By Kathryn Joyce
Eighteen-year-old Damien wears light-colored jeans and shirt, white sneakers and a black do-rag, and his 19-year old brother Tourie is in baggy black jeans, black shirt and white do-rag. Both have identical braids neatly tied back, and both wear thick silver chains dangling heavy silver and diamond pendants: Damien's shaped as Popeye, and Tourie's as the face of Jesus. Both are open and talkative, with easy smiles that have helped charm audiences from PS 62 in Jamaica to the Apollo Theatre, but their faces grow serious as they focus on playing their upcoming single, “Broken Sorrow,” an emotionally wrenching instrumental piece written for a childhood friend killed last year.That tension of youthful energy and music freighted with adult emotion marks the work of Nuttin' But Stringz, which, in the year since its formation, has already won critical respect, a rapidly growing fan base and not least, a top place in the intensely competitive Apollo Theatre's 70th Annual Top Dog Showdown. “Broken Sorrow” will be their first single, due to be released this summer.But while NBS's success is new, Damien and Tourie have been playing violin since they were in elementary school in Jamaica, where they participated in the now-defunct student music program, Save the Music. While Tourie, who started at age 9, grew bored with the instrument within a year, Damien, who started at age 8, kept at it, later attending the Julliard School of Music and then the Bloomingdale School. His dedication and growing talent inspired Tourie to give the violin a second try, and Tourie began relearning the instrument, teaching himself to play Vivaldi by ear. “I saw Damien really getting down,” said Tourie. “I saw him doing amazing things with the violin, so I learned it again.” This led quickly to the boys' tenure as young subway performers: A career that began at the Canal Street subway platform when the brothers were 11 and 12. They credit their mother and aunt with teaching them to be independent and self-sufficient enough to pursue their ambitions from such a young age.Both Damien and Tourie say they always loved classical music, even if their neighborhood friends thought they were crazy for it. Among their “top composers” are Handel, Vivaldi, Bach (“the man”) and Beethoven (“Be”), but NBS also draw on rock, R & B, reggae and soul for inspiration. After years of playing the trains, Damien and Tourie have endeared themselves to countless New York commuters, some of whom encouraged the boys to make more of their talent. “People would say, 'You boys been playing here so long, it's time for you to get off the subway,'” explained Tourie. When the brothers finally took that advice last year, they found some of their old subway fans working in the same office as their future manager, James Washington, of Sony/BMG. But in their early teenage years, between their first subway performances and signing on with James Washington, the brothers dealt with their share of adolescent trouble-making and apathy. Around age 15, Damien explains, “I was really, really shy, but I was trying to be gangsta. And it wasn't gangsta to play violin.” Both boys dropped out of high school, but soon wearied of street life and enrolled in general equivalency degree programs and resumed their music with renewed dedication.It's this dedication that Washington appreciates about Damien and Tourie, and something he's made them prove with a disciplined training regimen preparing them to handle both the business and performance challenges that come with a career in music. This tough-love training had such an effect on the brothers that they now affectionately refer to it as “the James Washington Boot Camp.” Before they began working with Washington, Damien and Tourie had been in talks with other managers who they say “clouded [them] with dreams”: Taking them to fancy parties and introducing them to famous people. “We thought, 'We want to look like that, we want to make some quick money,'” said Damien. But both brothers readily agree that, had they taken that route, their music careers would have been flashy, but extremely short, and their music would have resembled more generic hip-hop songs that only use string instruments as background for a rapper's lyrics. As it is, Tourie, Damien and Washington say that the brothers have continued to grow as musicians, mastering their instruments, learning how to compose their own songs and how to produce background tracks so layered and complex that they sound like full orchestral scores behind the soaring violin solos that take the place of vocal leads. They're confident that, with continued hard work, their music will be popular even without vocals, because listeners will sense the emotional power behind their songs. Washington also appreciates the brothers' hunger to grow as musicians, and thinks their best songs are still to come. “Being young musicians,” he said, “now they know writing is about telling stories. But when you're 18 and 19, you've only got 18 or 19 years of life to draw on. As they get older and face more turmoil and more happiness, there will so much more to draw on. And already the songs they have now are extremely powerful.”This career longevity is what the boys are aiming for, even more than their occasional giddy speculations about Thriller-like fame. “We don't really care about numbers,” said Damien, “we care about making music. We want to make something classic, something that can still bump in 2020.”Tourie agreed, recalling a fan letter from a young music student inspired to keep at her lessons after listening to NBS. “We want to make something they'll give out to high school orchestras.”Since Nuttin' But Stringz plays a lot of concerts for school children, they recognize and value their position as role models, not in spite of but precisely because they've had a long road to get to where they are today. “You go through those kinds of things in our area,” said Damien. “It's strong people that can overcome that. So now that we're role models, we'll still make mistakes, but we'll overcome them. That's what life's about.”Nuttin' But Stringz hopes to begin a school tour this April, pending sponsorship.
