Due to popular demand Band of Brothers has reverted to the name of Zephyr, brothers Jeremy & Liam Mathias are now joined by Chris Wyatt and Loz (Lawrence) Smith as they bring us the soulful and rocking songs that Zephyr, and subsequently Band of Brothers, are known for.
 
Zephyr has been going for about six years now, with varying members and guest artists playing in the band. They’ve played at numerous Splashy Fens and Southern Crosses & other music festivals like White Mountain and opened for bands like the Parlotones, Southern Gypsy Queen, Magna Carter and many more.
The current formation sees long time members: Jeremy (bass & vocals) & Liam Mathias (vocals & guitar) joined by the versatile Chris (lead guitar, keyboards & vocals) and seasoned rocker - Lawrence Smith (drums & percussion).
This musical quartet brings their musical artistry together in a dynamic and harmonious way that’ll have your ears craving for more.

The Mysterious third man
Those of you who know us and have watched us in the past (and those of you that have seen our photo’s here will realize that Zephyr was not and is not just myself and my brother, and neither will it always continue to be. We will continue to and plan to and hope to do performances with as many other Musicians as we can – but for now at least the core of Zephyr is just two.

This brings us to the Mysterious third man in the Photo’s and who played every performance with us up until White Mountain last year.

Those of you that know us will know that it’s Colin and will then probably also know he immigrated to Spain last year too. So why I am I writing this? Firstly to inform those that didn’t know of course, and also to pay tribute to our great friend and fellow band Member (someone who will always be considered part of Zephyr where ever he is) Colin Arbuckle. (Hope you’re rocking those Spaniards over there buddy).

 

 

The History of Zephyr
Zephyr was born under the trees on a lovely spring Sunday afternoon in the beautiful Natal Midlands in 2003. My long time friend Jason and I (Liam) were about to start our set at Hebron Haven, a gig we’d been playing for the few previous weeks already, we were talking to each other about how almost without fail and no matter how calm it was before, the wind would pick up when we started to play and invariably end up blowing our music sheets off their stands and send them dancing across the lawns and flitting between the relaxing diners. It came to me then and I said as much to Jason that we should name ourselves Zephyr.

Zephyr is a gentle wind, a west wind and generally one sailors welcome, there was also a song at the time that I really enjoyed called “Rainbow Zephyr” by a Northern Irish band called “Relish” the words of which I really enjoyed. So it was how the name came about.

Zephyr’s first big gig was played at Southern Cross of that year and it was the only gig to be played under that make of musicians (and not because of differences or it didn’t work, it was just different commitments so to date that's the only gig we played as that unit) the members of that band were made up of the Hartman Brothers Scott (on drums & backing vocals) and Jason (on lead guitar & vocals) Pete Hanbury (on bass guitar) and (myself) Liam Mathias (vocals & rhythm guitar). Each of the above has played as guest artist with Zephyr at certain times over the intervening years, but have moved on musically into their own paths too. They like everyone else who has played with us remain great friends and people we love to see and get together with to make some awesome Music.

I was then joined by my good friend and the person who I started my first band with (under the band “The Individuals” and then “The Naked Apes”) Colin Arbuckle where we played under Zephyr primarily as a duo for a few months before I ended up traveling abroad. We were joined on occasion by other musicians some like Jason & Pete who’d played with Zephyr before. Colin was meant to be part of the Zephyr group that played at Southern Cross but couldn’t make it due to other commitments. As a Duo we played some very cool chilled out rock at folk clubs and festivals wherever we could. Most likely because we started together Myself and Colin have a great musical awareness of each other, in other words when I’m playing something and decide to slow it down he’ll read it and vice versa so we had a very chilled two man dynamic going back then & when we did have any guests playing with us they seemed to settle in very easily.

After my Return from traveling I discovered that my younger brother Jeremy and his good friend since school were budding into a talented pair of musicians. With the two of them singing and Chris playing Guitar, they were doing great covers of and had written some good songs of their own. They even got up and did a couple of songs a couple times at a regular Pub gig I was playing at. Then they were asked to do a set at the Pietermaritzburg Musicians Club which they asked me to join them in, mostly because it was there first real gig and both were a little nervous about it (they needn’t have been, they took the stage like their Natural element).

Not long after this Colin said he wanted to start up playing with us again and so Zephyr started to blow her second breath.
We played a couple gigs in this new formation and though Jeremy has a great voice, he felt a little out on stage being the only member not playing an instrument and as we were missing a bassist we suggested he pick one up and learn to play (something I think we’re all grateful for, because now he creates the groovy and funky backbone to all our songs) so it was that 10 days after starting to learn how to play the bass Zephyr stood on stage at "Southern Cross music festival"  with a new bassist and the beginnings of things to come. Though he was pretty nervous in his first outing (playing with his back to the audience most the time) he kept a solid bass throughout. A year later at the same festival you’d never have believed the show stealing Bassist that saved my back (the Pickup on my guitar having failed on me) and kept the crowd entertained with his antics was the same person.

With other commitments to handle including some traveling to be done Chris decided to pull out of the band a few months after that Southern Cross & the Splashy of the same year. So for the intervening years Zephyr was a three piece, Colin Jeremy and Myself.
As a trio we played wherever and when ever we could, playing festivals and folk clubs and pubs where we could. Working on New songs and  meeting some great people and Musicians along the way. Then in 2008 Colin & his Family made the tough decision of immigrating to Spain, so with forewarning we made the most of the last few gigs we had with our longtime drummer and friend before he had to depart, many of them emotional. Our last gig as that trio was played at White Mountain that September where we ended up playing in different setup to how we had before. Colin was only playing a broken down drum Kit. No Bass drum, just snare Hyatt and Symbols… and I think maybe some bongo’s and Shakers, I had convinced Jeremy to join me on Guitar and because of it his vocals came through stronger (as anyone who’s tried to play bass and sing at the same time will tell you it’s not easy).

After Colin left, myself and Jeremy took  a bit of a Music Hiatus still practicing and playing some impromptu gigs. Then we got together with the Hartman brothers and decided to start a new project – kind of on the side for all of us as Jason & Scott had their band and we were still planning on continuing with Zephyr, being four brothers we decided to call the group “Band of Brothers”. We were planning our first gig to be at Splashy 2009, but Jason had got himself into the finals of Idols (which he went on to win) and he wouldn’t be free to play then, but we’d already been booked for Splashy so the three of us prepared for it. Chris joined us on our trip to Splashy and the day before we were scheduled to play we invited Chris to fill in for Jason, he’d got back into the music scene been doing well as a Solo artist playing at various venues, and he also already knew most of the songs we’d be playing in our set, so he gelled in perfectly. We played with Scott once more at Pecan Wood opening for Jason in his first performance as winner of Idols, but we knew we’d need to be on the lookout for another Drummer as Scott would be playing with his Brother all around the country.

That’s when we met Loz - he had got his Musical Career going in Aus in the 12 years that he'd lived there, at one point playing for 5 bands at the same time, Loz fitted into the set up very easily and his versatile drumming style brought new dimensions to our songs. So suddenly we had a new band and were playing under the name “Band of Brothers” and have been playing under it for the last few Months. It was at the PMB Musicians club however that we were approached by a few of our loyal supporters and asked why we’d changed from Zephyr. So after a band consultation it was decided to return to the name of Zephyr.

There is a great new dynamic in the current formation of Zephyr that is producing a great sound within the band, the versatility and musicality of each of the members has brought a great new sound and Dynamic, which has allowed us to come up with some great new tunes and take a different fresher look on some older ones.

As always Zephyr’s greatest wish is to be up in front of an audience playing and we like nothing better than people enjoying our music (what musician doesn’t), so that’s what we’re going to keep doing and long may Zephyr’s story continue. We’ll keep you posted, and hey, feel free to send us a mail via our contacts page. We promise we’ll try and reply personally.

Peace and Love.
Liam