Brothers in Tweak Bird blaze a trail

Progressive rock duo Tweak Bird are touring in support of its latest album, “Undercover Crops.” The duo is opening for Melvins Lite.

The prog rock duo – known as Tweak Bird – snagged the opening slot on The Melvins Lite 51-date, 51-city tour.

“We are a little tired but it’s been really fun,” Caleb Bird says during an interview from Pensacola, Fla. “But The Melvins are the sweetest guys and it’s pretty amazing to see a band that you enjoy to see perform. It’s really a treat for us.”

The brothers began performing together professionally in 2007, but performing together began much earlier than that.

“I don’t know what it’s like to perform on stage without my brother,” Bird explains. “We have this really cool relationship when we get on stage. We may fight before the shows, but ultimately we want to make great music.”

Bird recalls the duo’s first show and their mother had to stay with them at the venue.

“I was 18 and Caleb was 14,” he recalls. “It was funny because the bar made my mom stay with us before and after our set, we had to leave right away.”

But in five years, Tweak Bird has managed to raise their profile in music. The band is often compared to The Melvins and even Rush. Bird says those are accurate influences.

“We listened to a lot of music growing up,” he says. “But it was the kind of music from The Melvins, The Meat Puppets and Rush that inspired us. We were always a duo too. It’s amazing the sounds that you can get with just two players.”

Tweak Bird is touring in support of its latest EP, “Undercover Crops,” which was released in early October.

Bird says the album came together quickly and the writing was done between February and June. The EP contains seven songs and each song is under three-minutes long.

“We connect with songs that are straight to the point,” he says. “We had a bunch of songs, but those seven seemed to fit together as a unit and represent where we are in our music careers.”

Though the songs are under three minutes, Bird insists that the duo expand the songs when performing live.

“It’s important for us to keep the live show great,” he says. “We’re entertainers and enjoy being on stage. That’s part of the reason that we’ll invite other musicians to jump on stage with us. We’ve been known to add one or two players to the sets. We find musicians that are willing to get up on stage with us.”

As the brothers continue to grow as musicians, Bird says he’s looking forward to getting more comfortable on stage.

“It’s always a learning process,” he says. “Mistakes are made but we learn from there. Usually there are only the two of us to blame, so we help each other out in learning and pushing us forward.”

Melvins Lite
With Tweak Bird
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21
WHERE: Launchpad, 618 W. Central
HOW MUCH: $16 at www.holdmyticket.com or 886-1251