Interview: The Drinkwater Brothers Talk About Their August 7th Return to Don't Tell Mama

After spending their pandemic reaching fans everywhere with regular social media appearances, Matthew and John Drinkwater will return to New York City with a brand-new show. The brothers who took the cabaret world by storm during the year just before the lockdown didn't lose any of their momentum because they stayed vociferously active with their online shows, writing new songs, recording an EP, and doing an online telethon - THE DRINKWATER-A-THON. John and Matt are music-making men and they are ready to return to doing that with a live audience.

On August 7th at 8 pm, the twins will open their new show at Don't Tell Mama, offering a program that will feature some of their favorite covers and a lot of their original compositions that were written for their two cds DO NOT FEED THE BIRDS and SMILING AND WEEPING, the latter of which was recorded, mixed, and mastered during the quarantine. Before Matt and John hop up on the stage of the 49th Street cabaret room, I asked if they might chat with me a bit about life in lockdown, their re-emergence, and their continually growing fanbase of social media followers.

This interview was conducted digitally and is reproduced without edit.

Hi Matt and John, welcome back to Broadway World Cabaret!

John: Thank you, Stephen, for asking us back.

I, along with the rest of the world, watched your online adventures during the last year and a half. Where did you guys get the stamina to create so much online content during the pandemic?

Matt: We had really grown accustomed to playing live for people. We were doing it all the time when everything shut down, so the stamina for performing comes naturally with the need to be able to connect to our audience.

Your social media numbers went through the rough during all this. What's the connection like between you and your online followers?

John: The connection between us and our online followers has been unreal. Through our online shows on Instagram and Facebook, we've met and become friends with so many people from around the world.

Matt: So in that way, the pandemic has made us more worldly than we were before it started. So that's been very cool.

With your new shows coming up, are you expecting to see a lot of those people in person?

Matt: We're hoping to meet in person everyone from our online shows eventually, but especially those who live in the area who can make it to the in-person shows!

Does the new show have a theme, or will it be a Drinkwater concert of your new music?

John: The new shows will be a combination of our new music that we've written and our favorite music of all time.

Matt: We're just so glad to be back and playing the songs that we love.

Speaking of new music, what has been the response to the new CD Smiling and Weeping?

John: We've been overwhelmed with the response to the new music.

Matt: We really put a lot of time and effort into it and we think that shows in the music, and the response already has really made us so excited to get to share the songs live for people.

With your ever-rising popularity, will you be booking gigs out of state?

John: As everything starts to clear up we're hoping to start up some tours of the country as well as internationally, so hopefully, we can start meeting everyone we've come to know and love online!

What is the trajectory you guys would like to see your Brother Band take next?

John: We tend to generally believe that life is like the ocean, and the waves and the tides push and pull you to wherever you're meant to end up.

Matt: So in that sense who knows what's next for us, but so far we haven't stopped having fun and making amazing friends, so I guess I hope there's more of that.

For information about The Drinkwater Brothers show and to make a reservation visit the Don't Tell Mama website HERE

The Drinkwater Brothers have Instagram HERE and Facebook HERE and a YouTube channel HERE

Photos of The Drinkwater Brothers by Helane Blumfield

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