Band of Sisters, GFM, talks taking on the industry and what it means to be at the center of 'Beautycore'

A band of sisters is always stronger together. GFM explains to us that the message they’re trying to convey is one of empowerment and Christ. Throughout their time working in the music industry, they’ve had the ability to grow to new heights and they’re still looking for the next step. As they do so, they’ve shaped the ‘Beautycore’ scene into what it is today and have spread a light of positivity to encourage the next gen of women in music. Here’s what the girls had to say:

Tell us a little bit about GFM. Give us the how, when and why you got started.

Well, we’re all sisters, and we’ve been playing music for most of our lives. Our parents put us in lessons at the age of 5, and we fell in love with music then. Each of us ended up choosing different instruments, and we started playing cover songs together in 2011. We attempted to write our first couple of songs in 2014 and started playing some shows as well. We dropped our first EP in 2015, our first album in 2016, we went on our first nationwide tour in 2017, and we played in Germany for the first time in 2018 as we started picking up a steady tour schedule.

Can you explain what Beautycore means?

Beautycore started off as a joke between the three of us because we didn’t know what genre GFM fell in. We kind of had metalcore influences, but seeing as we’re all teenage girls, the vocals are pretty different, and even our playing styles are different. We wanted to play up to the fact that we were girls in a heavily dominated male genre, and when other bands started to hear about it, they supported it 100%. Beautycore has now come to stand for the push for women in the music industry. Lots of female fronted, and even all girl bands like us, are using it as a hashtag, and everyone is jumping on it.

Why Beautycore? What inspired you to go in that direction?

The guy that CJ and Maggie originally took lessons from introduced them to Periphery during bass and guitar lessons. That kind of started our love for heavy music. We then had the privilege of being invited to Welcome to Rockville, and after we saw how the bands interacted with the crowd and how much their fans connected with them, we knew that that was what we wanted to do. We all just love heavy music, so being able to write it is a dream come true.

How do you see women in the metal scene?

We think it’s amazing every time we see a woman in the metal scene. We think metal needs more strong women, and we’re so happy to see more coming to light.

What would you say to young girls who want to get into music?

We would say do it! It’s a great avenue to express how yourself, and it’s a great way to release any emotions that you’re currently bottling up. It’s so refreshing to be able to play something that is written exactly about something you are dealing with. It is so much fun playing music, so don’t be afraid to pick up that instrument or start singing, no matter what genre you want to play.

What musicians did you look up to growing up?

We were very inspired by Lacey Sturm when she was in Flyleaf; that’s actually how we found out that girls could scream in music. We’re still inspired by Butcher Babies and their powerful presence on stage. We looked up to Periphery, as they were kind of our first look at metal music as well.

How is it working with sisters? Do you ever run into conflict and how do you deal with

it?

It is so much fun working with your sisters. There are definitely times where we fight, but we are always able to resolve it very fast, and we are very open with our communication with each other. That is the key to long lasting relationships: open communication. We honestly don’t know how people are in bands with members that aren’t their siblings. We wouldn’t trade our members for the world.

What is your writing style like? Take us through what it means to write a GFM song.

It’s pretty much different every time. We don’t have a system where we just sit down and write a chorus or write a riff. Half the time we’ll randomly think of a hook and start writing. Sometimes we write half a song and come back and finish it over the next couple of days, and other times we write a song in a couple of hours. It really depends on how we’re feeling and how thought out our topic is haha. What we can guarantee is that there are many snacks involved.

Where do you want to grow with your music?

We just always want to keep improving with our playing and vocals. Maybe that means better riffs, faster speeds, or broadening our vocal range, as long as we’re improving.

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned on tour or through the music industry?

Always have each other’s backs. We’ve learned that people will constantly walk in and out of your life, but we’ve always got each other. We are a strong system because we are sisters and that bond keeps us going. Also, never burn any bridges. You never know when someone will come back into your life, so treat everyone with respect and kindness, no matter what.

Where do you see your band in five years ideally?

We want to be headlining our own tours, and we want to be able to jump on arena tours. We see ourselves touring a lot, all around the world.

Have you ever felt like giving up and what kept you going?

We have never actually wanted to give up the band. Yeah, there have been some really tough things that we have fought through, but we’ve never lost that passion for music. Our love of music keeps us going. We’ve known that we wanted to do this since we were single-digit aged kids. Our relationships with Jesus Christ have also kept us going because that is why we are doing the band in the first place. To reach people with the message of Christ.

What are you most excited for in 2019?

We are most excited for everything that is new. New music, new videos, new shows. There’s a lot of stuff that will be released very soon, and we can’t wait for everyone to finally be able to see it. The only way to know about release dates though is to follow us on all of our social media sites @thegfmband. We can’t wait to get back on the road and see everybody.