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Ryan and Sam Weber have been
playing music together since Sam received a guitar for
Christmas when he was eight years old. Ryan, two and half
years older than Sam, picked up the bass and soon the brothers
were playing shows all over their native Westminster, Maryland
in bands such as Illegal Aliens and the Northern Lights. After
finishing high school and traveling to cities such as
Nashville, Memphis, and Amsterdam, the Brothers decided to
send a demo tape to Ronnie Hawkins, whom they
have idolized since they saw his performance in (Martin
Scorsese's award-winning 1976 concert documentary of The
Band's farewell performance) ‘‘The Last Waltz.’’
Hawkins was so impressed with
the Weber Brothers’ talents that he invited them to his
house north of Peterborough to attend his 90 day
‘‘Rock and Roll Boot Camp.’’ Ryan and Sam had
no idea that this consisted of little rock and roll and a lot
of manual labour, but after three months of living and
rehearsing on Hawkins’ farm, the brothers became members of
Ronnie’s world famous band ‘‘The Hawks.’’ Under the wing
of the Hawk they learned the importance of rehearsing daily,
leadership and group dynamics
Having undergone heart surgery
and later diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Ronnie Hawkins was
only playing a handful of shows a year. The Brothers decided
to strike out on their own and quickly became tuned into the
Peterborough, Ontario music scene, building a loyal fan base
with their high energy rock and roll sets. On October, 4th
2002 the Weber Brothers were asked to take part in a tribute
to Ronnie Hawkins held at Massey Hall. At the age of 18 and 20
the brothers played along side their heroes Garth
Hudson and Levon Helm of The Band as
well as musicians like Jeff Healey, Kris
Kristofferson, Domenic Troiano and
the Tragically Hip.
The Weber Brothers celebrated
the release of their debut album ‘‘149 Lake
Street’’ January 11, 2003 with a sold out show at
Market Hall, featuring special guest Garth Hudson of
The Band on keyboards. The following year saw the
brothers tour across Canada and the United States where they
met another idol, John Fogerty, played a
private performance for Robbie Robertson in
his Los Angeles office as well as an audition for
Chuck Berry in St. Louis at Blueberry
Hill. 2004 has been another big year for the Weber
Brothers, boosted by their appearance in the CTV documentary
Ronnie Hawkins- ‘‘Still Alive and Kickin’’ which aired
August 20th. Their 2nd album, ‘‘Lost
and Found’’, (released May 15, 2004 with Johnnie
"B Goode" Johnson as their special
guest) was supported by a tour that has taken the band to
Lindsay, Ottawa, Belleville, Timmins, Toronto and all places
in between and beyond. "Lost and Found" recently
received NOW magazine's "Critics' Pick" and
garnished a NNNN rating.
April 23, 2005, billed with Leon
Russell, The Weber Brothers released their 3rd album
entitled "Bare as Bones" .
Recorded and mixed by Alec Fraser, award winning producer of
the acclaimed Liquid Toronto Recording Studio. Among his many
accolades, Alec has recorded and or produced multiple WC
Handy, Juno, Mapleblues and Canadian Indie Awarded CD`s for
many international artists. Alec also assisted the production
of the Weber Brothers first album "149 Lake Street".
"Bare as Bones" features an acoustic duo setting,
with Sam and Ryan Weber as the contributing musicians.
Harmonies are found across this disc, backed by dog house slap
bass and thumbin' style guitar playing.
The combined album tour
"Lost Bones" delivers an exciting variety of
acoustic sets and a full band sound with a highly talented
brass section. The Weber Brothers touring band features
Ryan Weber (bass/vocals), Sam Weber (guitar/vocals), Derek
McKendrick (drums), Shai "Cookie" Peer (keyboard),
Jim Usher (saxophone), Greg Weichel (trumpet) and Justin
Hiscox (trombone).
In
the summer of 2005, The Weber Brothers were offered a spot in
a rejuvenated Ronnie Hawkins’ band as ‘The
Hawks’ and can be found backing the legendary Hawk
at concert halls across North America as well as fronting The
Weber Brothers band in support of their 3 independent album
releases
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