Meet The Licata Brothers | Inspirational-Rock Duo

We had the good fortune of connecting with The Licata Brothers and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi The Licata, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
We pursued an artistic career, as opposed to a hobby, because despite the financial difficulties that pursuing art professionally entails, we saw how our music uplifts people. Whether it was playing classic songs in nursing homes to help the residents remember their youth or helping new musicians record their first songs, we find purpose in seeing people’s faces light up. We also enjoy giving back and formally teaching guitar lessons to children at the park who would otherwise not have that opportunity. Our original material is empowering and promotes social justice rather than contributes to the misogyny and materialism present in a lot of popular music today. We discovered that we could find creative ways to find meaning and motivation to pursue our passion by being of service to others.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
We are The Licata Brothers, an inspirational-rock duo from Arcadia that has been playing in the greater Los Angeles area for over fourteen years. We blend the classic rock and roots music we grew up on with more contemporary styles of music while having an uplifting message that has a positive impact.

We started our music careers at ages twelve and nine, attending a local open mic in Altadena every week playing classic rock covers. Playing regularly allowed us to fall under the mentorship of several adult musicians. They would give us voice lessons and get us booked in venues, first as opening acts and then as headliners. It took years of hard work and performing locally to find our voice, in front of small crowds or audiences that sometimes weren’t paying attention. But over the years we have been able to expand our radius to other parts of the country and even around the world (Canada, Ireland, and Samoa to name a few).

One of the biggest lessons we have learned is to always give back. We feel this very strongly because that is how we got our start, from professional musicians taking us under their wing. It’s an attitude of bringing others up with you rather than stepping on their backs to lift yourself up. We therefore teach guitar lessons to beginning musicians and record new artists at our home studio to encourage them as they start their careers. We are happy that we have gotten to a point where even though we still have so much to learn and grow, we have gained enough experience that we can give back and help young artists who are just starting out, just like those professional musicians that did the same for us fourteen years ago.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
One of our favorite places to take someone is the Huntington Gardens in the Pasadena area. The botanical gardens and the art museums are stunning and can easily take an entire day if you want to see everything. After that we would take them to dinner at our favorite Peruvian restaurant in Hollywood, Inti. We would end the night by catching a live show at either The Orpheum or Pantages Theatre.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We would like to dedicate our shoutout to our late friend Duane Thorin. He was an incredible singer-songwriter who was running the first open mic we attended in Altadena when we were nine and twelve years old. He saw potential in us so he took us under his wing, giving us voice lessons and talking to local venues to give us a chance to play shows. He was a very patient and caring man who always looked out for us. When he passed away in 2017, his family gave us his 12-string guitar, which we now play in our live shows to remember him.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelicatabrothers/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/licatabrothers

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Licata-Brothers/61567187259744/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Licatabrothers

Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thelicatabrothers?lang=en
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0DkIIie4kFLJXAJMWiOvZa
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-licata-brothers/1472800162

Image Credits
Mathias Fau
Tyler Randles
Lynda Kay Bruton
Jamie Higgins