The Band from Down Under: Sheppard

From+left+to+right+stands+Dean+Gordon%2C+George+Sheppard%2C+Emma+Sheppard%2C+Jason+Bonvino%2C+Amy+Sheppard%2C+and+Michael+Butler.

Moxie of the Sheppard

From left to right stands Dean Gordon, George Sheppard, Emma Sheppard, Jason Bonvino, Amy Sheppard, and Michael Butler.

Diana Rodgers, Staff Writer

While most people are used to hearing the melodic tunes of Selena Gomez or the unusual styling of Nicki Minaj, a new breed of pop music has found itself topping charts. Sheppard is an Australian indie-pop family band who started less than six years ago in Brisbane, Australia. The Sheppard siblings have been making hits in Australia since 2009, but are currently making their break pushed by their first hit single, “Let Me Down Easy.”

Before all of their success in Australia, and now the United States, the Sheppard family has been surrounded by music, ranging from their dad blasting Cat Stevens in the morning to piano and music theory lessons. The lessons (along with some shower singing) could not have prepared them more for their current career of preforming and writing. With the three Sheppard siblings already part of the band they soon let in Jay Bovino as their producer and guitarist, Michael Butler as the drummer, and finally, their younger sister Emma as the bass guitarist. With the six-piece band finally complete, they got a total of 30 songs under their belt before Michael Chugg  became their manager.

Currently, Sheppard is launching their debut album Bombs Away on March 10th, and it features their smash hit “Geronimo.” The song “Geronimo” uses a twist of modern pop music with folk music to create this interesting track. There has been much discussion throughout internet forums about what exactly the meaning of the song is and whether it has correlation to the Austrian military leader Geronimo, but the band disclosed to Moxie that it is about, “taking leaps of faith and doing something everybody else totally thinks is going to fail but you have the courage to see it through. You’re making a jump of defiance.”

The music video to the song it perfectly encompasses the theme of the song while still bringing light and fun to a relatively dark theme. The writer themselves agree that it is just about “laughing through tragedy and making sad things happy.”