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Before You Exit: Band of brothers living the dream
With their catchy tunes and engaging performances, the three brothers who make up pop band Before You Exit quickly win the hearts of female fans
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W
ith their catchy tunes and engaging performances, the three brothers who make up pop band Before You Exit quickly win the hearts of female fans.
Youthful Florida-based trio Connor, Riley and Toby McDonough of the band Before You Exit are living the dream.
They have toured the US and overseas with noted bands including The Vamps and All Time Low, and are gaining popularity for their heartwarming lyrics and boy-next-door good looks.
With 20-year-old Riley on lead vocals and his two brothers, Connor, 22, and Toby, 17, singing, playing guitar and drumming, the band of brothers belted out their hits at a recent festival, including their latest single, 'Model'.
Given their sugary, love-tale lyrics, it is no surprise that legions of female fans are falling for the three.
'Even when you wake up, lying with no make-up. You're beautiful, you're beautiful,' sang Riley, intoning the refrain of 'Model' to his fans, known as Exiters. 'Even in your t-shirt, you look like, you look like, you look like a model.'
Connor claimed it had taken only three hours for the group to write the lyrics.
'That song is really special, not only because we wrote it in a day, but [also because of] the lyrics,' Connor said in a group interview in Jakarta a day before the band's performance at Monkeylada Festival in Senayan, South Jakarta, on Nov. 28.
'[We love to] see girls in their natural state. Sometimes you go over the top and you think you need so much more than you actually do. The reality is that everybody is beautiful in their own special way.'
Formed in 2007, the band originally consisted of Connor and his two friends Braiden Wood and Thomas Silvers. The band's name is inspired by the sentiment 'make a difference before you exit'.
Riley joined the band in 2007, followed by his younger brother, Toby, in 2012. The three brothers emerged as the main lineup, while the remaining members support trio's live performances. Braiden eventually left the band in 2014 to take on a career as a solo artist.
'I look at each one of them as a different player,' Connor said about the dynamic between the brothers.
'It's almost like when you're picking your kickball team, you've got somebody that's a really good kicker, you've got your pitcher. I think we each hold our own value to the team.'
In 2013, the band of brothers released EP I Like That, containing singles 'I Like That', 'Soldier' and 'Dangerous'.
'We really want to put out the songs that we find represent us in the best light as possible,' Riley said. 'So right now, we feel like EPs are just the way to do that but eventually, obviously we want to do a whole album.'
In the US, the band caught the public's attention last year after winning Macy's iHeartRadio Rising Star talent search, earning a spot at the iHeartRadio Music Festival alongside such acts as Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Nicki Minaj and One Direction.
They played as the supporting act for the tours of American pop funk band All Time Low, girl group Fifth Harmony, Australian pop singer Cody Simpson and British pop band The Vamps.
'They are all like different experiences. Like one tour with the Vamps., it was all dudes, [so it felt like] summer camp,' Toby said.
'And then with somebody like Fifth Harmony, it's girls, so you have to treat them a little different. You can't be like, 'Yo, what's up dude'. You have to be a little bit more reserved. But they're very nice and fun to hang out with too,' Toby added.
Riley noticed himself learning some of the mannerism of the touring bands. 'You definitely learn a lot while you're on tour, like with how to perform and stuff that matters.'
Before You Exit have headlined shows at home and abroad, performing in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and eventually Indonesia.
For Connor, having his two brothers as bandmates is a laugh a minute.
'We all live in the same house, whereas a lot of other bands get together once a week. Whereas if we get an idea, we can just walk ten feet to the next room,' he said.
Nonetheless, Toby noted that, like any brothers, they bickered occasionally.
'It's usually about something small, like 'Oh that's my water' or something dumb like who gets to sit in the front seat of the car,' Toby said.
The youngsters are now enjoying every second of their rising stardom and not thinking too much about their next steps.
'We would love to play a stadium one day,' Riley said. 'But right now, I feel like we're living our dream, a dream we have dreamt since we were young.'
