A family that plays together, stays together. Or so it seems for Minnesota-based bands NUNNABOVE and The Penny Peaches. 

NUNNABOVE consists of bassist Cadence Nunn, Mattie Nunn on the keyboard, Wisdom Nunn on drums and Bennett Nunn on guitar. Cadence sings lead vocals while her siblings provide supporting vocalists. 

Sisters Grace Peach and Hattie Peach formed The Penny Peaches in 2018. Hattie plays guitar and sometimes the violin, and Grace primarily plays bass. The two switch off on lead vocals depending on the song. 

While watching both bands perform at Whole Music Club on Nov. 10, I noticed the different vibes each brought to the stage. The Penny Peaches’ music resembles indie-folk music and made me feel grounded. NUNNABOVE’s funky, soul music quickly took me off the ground and into what felt like floating through space. 

Despite their different styles of music, both bands said they pull inspiration from several genres and could not pinpoint one. 

“I really just try to listen to all kinds of music, and when I make the music, the different artists that I’m listening to come through,” Bennett said. 

For NUNNABOVE, the songwriting process is often collaborative. Most times one member will come in with an idea and the others will add to it. 

“We try to focus on a groove,” Cadence said. “And then if there’s, like, a feeling we’re getting from it melodically or lyrically, we’ll jot that down and kind of just like, feed off of each other and go from there.”

The Penny Peaches want their songwriting process to be more collaborative, but Hattie and Grace Peach live about two hours away from each other in Minneapolis and Duluth, respectively.

One sends the other a recording of what they are working on, puts the song in GarageBand and the other adds their own part. From there, they play around with it until the song becomes something they like. 

For The Penny Peaches, Hattie and Grace often sang together for fun growing up, eventually performing together at weddings, church functions and school talent shows. 

Grace said they were surrounded by music growing up since their dad played in bands since high school. His bandmates are good friends of their family and aided the two in learning their different instruments. 

Similarly, the siblings of NUNNABOVE all took music lessons when they were younger.

The music lessons each sibling took made it easy to fall into their roles in the band. Cadence started with vocal lessons, Mattie with piano lessons, Bennett took guitar lessons and Wisdom took drum lessons. 

Their dad suggested the four of them start playing music together. In 2013, the group played “Joy to the World” for their family and have continued playing together since. Five years later, the pair would officially form The Penny Peaches.

Even after they released their self-titled EP in January 2021, they did not perform many live shows. Hattie attributed their recent momentum to the recording and release of their first album, “Good For Me.”

The main similarity between the two bands is the joy they get from performing and working with their family. 

“Hattie always says, ‘The best part about being in a sibling band is that you can fight, but you can’t actually break up because you still have those ties of still being in the same family,’” Grace said. 

Both bands said they obviously have their sibling arguments, but performing together has strengthened their bonds 

“We have a really good way of reading each other,” Cadence said.

Wisdom mentioned how the last song of their set at The Whole was unintentional but went smoothly because of the band’s understanding of each other not only as performers but as people. 

Hattie said Grace’s voice and songwriting complement hers well and help the two continue to choose each other.

“Getting to play music with your family is just something that is so meaningful in an almost intangible way,” Hattie said. 

Many people say it is dangerous to go into business with your family, but these two bands have found their rhythm with each other.