Band has a brotherly bond

When the Biddulph brothers were growing up, music filled their New Jersey home and was a big part of their lives.

It seems only natural then that, more than a decade later and 2,000 miles away in Salt Lake City, music is a way of life for Miles, Nate and Linwood.

The brothers still play music together — not because they want to get rich or famous, but because they want to share their music with the world. Here in Utah, they have fueled their musical passion by playing in a band called the Happies.

The five-piece indie rock band has been playing throughout the Salt Lake Valley for about two years.

Miles, 31, and Nate, 29, moved to Utah in 2002. Linwood, 23, joined them in 2004. Miles started writing and recording music on his family's four-track recorder when he was 13 and has never stopped. Many of the songs he wrote over the years are now performed by the Happies.

Linwood, despite being so much younger, used to help Miles with those four-track recordings. And the majority of his experience in music has been linked in some way with his oldest brother. "We were brought up so musically united that we can read each other's minds musically," Linwood said.

Linwood said he grew up listening to music while doing his homework. "There was always music in the home," he said. Even their basset hound was musically inclined. When kids would come over for voice lessons he would howl along with them.

One of the main reasons why Linwood moved to Utah was to be in the band with Miles and Nate. "I get along really well with my brothers and they saw me as an asset because I can play multiple instruments," he said.

The other members of the band are just as passionate about the Happies' music as the brothers are.

Elledge Bowers, who plays drums and keyboard, described the Happies' music as melodic. "There's times where it's mellow and times where it's silly," he said. "The music isn't really hard and not too soft. It's somewhere in the middle."

Drummer Kiley Mickelsen said anyone willing to listen to the Happies can identify with their music. "The music is meant for people who like to drive through the canyon on a rainy day," he said.

Although three of the band members are brothers, no one feels like an outsider. Bowers said he doesn't look at the Biddulphs as being three brothers, he looks at them as his friends.