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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:09] Robert Bannon: Listen, everybody, when I talk about voices, when I talk about people who have been singing their teeth out for, I don't know, for a moment, you all, you all are ready. And they're coming to Detroit and I moved from Jersey, which I know, hey, Camden, New Jersey over here. I went, uh-oh. Let's get to Camden. It is. Don't mess with someone from Camden. Not at all. Not at all. So when they're coming here to Detroit and you are going to get your tickets and be ready for when they hit the Aretha right on the river, right on the Detroit River, they're going to blow the house away. I am so excited. Kindred and the Family Soul is here. Welcome to the show.

[0:48] Kindred The Family Soul: Thank you so much, Robert. Thank you for having us.

[0:50] Kindred The Family Soul: So I have to tell you a funny story.

[0:56] Kindred The Family Soul: Yes. Funny story is we have been in this business a really long time and people who love us, love us down, always get the name of the group wrong.

[1:03] Robert Bannon: What did I? Please tell me.

[1:05] Kindred The Family Soul: It's Kindred The Family Soul. And I said and the Family Soul.

[1:10] Robert Bannon: You did. But you know why you say and the Family Soul though, right?

[1:15] Kindred The Family Soul: Why? Because it reminiscence of Sly and-

[1:19] Robert Bannon: I was going to say and the Family Soul.

[1:21] Kindred The Family Soul: They always think that it's like similarly the same, but we just made a little differentiation in ours where we're just the Family Soul. Yes.

[1:31] Kindred The Family Soul: And it's fine. No love love. We've gotten used to it, but she felt the need to correct me.

[1:36] Robert Bannon: No, I appreciate it because I'm unprofessional from the go. What kind of interview is this?

[1:39] Kindred The Family Soul: It's not unprofessional. It's just a common mistake that happens.

[1:44] Kindred The Family Soul: Yeah. It's a regular old family mistake. People call us all kinds of stuff, but the love is real. People call us Kendrick.

[1:52] Kindred The Family Soul: Kendrick and the Lamars. All kinds of things have happened.

[1:54] Robert Bannon: Kendrick and the Family Soul. But you didn't do that.

[1:57] Kindred The Family Soul: No, never. I would never ever. I'm really excited to be able to see you live and in person. I have not gotten the chance to see Kindred The Family Soul in person and live before. I'm never going to mess that up again. So when you guys roll through, you have a tour everybody that is going on. And I want to let you know exactly when they're going to be here. They're going to be here on August 19th, right here at the Aretha. And then you're all across. If you're watching us from around the country, you're going to be all around the country as well. What is a live show like? What do you bring? In the past, you bring a party. It is a whole party.

[2:33] Kindred The Family Soul: Oh, yeah. Well, the thing is people know that we're known for doing the love songs. We love the love songs. Yes, indeed. So they come for those. But we want people to know it's not just the love songs. We like to have fun. They're all love songs.

[2:47] Kindred The Family Soul: Yeah, we love to turn up. We love to have fun. We love a lot of interaction with the audience. So it's definitely a big family affair. It is really one of those moments where we're going to get to know each other. And if we already know each other, we're just going to enjoy each other's company tenfold. You're going to learn a lot about us.

[3:05] Kindred The Family Soul: So that's my thing. I love my husband. And I moved to Detroit for my husband. And I love him. I don't know if I could work with him all day and sing with him and sleep with him.

[3:19] Kindred The Family Soul: The only way to figure it out is if you try. Well, that's the thing. It is definitely a lifestyle of its own, working with your significant other, with your husband, with your wife, whomever. And I'm going to tell you right now, it has been an adventure. It's been difficult at times because people always say, is that hard? Yeah, sometimes it is difficult. But I think that it's very rewarding. So if you all have a shared passion and y'all have something that you share in common and you have a vision that you agree on, I guarantee you that anything that you pour into it as a couple will be worth it at the end of the day.

[3:59] Kindred The Family Soul: Yes, it's definitely very rewarding. I think that's beautiful. And you have a whole big old family. So how do you balance life on the road? You do a lot of dates a year. And then you have responsibility. If the internet is right, maybe six kids, maybe?

[4:15] Kindred The Family Soul: It's definitely six kids. And two grandkids.

[4:18] Robert Bannon: So how do you balance it all? What do you do?

[4:21] Kindred The Family Soul: Just put one foot in the shoe at a time and one leg in your pants at a time. You know what I mean? Every day, work up the energy to take care of the things that is necessary. You know, you're praying for mercy, for love, for guidance, for strength. You're depending on the people who depend on you as well for their support. And you're just doing the very best that you can. Some days you get A's. Some days you get C's and D's. But ultimately, you're in it to continue the work. And you know what's ahead of you. You know what you have to do. And you just put your best foot forward. And you're blessed when you actually are putting things in perspective and just trying to prioritize the things that are important.

[5:07] Kindred The Family Soul: And we have a good family. We have a good community. We have people who's been supporting us for years. Our kids are much older now. But when they were little, we had great help from family that helped us and looked after our children and made sure that we were supported. So when you see us, you see a big village.

[5:24] Kindred The Family Soul: I love that. Asia, a lot has been written about and spoken about how you guys got signed to a deal. And part of the Philly Neo Soul R&B sound, you know, you guys have put in your work. This was not like one day you showed up at a club and signed a record deal. The next day, you guys pounded pavement. Even gave up, or maybe not gave up, but pivoted at times to work a more traditional job, trying to pay the bills and raise a family and figure out what's it like now to look back on the past decades from that start, from those club dates, from leaving the grind to go, I'm going to go sell appliances. I'm going to go work in a regular nine to five to try to make it work, to see you now headline tours and do shows all year. It has to be a journey.

[6:17] Kindred The Family Soul: I think it's so rewarding to think about where we started and where we are currently. But more than anything, more than this rewarding for us, I think it is also like a teachable moment for artists in general, that I think a lot of times when you're young and you're in this business, people don't see a life as an artist. They don't see 20 years, 25 years, and for us, almost 28 years down the line. And so I think this is, and actually a good friend of ours, another artist, Rahsaan Patterson, he told me this one day. He said, you know, you all are proof. You're proof that it can work. You're proof that you can do this and that you can belong in it and that you can have a family and that you can do those things.

He said, I know it was tough. I know you guys had a lot of sacrifices, but you're proof that it can happen. So I think for us, outside of it being deeply rewarding for us to think about it and hold each other's hands sometimes, like, dag, I can't believe we did that. More than anything, we're hoping that other artists can see this and say, you know what? It exists so I can do it too and better.

[7:23] Kindred The Family Soul: Yes. Shout out to Rahsaan. I saw him last summer at the Aretha, him and Lettucey. That was a bop. You know, you know, I've got to get to where you are. Hey, that's my song. That's it. That was a moment. That's our brother. That's our brother. Incredible artist.

[7:41] Kindred The Family Soul: Yes. So now when you get on the stage, I'm sure you guys hear all the time when you run into people at shows or at the airport or in your social media that your songs reminisce or relate to their relationships. You've kind of become the R&B couple. You know, people, there's babies out here to your music and there's first dances and walks down the aisle. And how does it feel when people tell you their stories about what your relationship has meant and inspired to them?

[8:02] Kindred The Family Soul: It feels incredible. It feels, you know, again, not to continue to use the same word, but very rewarding, you know, to make something that resonates with other people and that they use as backdrops to experiences in their lives. You know, that's an incredible feeling. I think that most artists all dream of that opportunity, and we've had it many, many, many times over. And for that, we're extremely grateful and, you know, just humbled by that ideal that, you know, that these things that we have, you know, put forth into the world have become such a part of other people's lives in that way. You know, time is long and life is short, so it's about putting the best foot forward and everything that you can put into this time that you have here so that, you know, you can be remembered and that we've done some things that people remember and that people have cared about for so many years truly is a blessing.

[8:59] Robert Bannon: I love that. Asia, you know, they say that when people come to your concerts, they don't feel like a concert. It feels like a homecoming or a cookout or a family reunion. There's a sense of community, and I think that really comes from the fact that you two are so personable in sharing your own story. Was that always intentional? Like, you don't treat people out there like they're fans. Like, we're all here to have a party together and celebrate.

[9:28] Kindred The Family Soul: I think as far as the live show, that it evolved over time. I mean, the music itself is that. The music itself is an opportunity for us to express so many realities of our life because that's what we knew best and that we intentionally decided, hey, we're just going to share. But as the years went on and the audience grew with us and their experiences became more aligned with what was going on in our lives, whether they experienced it specifically or not, because we get folks that come to the shows that are not married, that don't have kids. We have people's kids who grew up listening to the music in the backseat of their parents' car come up to the show. So we get all kinds of folks to come, but I think it has evolved to this place where it is a conversation. It is a sit around the table. It is a good laugh in the living room after dinner. It is one of those moments where you share what it is that you're living and you're experiencing.

[11:30] Kindred the Family Soul: From the late, great Mr. Frankie Beverly. We recorded that song as a tribute to him because it was a song that resonated with us, but because he passed on and he was such a huge inspiration to us. And because we don't do a lot of cover material or other people's music, but Frankie is a person who we dearly, dearly loved and we dearly miss now that he's gone. So it was just like finding something within his catalog that, again, that kind of... We had a synergy with that record. And so we released that, and that was the catalyst to beginning the new album, which became our album, The Grand Life, which is our latest album. But how it is to get into the studio and record, the funny thing is, and I have to be honest, we used to make music all the time, it felt like.

But in the past couple of albums that we've put out, we just kind of like, we go in the studio when it's time to make an album and we make the music and then that's that. Because of the dynamics of our family life and the strenuous touring schedule that we usually have throughout the year, it makes it a little bit more difficult than when we were younger, where we could just be studio rats and always in the studio, always creating, always making music. And I hate to make this correlation, but it's somewhat like the difference between when it's just fun and then when it becomes business. And when it becomes business, it's just a little bit harder for you to just create, create, create, create, create, which we missed that time, to be honest.

But I think that because we have created so much music through the past and have been a team for so long, we now know the rhythm of how to do this much more efficiently, more effectively than just make a whole bunch of stuff and then we'll figure it out. Now we kind of can focus on what it is that we want to do, know how we want to do it, and go in there and get it done. And so for that, both ways we love and we've enjoyed, but we do kind of miss that time when it was just a free exchange of just the consistent making music. I'll say this, this particular way that we made this album, and I want to say maybe the last three, it's been really great because they are really a snapshot. Because we went in and we just said, we're making an album, no pretense, this is what we're doing, we're going to go in here and make an album.

Then it really expressed where we were at the time, who we were, how we wanted to work, and what we wanted to get, time in a bottle. So I think that has been really good. And as we've aged in the business, having that snapshot is a lot more valuable than I realized at the time, in a way. It's our social media reel, you know what I mean? Look, it's here. Well, you can't see it because I got a pink. Look, you got to be streaming it wherever music is streaming, Grand Life, the album is out. When you hit the stage and you do the new songs and you do some stuff, and I'm sure people love it, they discover the new music, and then you get up there and then you sing Far Away, or you sing Stars, or you sing Where Would I Be.

The place must go insane because these songs are songs that people remember a moment, a time, a love. They're indelible, they're imprinted in people's mind. What's it like year after year? Do you discover new ways to sing it, new faces in the audience that are moved for the first time? It keeps it fresh and relevant for you guys to keep singing them?

[15:09] Kindred the Family Soul: Yeah, we had a great experience in Cincinnati over the weekend when we actually had a little bit of a situation with our band traveling, and two of our musicians were unable to get out of Philly. And so we were kind of working at half, and we got out on the stage and we worked it out with our remaining musicians, and we were ready. Everything was together, and we went out there maybe this much nervous, right, about how it was going to go. Oh, just that much? Just this much. Sounds better. Sounds better this way. I like that. And then for the last year or so, maybe a little bit more actually, we'll tell you a little secret. We put Far Away pretty early in the set. And so we went out, we did the show, we started the show, and then we went into Far Away.

Don't be late. Right, listen, period. So don't be late. Get your tickets early. Don't be late. Don't be late. So we started to sing Far Away, and the audience almost sang the whole song for us. It was amazing. And it was in a venue that was a lot of people in there, but it's kind of close. So it literally felt like a party. It was after 27 years to have a moment like that, and people are up partying and dancing and singing the song, and we ain't but two songs into the whole show, was... You're giving away too much, girl. Don't tell them everything. I'm sorry, but it was amazing. We got to switch it up for Detroit now. We can't let y'all know what we're going to be doing. It was amazing though. It was. It was soul healing. It was uplifting. Immediately, my husband's energy went from zero to a thousand.

[17:11] Kindred the Family Soul: Oh, what did your energy go to? I mean, mine too, but he's giving the gruff, and the gruff went on. He's like, yes. He's like, now it's time. Oh, this is what y'all doing? So I feel like, yeah, over the years, and let me say, a lot of artists get tired of, quote unquote, singing the same songs. We are not those artists. Those songs are what has kept us here this long. Those songs have put our kids through college. Those songs have allowed our family to take care of itself. Those songs have allowed us to employ many, many, many, many people, musicians, singers, stylists, all kinds of different people over the years. We watch a lot of people's dreams come true through this portal. We watch people go on to do other things as well. It is just humbling, and a whole lot of gratitude for what we've been able to accomplish, and for the ways in which that music has touched lives. It really is a beautiful thing, and it's not cliche to say.

[18:14] Kindred the Family Soul: Yeah. Well, they're going to sing the whole song for you. Don't be late. Show up. Get your ticket right now. If you want to see stars, you can be late, but if you want to hear far away, you better be on. See, I did my research. I may stand out to be wrong, but I know the show. We love an interviewer. He's a bad guy, Robert. He's a bad guy. We love an interviewer that does the search, honey. Yes. This is what we live for. Search, honey. You better get... Those are your words. Those are your... This isn't like you went into the studio and someone laid down a sheet. You wrote these words.

[19:47] Kindred the Family Soul: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know what? I was thinking about this today, actually. There was conversation online about what it means to be an artist, and I was thinking about the journey of that and that our songs, what we've said, those were our thoughts. Those were our actual feelings. Those were the things that we wrote. And with the six children, they'll always be able to go back to that. Their children will be able to always go back to that, and they'll know us. They'll get to know us through that. They'll get to see us and experience life on their own and look back on that music and understand it better. So for us, I mean...

[20:01] Kindred the Family Soul: A little musical snapshot. Yeah. I mean, we're grateful to say the least. Gratitude is not a big enough word. Well, you're going to hear some singing, singing. You're going to hear a band really playing. You're going to see people ready to have a night out. Bring your person. Bring the one you love. And if you ain't got someone you love, bring yourself and find somebody there. That should be the person you love. You better be loving yourself. Bring yourself first, always. With your friends, your kids, whoever. We've had a lot of... My friends all around the United States, go to kindredthefamilysoul.com. You can get the link. You can buy their merch. You can listen to their music. You can hear the new album.

And then look, they're going to be in Maryland. They're going to be in North Carolina. They're going to be back home with my beloved NJ Pack in Newark, New Jersey, and then back in New York City as well. So there's going to be all across the country and more dates, I'm sure, to come next year. More music on the horizon. So we got to be following you on social media and stay up to date. But meanwhile, I will see you on the 19th of August right here in the D.

[20:29] Kindred the Family Soul: We can't wait, brother. Thank you so much for having us, Rob.

[20:32] Robert Bannon: Thank you. It's an honor and a pleasure. It's such a joy. Thank you so much for being here. I can't do six kids, though. God bless you.

[20:38] Kindred the Family Soul: You don't need to do six kids. We did it for you. Thank you. Amen. No way. Thank you.