Eisley

The DuPree sisters 'come clean' about speaking up, getting married, and recording their band’s new album

By Laura Leebove
Published: August 8th, 2007 | 4:14pm

Many people cringe at the idea of constant family road trips, but that’s just life for the DuPree family — and no one’s complaining. Eisley, the band of sisters Chauntelle, Sherri, and Stacy, brother Weston, and cousin Garron, has been constantly on the move, especially with the band’s second LP, Combinations (Reprise), being released August 14, 2007. “There’s not really a hardest part [of being on tour with everyone], I don’t think, except for missing my other family that’s not on the road with me,” says 18-year-old Stacy, who wrote the band’s first song when she was only 8.

The DuPree kids’ early roots stem from their parents, who influenced them by playing albums from bands like Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and the Beatles. “It was a really nurturing and inspirational environment to grow up in, just listening to music all the time,” Stacy says. “We loved it.” But even growing up in a musical household in Tyler, Texas — their father plays the drums and their mother sings — none of the DuPrees have had classical training. “We just sort of do what we think feels right.”

And by playing what “feels right,” Eisley has created a collection of catchy pop songs, usually light on the distortion and heavy on the piano, though tracks like “Taking Control” and “A Sight To Behold” have a slightly heavier sound. The band’s music is ethereal and filled with delicate harmonies between Sherri and Stacy, who write the lyrics and play guitar and keyboards, respectively. Chauntelle takes the lead on guitar, Weston plays the drums, and Garron is on bass.

Combinations keeps the same style as 2005’s Room Noises (Reprise) but is more mature lyrically — less fictional, says Sherri, 23. All of the sisters mentioned they were especially proud of “Come Clean,” a song Stacy says is about the nature of grace. “If you’re in a relationship and that person is doing things that are negative, either to themselves [or to someone else], how much it affects the people around them,” she says. “It’s important to have grace with that person.”

Eisley took a different approach to recording Combinations than Room Noises because after two years of constant writing and touring, the band members gained confidence and weren’t afraid to stand their ground. “The first album was hard because we had management who at the time weren’t so much interested in our well being. They were kind of trying to make our album more commercial, so it would make more money, possibly, for them,” Sherri says. “We kind of let ourselves get walked on a little bit when we were doing the first album.”

But this time around, Stacy, Sherri, and Chauntelle all agree that they were less timid and more vocal about their opinions in the studio. “I’d say we were more aggressive with this one. The last record … we mostly ended up doing a lot of things that the label wanted us to do, or the producers,” says Chauntelle, 25. “Not that we weren’t happy with it, because we were, but I think with this record we really feel comfortable. This is what we wanted, and we’re very excited about it in that aspect of it.” She says learning how to speak up just comes with age. “We were a lot younger, and I think we were just more intimidated by other people that were kind of in charge, like a producer or label people, you know?”

The DuPrees might’ve started Eisley when they were young, but as they grow up, the family is growing, too. Sherri married New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert in early 2007, and Chauntelle is marrying Taking Back Sunday front man Adam Lazzara next March, which means moving out of the DuPree’s Tyler, Texas, home. “We had to work a little bit harder to keep [the family] connected and stuff, but it’s been fairly easy because she lives right down the road. We get together a lot and play music and have pool parties and fun stuff like that,” Stacy says of her sisters moving out of the house. “It’s always hard because we’re traveling … but I think we do a pretty good job at it, and you know, we try to keep it all together.”