RiesBrothers Creative Souls Featured Reel by Noemi Creative Souls
How high does the mountain go? Are we ready to climb it and keep on when the ropes burn up? It takes an immeasurable amount of courage, purpose, and determination to pursue our creative dreams and feel motivated enough to get up after sliding off the gravelly mountain. The Ries Brothers have been on the climb as rays of sunshine, bonded by mutual love and respect, with the same artistic aspirations, filling the world with fabled music.
The Ries Brothers, Charlie (lead vocals, drums, keyboard bass), and Kevin (guitar, background vocals), are a beloved musical duo from St. Pete, Florida. They have several albums under their belt, with long-time favorite singles such as Street Lights, Echoing Dream, Road Map, Something, and Live at Sugarshack. Their blend of rock, blues, funk, and reggae wraps you in a blanket of milk and honey making you feel at ease and joyous.
Charlie and Kevin’s maternal grandparents were classical musicians, setting the road for them to find their way into the music world. Growing up in the hot Summers of Florida, Charlie would look for anything that had an air conditioner. One of those Summers, at the age of 6, his mom offered him a few recreational activities to choose from, and Charlie picked the piano, more so for the air conditioning, but the piano gave him a good base for music. All the while, Kevin was getting very familiar with the guitar, eventually learning to play the ukulele, bass, and “anything with stings,” as Kevin puts it.
The brothers were in bands in middle school but realized they were the only ones showing up to practice. They were passionate enough about music to decide to start their musical duo, The Ries Brothers, making this the career of their lives. Charlie started to play bass on the piano and 10 years later, it remains their base sound. “Music helped us to be together,” their 4 years apart doesn’t represent any conflict between the brothers. They share that they fight more at home than when they work together.
The Ries Brothers have a smooth way of crafting their songwriting sessions, with Kevin writing the main riff, Charlie crafting a melody from it, and they both work on the lyrics. Starting with two original songs and playing some off-the-chain covers, Charlie was just 22 and Kevin 18 when they started touring around town, recalling how Kevin had to leave the bars each time after the gigs because of his age.
In 2017, they reached out to Sugarshack and proposed to do a session. A few months later, they were at the Shack recording the first of many top favorite videos on their music channel.
The duo started to grow and by 2018 they were opening for notorious bands (G Love & Special Sauce ‘18 – ‘19, Stick Figure, 311, David Shaw, amongst many others). They also headlined their own shows at local beach bars, and festivals (Sunfest, Cali Roots, Gasparilla, Rootfire and Summer Camp, Cali Vibes, and Okeechobee Music Fest., to mention a few), going regional and gradually expanding outside of Florida. They also performed in the 2023 311 Caribbean Cruise, as well as in a month-long residency cruise with Virgin Voyages, where their hit Your Friday Night was born.
In 2020, Charlie and Kevin had prepared for the biggest time of their careers, but it was taken down by the avalanche that was the pandemic. “It was hard to overcome it. The momentum was stopped,” Charlie explains that they had to cancel 40 big shows and festivals. They also faced the challenge of being dropped by an agency, but that didn’t stop the ascension towards their dreams. “We got to pull ourselves together. It is what it is, and we got to get motivated and keep on,” Charlie remembers that turbulent time that pushed them to rebuild their foundation.
“We took the time to find our groove, going inwards to find what represents us best,” Charlie and Kevin reached their true essence, leading them to write their EP, The Ries Brothers, recorded with Johnny Radelat (Gary Clark Jr.’s drummer) as producer-engineer, bringing into this EP the live sound they put on their shows.
The Ries Brothers are great performers! They can carry you through their phenomenal performance, dancing, jumping, singing along, and flowing with the crowd. Making the floor, the roof, and the entire body shake, Charlie and Kevin will help you forget about your troubles, about having unreached goals or without much sleep under your eyes, and be motivated to just have a freaking good time.
“It’s been like climbing a mountain, even though it’s been a long way, we have learned and achieved so much. It has been a gratifying ride,” shares Charlie, astonished at how, even in their hometown, they have gone from playing at a beach bar with a few spectators to filling an entire theater.
In December 2023, they embarked on the Big Something Headspace Tour, performing in every major city. Their latest single, “Destination Unknown,” is featured in the film “Plight,” and it’s available to stream everywhere.
Getting to the top means different things for everyone. Just as there are many mountains for us to choose from to climb. It can be a rigorous journey, and holding on to what we do and who we are with a passionate stance can make reaching ‘the top’ a bit easier to handle. The Ries Brothers, Charlie & Kevin, set out on a climb that has led them to become supernova musicians, innocently oblivious that they have been the mountain all along.
“Be unapologetically yourself no matter what others think of you, focus on you… We took a not-so-conventional path and have received support, but sometimes when you don’t receive the support it can be hard, and become afraid of failure. Overcome your fears and believe in what you do. Things take time and if you stick with it long enough things will happen.” – The Ries Brothers