The Fergies' Kahlia Ferguson Dishes On the Band!
The Fergies is an awesome up-and-coming Australian band consisting of siblings Khalia, Daniel, Joel, Nathan, and Shani Ferguson.
Kahlia Ferguson, the eldest sister and lead vocalist of the band, recently spoke with Sweety High about the origin of The Fergies and what's next for the band!
"We come from a very, very musical family!" Kahlia said. "Our Dad is like Jack Black meets John Mayer and our Mum is a classical music teacher at a private school."
Toward the end of 2007, Kahlia found a newspaper flier advertising a Battle of the Bands Competition. Kahlia immediately knew she wanted to enter, and brought the idea to her brothers and sister.
"The rest of the band loved the idea of playing to a crowd too," Kahlia explained. "We gave the competition a go just for a bit of fun and ended up coming second on our first performance ever, which was crazy!"
The band has been together ever since. All members of the band contribute to vocals, while Daniel plays the guitar, Shani plays keyboard, Nathan plays bass, Joel plays the drums, and Kahlia splits her time between lead vocals, guitar, and keys.
The Ferguson siblings are all incredibly close, which helps smooth the sometimes difficult process of being in a band.
"It's actually just like being in a band with your best friends!" Kahlia said. "We live together in the same home which is definitely a pro."
Since the band members are together all the time, they don't even have to set schedules for band practice.
"If someone randomly has an idea for a groove at 10pm, we can usually just jump into our music room and have a jam," Kahlia explained. "Our neighbours are really cool for happily letting us do that."
On top of all that, the siblings aren't afraid to speak their minds with each other.
"We can totally let each other know when something isn't working musically without worrying how it'll go down," she said.
When it comes to writing music for The Fergies, the songwriting process is different for each and every song. Sometimes, Kahlia writes a song on her own, or collaborates with the second oldest sibling, Dan.
"Other songs begin with a bass line Nathan's written or a piano line by Shani," Kahlia added. "It definitely keeps things exciting not knowing where your next song is coming from!"
Though the members of the band don't all have exactly the same musical tastes, there are a lot of musical styles that they all really love.
"When it comes to what we collectively want our direction and sound to be, we're very cohesive," Kahlia said. "I think it's kinda cool that all of us have slightly different 'top 5' lists of artists. It tends to bring different perspectives and flavours to our songs."
The Fergies have also won a number of awards for their music.
"It's always such a huge honour!" Kahlia said. "We work really hard every day to constantly push ourselves forward and make our music what it is."
Before the Ferguson siblings were known as "The Fergies," their band was called "Freak Morice", inspired by the film Madagascar.
"We all loved the quirkiness of Freak Morice, but for a long while we felt like it just didn't align with who we are," Kahlia explained. "So Joel came up with The Fergies – which is short for our last name Ferguson – and we all for sure feel like it's the best decision we could have made."
Kahlia said that the list of artists The Fergies would want to collaborate with is endless.
"I think Bruno Mars would be first on the list because we're such huge fans of his work," she said. "Justin Timberlake would definitely be on the list too. and so would Maroon 5 and Katy Perry. We're also massive John Mayer fans and I think Dan would actually die if he ever got the opportunity to jam with him."
As well as writing their own original contest, The Fergies also perform a number of extremely popular cover tracks.
"We basically choose songs and artists that align with who we want to be and where we want our music to head," Kahlia explained. "We always make sure they receive a Fergies' twist! Dan's pretty awesome at putting together our harmony arrangements. You never know what he's gonna come up with!"
The Fergies have managed to become massively popular not only because of their musical talents, but because fans find them really relatable.
Kahlia's advice for other aspiring bands and musicians is not to try to be what they aren't.
"Don't be afraid of being different," she said. "People who are going to love you want to see you being yourself, not pretending to be someone else. Embrace what's unique about you, even if it's something people have made fun of in the past."
She added that musicians should avoid unconstructive negative feedback.
"Don't respond to haters. Let it go," Kahlia urged. "Don't worry about them giving their opinion. Opinion drives our industry. Everyone loves and hates something."
Further, new writers shouldn't be afraid to write lots and lots of bad songs on their way to becoming better songwriters.
"They'll lead you down a path to great songs," she said. "And practice, practice, practice!"
The Fergies currently have a bunch of new songs they can't wait to release, inspired by The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
"We're also in planning stages of a small Australian tour next year and are hitting the studio soon to record our EP," Kahlia said. "Every week seems to bring new opportunities so life is definitely unpredictable and wonderful right now! We're excited to see what the future holds."å
Interested in The Fergies? Check out their social channels!
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