic that works for them.
“Sometimes we can get a little too closed off and locked up in our own world, but for the most part, it’s really great,” he said. “We’re really honest with each other, and we work well together.”
Midway through the band’s last tour, their touring drummer had to leave with only two weeks left in the tour. Callaway said though at the time it seemed like a disaster, it ended up pushing the band in a new direction in terms of their third album.
“The electronic drums and synths are a bit of a change for us,” Callaway said. “I have a degree in electronic music composition, which I hadn’t really been using too much, so when I filled in our sound with electronics we really liked the way it sounded. We finished out the tour, and just decided to stick with that sound. The response from our fans has been really positive as well, so I think we’ll just keep heading that way.”
England in 1819, along side opening act and local Tim Higgins, will perform at Chloe’s Cup on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The show will be free.
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