Eisley | Life, Love and Music
Written By: Jameson Ketchum

21. 21 is the average number of plays for each track I have on my iTunes for Eisley’s new record The Valley. Considering how much music wafts through this office and how much we have on our plate each month to review and analyze, I’d say that average is a pretty outstanding testament to the quality of what Eisley is putting out these days. They’ve always flown somewhat under the radar never quite breaking into super stardom but crafting a subtle yet powerful catalog of solid folksy pop tunes. With the release of The Valley, I’m sure that super stardom is just around the corner. Sherri Dupree (Bemis) answered a few of our questions as her and her band wrapped up their current tour in the Midwest.

You guys are famously known for all being family in your band. Does that make touring any less difficult since I’d assume you’re all very close?

Sherri Dupree: It makes it much easier, yes. Being that we’ve grown up around each other since we were infants, we’ve really learned how to communicate with each other, and respect each other and learn how to deal with each other’s moods or whatever it may be. No matter if you’re family or not, if you know someone on a deep level it makes it much easier to be around each other 24/7 on tour.

How about when it comes to working together? Are you a pretty well oiled machine by now or are there still differences?

SD: Everyone works together really well. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and we all help each other out. One of my weaknesses is guitar, so if we have a really important acoustic performance I have no problem handing the guitar off to our bass player Garron  (who despite being the bassist is actually an accomplished guitar player) on a tricky song so that I can really focus on my vocals. And I have the most ease talking to the audience, so my sisters kind of pass that off to me during live shows.

The Valley is such a beautiful record. Talk to us a bit about these songs, what inspired the lyrics and what you hope people will gather from the full record?

SD: The lyrics are very personal on this album, more so than ever before. I think it was the first record where we ever felt compelled and inspired enough by our own life experiences to put them into songs. We were basically children when we wrote our first two albums so feeling bold enough to do that on this record for the first time was really cathartic. It is, in many ways, a breakup album, but I hope people don’t perceive it as an album of wallowing but as a record of self discovery and self empowerment, learning from your mistakes and using them to plow ahead, and not let them hold you back.

I’m hooked on “Smarter”, can you tell me a bit about what inspired that song?

SD: It’s about losing something and realizing in the end that you actually won.

Your guys’ voices just compliment each other so well, is that something that was always there and you just discovered it or did you feel you had to work at it?

SD: Thank you! Stacy has always had a lower range naturally and mine is higher, so it has always made figuring out harmonies very easy and just gets easier as we get older and learn to be better vocalists.

I feel like you guys have always done a great job at not being pigeonholed as a contemporary Christian band but you did start out playing a lot in the church, correct? Is faith still something that you hold up high in terms of the band and what you write about?

SD: Our band actually never played church gigs, that’s what’s funny. We played a few coffee houses that were run out of churches but they were just venues run by Christians. We did grow up singing on our praise team, and that was an important part of our lives. We kind of always knew that the Christian market wasn’t something that we wanted to pursue in our career despite that. I think Christian music is very much a genre in and of itself and we also felt that Christian music has always been geared towards Christians and not the whole world, and that just wasn’t what we felt called to. We wanted to write songs about life, growth, hardships, love and learning and reach more than just the church. That was our path.

I know you probably took some heat when you began your relationship with your now husband Max Bemis and I’m sure that was difficult and uncalled for. Was there a struggle there or was it easy to ignore those naysayers?

SD: Not sure I understand how this relates to the music and interview, but perhaps you are asking because his old lyrics have ‘questionable material’? Everyone grows and we both have flawed pasts but that has made us who we are. Life is about meeting people where they are and growing with them, not judging them for what they’ve gone through or done. Max has been through so much darkness and come out of it on top. I actually didn’t get heat because people were very respectful and those who did disagree, I couldn’t have cared less!

Those people don’t know Max or myself and Max is the epitome of what many men I have met in my life should strive to be. He’s brilliant, loving, caring, selfless, kind and I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as he does to be the best version of himself every day. I’m lucky to have found him and wish there were more like him for other women!

I want to give you a chance to let readers know where we can see Eisley this Spring and Summer so have at it!

SD: We’ll be on tour all year! Look us up on our site and come see us. We’ll also be at SxSw and Bamboozle Festival. Thank you for the interview.

Check out our review of The Valley in our review section of this issue. We want to thank Sherri Dupree for speaking with us and Eisley for continuing to put out quality music time after time. Though the second to last question in this interview may seem out of place, this was a discussion amongst friends who are both huge fans of Eisley and Say Anything. There was no judgement here and the question was merely asked to gain insight into Sherri’s thoughts on some naysayers’ opinions. If you’re an avid reader of Hopecore.com Magazine then you know that we like to dive deeper than the music when we can and really gain insight into the artists’ beliefs and opinions on life and faith matters. Personally, I agree with my whole heart that Sherri’s answer is a perfect explanation and a great example of an unconditional loving relationship. I am a big fan of both Sherri and Max and the talent that God has given them. Thank you again Sherri for speaking with us.