Brennan Mileto chats to Nick Ashton about eighteen-hour drives, cruising with KISS, and living the Australian rock n’ roll dream as Sisters Doll prepare to release their third album Scars and tour the UK for the first time in May.
Sisters Doll are a band of brothers; both figuratively and literally. Comprising eldest sibling Brennan on vocals and rhythm guitar, Austin (guitar), Sage (bass) and Bryce (drums), the Mileto brothers are a powerhouse melodic glam metal band with a love of ’80s sleaze from small-town Western Australia who have been making a name for themselves down under. With a couple of US tours under their belts, they have now set their sights on the UK so prepare to enter the Dollhouse!
The band came into existence in the early 2010s. As Brennan explains “I was in a band with my high school friends. We played a few local festivals over here, but that sort of fell apart. So, me and my two brothers, Bryce and Austin, started jamming in our dad’s back shed. He was a drummer in a band, so he had an old PA system and a drum kit in a room for us to practice in. Austin would have been only about 11 or 12 at the time, Bryce was 15 and I was about 17. We just did cover gigs and then we won this band competition which allowed us to record our first album.” That album was 2012’s Welcome to the Dollhouse which led to bigger and better things. The band secured a showcase gig in the US which drew the attention of some big hitters, culminating in playing alongside Peter Criss and Bruce Kulick of KISS. Their hard work and persistence also opened doors back home in Australia, especially after the release of their well-received second album All Dolled Up in 2017. On the back of the album the band entered Australia’s Got Talent, eventually coming second in the contest while gaining valuable exposure.
Up to this point the band had been a three piece, but the plan had always been to expand to four members. Brennan picks up the story: “Austin [who originally played bass] got so good that he ended up moving on to guitar and I was on guitar with him, and then we had bass in our backing tracks. We’d always wanted to have another member join, but we didn’t want just anyone, so we waited for our younger brother to get older. He joined last year, so he’s very fresh, but now we have a four piece. Now that we’re doing the new album, it’s kind of like the unveiling of a new era.”
Being four brothers together in a band, I wondered whether that came with any advantages or disadvantages. “It’s good because you’re sort of on the same page, all on the same wavelength, but it consumes you a little bit, too. If you sit around the kitchen table for dinner you try and talk about normal everyday stuff and then all of a sudden it circles back to the band and music. Sometimes you want to just have a bit of break from it all, but it’s good; it’s kept us together and close as a family.”
But can it also cause tensions? “Yeah, a little bit but we know where everyone’s limit is. We’ll go on tour sometimes and not even talk the whole trip; but then, on the way back, we’re like schoolgirls, we’re chatting and laughing and carrying on. That awkward silence is kind of good; because you’re family you don’t really care. I suppose the most challenging part, though, is sometimes we get a little bit complacent. Sometimes we say should we practice tonight? And we agree then, all of a sudden, it’s like I gotta do this and got to do that or whatever.”
Quite early on in their career, the band relocated to Melbourne to be closer to the heart of the rock and roll industry in Australia. While most people’s perception of Australian rock is that big four-on-the-floor AC/DC sound, I wondered if there was an audience for the more melodic glam metal sound of the ’80s sleaze bands. “That Aussie rock is definitely a big thing over here. There are a lot of bands coming through the ranks doing that, and they probably get noticed a little quicker. We’re probably more American sounding; when people hear us they think we’re an American band. That’s just purely because of our influences. We’re heavily influenced by KISS, although I don’t really feel that we sound like KISS. [In terms of there being a melodic rock / glam metal scene] there is and there isn’t. Where we’ve been able to capitalise is because we haven’t stopped; we just kept going. A lot of bands break up; they get a bit of momentum and then they break up, whereas with us we’ve been able to stick together because of being brothers. I think where our strength lies is our live show. Without sounding too egotistic, we’re a good live band. We put a lot of effort into putting on a show for the audience and getting the crowd involved. Then going to talk with people after the show at the merchandise stand we really, in our early days, really tried to make that our bread and butter.”
That approach has certainly paid off. The band secured a spot on the Rock the Boat Cruise in Australia back in October after Brennan chased down the promoter and persuaded them to give the band a slot (there’s that work ethic again). And the rest is history… “it was amazing. It was a seven day cruise, but we had five shows we had to do as a part of our contract and we were just in the little rooms. But the first night we got the room filled up, and then the second night it was jammed, and then people were putting in requests. ‘Oh, you got to get them up on the pool deck’, you know. They’ve got to get them up on the big stage and stuff. So, we sort of got the whole fan thing going; they jumped on and made it a possibility. We sold out of all our merchandise, and the big promoter really liked us and could see the potential. It ended up being a really good exercise and we were very honoured to be on there.” I asked Brennan about the atmosphere on the cruise and whether the bands mingled with the fans. “We mingled a lot. A lot of the top tier bands didn’t mingle at all. Some of them did; and they built the crowd and got the hype going, and that’s what we sort of prided ourselves on. When we were on the Rock the Boat and the KISS cruise we were out and about mingling with people, saying we’re playing at this time. We actually printed out flyers and said we’re on this stage at this time, come and watch. We really tried to get the best out of it rather than just come over and be like, oh we’re on tour; let’s drink and party. We want to really try and make it worth our while. So then at least we can come back, and next time will be bigger and better.” It looks like the band are set to repeat this successful strategy in March when they join the Monsters of Rock cruise in Florida. Featuring some big names, including Michael Schenker, Extreme, Winger and Tesla, this promises to be another opportunity for the Mileto brothers to win over a new audience.
Of course, it’s not always been 5* cruises filled with adoring crowds. Like most hard-working bands trying to make a name for themselves, Sisters Doll have played in some dive bars to paltry audiences. Brennan recounts a particularly soul destroying – or should I say character building – story of a couple of gigs. “I remember once we were playing on a Wednesday night in Canberra, which is the capital of Australia but it’s just a dead city in terms of rock and roll. We’re playing in this back room, and we set up the full stage with the backdrop, the amps, the drum kit, everything, and the guy that came along with us to help out was like ‘oh, you’re not dressing up tonight and playing; there’s no one here’. But we’ve set up, we’re here so we might as well do the gig, and we got up and did the full show to literally just him and the sound tech: two people. And then we’re just about to finish the last song, and three randoms ran in and said ‘oh, you sound cool, are you finishing?’ and we go ‘we’ll do one song for you’ and we played. Then on the way back on the return part of the run we hit the same venue again. We rocked up and we’re thinking why are we here again? We should just bypass it, but there were ten people this time, and they had set up a couch in the middle of the dance floor. They were just sitting and watching us on the couch! Now that we’ve gotten a little bit bigger it’s quite a funny story; but at the time we were thinking this is so shit!”
As if tiny audiences weren’t bad enough, touring in Australia is damn hard work no matter how big the band is. I asked Brennan why the band had relocated to Melbourne early on in their career, rather than to Perth which is the nearest big city to their hometown of Collie. “Australia is such a big country. On the East Coast you’ve got Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, but they’re still so far apart. For us to drive from Melbourne to Sydney, which is the next major city for example, that’s a ten-hour drive one way, and then from Sydney to Queensland, it’s another eighteen-hour drive. Whereas on the Western side you’ve just got Perth; you’ve got other small towns but that’s the only big city. So, when we moved to Melbourne it was kind of like you just came over to the side where things were a little bit more convenient. We could do more shows; we could tour more. There are more tour support opportunities and the people that run the industry in Sydney or Melbourne they’re all there. When you’re in Perth, you just seem so far away sometimes.”
Talking about the distances that people are prepared to travel in Australia for a rock n’ roll show, Brennan explains that now even the bigger tours are missing cities such as Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane for economic reasons, so the fans have to jump in the car or catch a flight to go to a gig. “We’re doing our album launch in Melbourne and we’ve got no other shows scheduled just yet in other cities. So, we’ve got people flying in from Sydney and Perth and Adelaide to come see our Melbourne launch show. It’s expensive with the way the cost of living is; it’s hard. No one’s got a lot of disposable income, so when they do it, you kind of appreciate it a lot more.” UK readers please take note! When you complain that your favourite band is playing an hour’s drive away from your home think yourselves lucky that you don’t live in Australia!
Speaking of which, I asked Brennan about their upcoming trip to the UK in mid-May, supporting Kickin Valentina on ‘The Star Spangled Fist Fight‘ tour, before ending up at Call of the Wild. “We’re going to be their main support for seven dates, so far. We’re going to try and fill in a few more dates in that second week before Call of the Wild, if we can. We’ve never been to the UK before, so even if we don’t get any more shows, at least we’ll be able to look around and see the sights and be a bit of a tourist as well.” And how about travelling between gigs? “When the tour was announced for the UK we looked up on Google Maps to see how far all the places are. I think the biggest drive we’ve got to do is maybe three hours or something, and we’re like, oh, that’s nothing, it’s good!”
If you have a penchant for things on the sleazy side, then squeeze into your tightest spandex, back comb your hair and jump into the car to join this Aussie rock and roll adventure when it hits our shores in May.
Band Members
Austin Mileto – Guitar
Sage Mileto – Bass
Bryce Mileto – Drums
