Peter Brew-BevanSheppard, the Australian family band that brought you the joyous hit “Geronimo,” has returned with their sophomore album, Watching the Sky. Making the album was difficult, not just because the band was burnt out, but because they couldn’t stop comparing their new material to “Geronimo.”
“We were just so tired. We’d traveling for three years straight and we just needed a break…we were just creatively drained,” singer and keyboard player Amy Sheppard tells ABC Radio.
“I think the pressure did get to us in the end — we would start a song and be like, “Eh, it’s not good enough; it’s not ‘Geronimo,’” and then throw it in the [garbage]…so yeah, we definitely struggled.”
Her bandmate and brother George Sheppard says the success of “Geronimo” had become “a gift and a curse” for them.
“It’s given us all of these amazing opportunities…just three-and-a-half minutes of pop music has taken us around the world,” he explains. “But…it defined us for a long time. People were like, ‘Hey, you’re ‘Geronimo!'”
George says when the band finally realized they were too focused on “what was gonna sound good on the radio,” they went on a retreat where they “reconnected as songwriters and rediscovered exactly why we do what we do.” The melodic, uplifting Watching the Sky is the result.
“This album is definitely our coming of age, I guess,” says George, adding, “I feel like we’ve kind of grown up a bit. So if Watching the Sky is your first taste of Sheppard, we couldn’t be happier.”
And a happy band means a happy family, since Sheppard also includes sister Emma in addition to George and Amy. As George says, “If we’re gonna be on this crazy ride, we might as well be doing it together.”
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