Normal band connections are strong. They are even stronger when the members look exactly alike.
The Kleins are an alternative rock music duo consisting of identical siblings Rory and Sage Klein. The two are part of a triplet set, along with their sister Nova, and they are using their bond and experiences to create music together.
Rory and Sage Klein, both second-years in moving image production and political science, have been playing music all their lives, Sage Klein said. This led to the formation of the group last semester.
Rory Klein said that in addition to looking similar, both he and Sage see eye-to-eye on almost everything. This allows them to come up with songs easier and spend little to no time bickering.
“We have basically the same taste in music and same ideas of how we want our music to sound, that helps it flow through easily as well,” Rory Klein said. “And then if one of us has an idea, it can just go right through and we can keep adding each other’s ideas on top of it. And I think it ends up helping us a lot.”
The triplets all took piano lessons in early grade school, Nova Klein said. But they stopped going a little over a month into lessons.
“We ended up quitting pretty fast just because I don’t think we were that dedicated,” Nova Klein said. “We liked the idea of playing piano and taking lessons, but when it came to actually taking the lessons — especially considering we were pretty young at that point — we weren’t disciplined to sit down and practice.”
Sage Klein said that Rory started to teach himself songs he liked in early high school, resulting in the pair becoming more dedicated to music.
“Whenever I would want to play, it would probably be because I saw him playing, and I couldn’t play if he was already playing,” Sage Klein said. “He got quite a bit ahead of me in piano skills. He can play 80 songs from memory, and I can play, like, five.”
The journey came together in February, Sage Klein said. The two were sitting in their dorm together when Rory showed him some songs he had written, and the duo took off from there.
With the help of just an electronic keyboard and the GarageBand app, the brothers wrote “Streetlights” — their debut EP’s title track — all in one night, Sage Klein said.
The inspiration for “Streetlights” came from their connection to their hometown, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Sage Klein said. They both missed Chagrin Falls after their first semesters at college and wanted to write a song about it.
Nova Klein said Chagrin Falls is a close-knit community where everyone knows everyone and the community works hard to keep a strong bond within the town.
“There is a strong sense of community and a lot of people take that for granted. And especially now being in college, they feel even more connected to back home than before,” Nova Klein said.
The Kleins’s debut EP “Streetlights” consists of six original songs and is available on all streaming platforms.
Editor’s note: The Klein’s second major has been added to the story to accurately reflect their studies.
