BLAIN FAMILY

Fun pervades an interview with Laurence and Christopher Blain - shared stories of people, practical jokes, laughter. For the Blain brothers, Laurence, Christopher and Andrew, singing has been a family affair since they were training with the Australian Boys Choir in the 1980s and 1990s. All attained the level of Chorister and, in 1993, Andrew was appointed Choir Leader.

The brothers vividly recall the excitement of touring with the choir. “The best way to see a city is to go, do some shows and meet the people,” Laurence believes. “In a billeting house, there are kids, and dogs…you get taken to places!”

Christopher and Laurence are now part of the a cappella group, Suade, a multi-award winning quartet that has toured nationally and internationally. Suade was formed soon after the brothers returned from The Vocal Consort’s 2000 USA tour.

Suade’s “smooth harmonies, irresistible personalities and vibrant musical energy” have received glowing praise from music critics, but Christopher describes the choir as being formative. “I don’t think we’d be singing harmony if it wasn’t for the ABC,” he reflects.

Suade also has a very serious side. Christopher and Laurence recognise that young boys in the arts need positive male role models. They engage in music education in schools, making an effort to dispel the notion that singing is not “manly”. During a two week period as artists-in-residence at a Perth school they observed an incredible transformation. “They had no singing, no school song, they didn’t even sing the anthem” but after two weeks of working with each individual child, even the year nine boys were “singing with their arms round each other!”.

Chris explains, “there is so much fun in singing and that is what we focus on – the love of it.” Listening to these brothers, it is easy to see how young singers would be inspired.