The Glorious Sons are a rock band hailing from Kingston, Ontario. The band was formed in 2011 and is currently composed of members Brett Emmons on vocals, guitar, and piano; Jay Emmons on guitar and vocals; Adam Paquette and drums and vocals; Josh Hewson on piano and guitar; Peter Van Helvoort on bass guitar and vocals; and Steve Kirstein on guitar and vocals. The Glorious Sons have released two EPs and four full-length albums. Their most recent album release was in 2023 with their fourth studio album, Glory. The album featured singles “Mercy Mercy” and “Lightning Bolt,” accompanied by a US tour.
The band won Rock Album of the Year at the JUNO Awards in 2017 and 2019 and toured alongside Alabama-based country-rock band The Red Clay Strays in October 2024. The tour included stops on the Eastern US border including Brooklyn, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Boston. The band will be featured at a few music festivals this coming summer including Meadows, Festival d’été de Québec, CallHome, and the Pigeon Lake Concert Series.
We met with lead vocalist Brett Emmons during ShipRocked 2025 where we talked about his upcoming music, must-have travel items, and tips for traveling with family.
In 2024 you toured a lot all over the country. Have you found any hidden gems that you tell people to visit while you’ve been out on the road?
A lot of the time on tour, you only have time to go to dinner. I liked Asheville, North Carolina. I thought that it was a beautiful city. We had more time to spend in that city because we were there in between shows. It was a great city.
Any Canadian hidden gems you would tell people to visit?
Montreal and Québec City are, I think, two of the most beautiful cities in the world. Just great culture. There’s a lot of beautiful cities in the world, but they’re definitely the two most beautiful in Canada, in my opinion. If you like food, nightlife and architecture, or you want to be inspired, I would say those are the two best cities.
Are you working on any new music?
Always. I think we’re in the phase right now of just seeing what sticks, what inspires us. You’re always working on new music, but it’s not come to that point yet where we found the crack of light, and we’re running toward it.
What’s inspiring you guys right now?
The Bob Dylan movie inspired me a lot. I thought it was amazing. There was a line in it when he’s talking to Joan Baez, and he was like, “You try too hard, too, right?” and I thought that was really poignant. It seems like something Bob Dylan would say. Well, obviously he’s right, but it inspired me to just let it flow and try to let the lines kind of write themselves; stop trying to hammer home on what you’re getting at. Just kind of let it flow.
You were out on the road with one of my new faves, the Red Clay Strays. Any highlights from that tour?
Yeah, it was just awesome. I think they’re getting pretty huge. They had great crowds for us in America and they’re really nice guys. Definitely one of the best live voices I’ve ever seen. Just rich, full, and an incredible singer. It was fast because we went for a week. So it’s kind of one of those things where you don’t really get to know everybody that well.
Must-have travel items and things you can’t live without?
Canadian cigarettes. My vocal coach says to bring zinc and vitamin C, but I forget that. Books. Right now I’m reading The Rebel. It’s an essay, but it’s a book on rebellion. I don’t really know what they’re trying to hammer home at right now, but I think that it’s just exploring rebellion in terms of this guy, Albert Camus, who seems to be obsessed with absurdity and the absurdity of life. I’m trying to get my head around it, and it’s pretty good. It’s pretty heady, and I have to look a lot of shit up along the way.
Your brother’s in the band with you. Do you have any tips for traveling with family?
I would say just cut people breaks because you’re family. When you’re family, you don’t necessarily cut each other breaks as much as you do other people. You know, somebody might say something completely dumb that isn’t part of your family, and you’re not going to be on them like white on rice. But I think for Jay especially, sometimes he’ll say something just kind of halfheartedly and I’ll go to correct him for no other reason than I’m just used to him and I love him and I look up to him. The truth is that people don’t need to listen to your rebuttal every time they f*cking say something.
Have you ever had a song inspired by a place?
Well, pretty much our whole album, Young Beauties and Fools, was inspired by Kingston, where we live in Canada. Halifax. I got a lot of songs inspired by Halifax because I lived there. Usually if I can settle in somewhere and kind of understand the environment around me, it’s going to bleed into my music.
What’s your perfect day in Kingston?
You go to the Iron Duke and you watch football. Drink beer with your buddies.
Craziest travel story?
Well, on our first tour, we renovated a short bus and turned it into a touring vehicle. We didn’t do any of the renovations. It was our drummer Paquette and his buddy. We stopped on the highway for the night, kind of down a hill. That particular bus didn’t have enough power to get back up, so he had to rev the engine really hard and it ruined the motor. We were out in the plains between Alberta and Saskatchewan. We had to rent a U-Haul, and there’s five of us, so we had to sleep in the back of a U-Haul until we got to Thunder Bay, which I think was one week, maybe two. Our label bought us plane tickets. We didn’t have any money then. We got home to Kingston and we made it through. It was cold, though, it was late November. It gets cold out there.
What does 2025 have in store for you?
2025 is pretty open right now. We’re just working on getting inspired and making music and we’ll see. Play some shows and see what happens.