Sam and Casey Harris of X Ambassadors never meant to be in a band together. They were two brothers making music separately in the same house, until Casey started sneaking downstairs to jam with Sam's band. 

On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, they trace how brotherhood became the band.

This is a conversation about family as both anchor and choice: growing up in a small upstate New York college town with a film-publicist dad away on sets for months at a time; the acrimonious split their parents hid from them; Sam growing up fast, partly because Casey, the older brother, is visually impaired, and Casey wondering whether they'd be as close if he could see; the raw recent moment of facing their father's mortality; and why being brothers is exactly what keeps the band from breaking up: "we fight, and then we still go on stage together."

Guests: Sam and Casey Harris of X Ambassadors 
Host: Nabil Ayers
Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji
Creative Studio: Palm Tree Island.

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00:00 Anchors: why family is why they play
01:34 Brothers, 20 months apart
02:42 Growing up fast
07:03 A father on film sets, months away
09:00 The split — and staying a phone call away
14:06 Facing a parent's mortality
17:36 Nabil on meeting his own father
19:12 The band they never meant to start
25:15 Fighting, choosing, staying brothers
29:36 What is family to you?

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Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are—and how we find belonging.

Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He’s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.

Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from—and where we’re going.

Sam and Casey Harris of X Ambassadors never meant to be in a band together. They were two brothers making music separately in the same house, until Casey started sneaking downstairs to jam with Sam's band.&nbsp;
On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, they trace how brotherhood became the band.
This is a conversation about family as both anchor and choice: growing up in a small upstate New York college town with a film-publicist dad away on sets for months at a time; the acrimonious split their parents hid from them; Sam growing up fast, partly because Casey, the older brother, is visually impaired, and Casey wondering whether they'd be as close if he could see; the raw recent moment of facing their father's mortality; and why being brothers is exactly what keeps the band from breaking up: "we fight, and then we still go on stage together."
Guests: Sam and Casey Harris of X Ambassadors&nbsp; Host: Nabil Ayers Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji Creative Studio: Palm Tree Island.
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00:00 Anchors: why family is why they play 01:34 Brothers, 20 months apart 02:42 Growing up fast 07:03 A father on film sets, months away 09:00 The split &mdash; and staying a phone call away 14:06 Facing a parent's mortality 17:36 Nabil on meeting his own father 19:12 The band they never meant to start 25:15 Fighting, choosing, staying brothers 29:36 What is family to you?
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Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are&mdash;and how we find belonging.
Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He&rsquo;s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.
Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from&mdash;and where we&rsquo;re going.

Welcome to 'Identified', a podcast hosted by Nabil Ayers, music executive and author of 'My Life in the Sunshine'. This show explores the intricate and often complicated world of family and identity.

In his memoir, Nabil shared his journey of understanding his mixed-race identity, navigating a distant relationship with his father, renowned jazz musician Roy Ayers, and discovering new family connections. 'Identified' continues this exploration, broadening the scope to encompass universal themes of family dynamics.

Join Nabil as he engages in heartfelt conversations that traverse cultural histories, the impact of non-traditional childhoods, and the ways our relationships shape our identities. Through personal stories, the show confronts the challenges of loss and grief, while celebrating the unique bonds that define us. Each episode seeks to answer the profound question: What is family?

Discover remarkable stories from individuals of diverse backgrounds as 'Identified' unravels the complexities that make family so unique.

The executive producer for 'Identified' is Kieron Banerji, and is produced by Palm Tree Island.

Welcome to 'Identified', a podcast hosted by Nabil Ayers, music executive and author of 'My Life in the Sunshine'. This show explores the intricate and often complicated world of family and identity.
In his memoir, Nabil shared his journey of understanding his mixed-race identity, navigating a distant relationship with his father, renowned jazz musician Roy Ayers, and discovering new family connections. 'Identified' continues this exploration, broadening the scope to encompass universal themes of family dynamics.
Join Nabil as he engages in heartfelt conversations that traverse cultural histories, the impact of non-traditional childhoods, and the ways our relationships shape our identities. Through personal stories, the show confronts the challenges of loss and grief, while celebrating the unique bonds that define us. Each episode seeks to answer the profound question: What is family?
Discover remarkable stories from individuals of diverse backgrounds as 'Identified' unravels the complexities that make family so unique.
The executive producer for 'Identified' is Kieron Banerji, and is produced by Palm Tree Island.

Identified with Nabil Ayers

Welcome to 'Identified', a podcast hosted by Nabil Ayers, music executive and author of 'My Life in the Sunshine'. This show explores the intricate and often complicated world of family and identity.
In his memoir, Nabil shared his journey of understanding his mixed-race identity, navigating a distant relationship with his father, renowned jazz musician Roy Ayers, and discovering new family connections. 'Identified' continues this exploration, broadening the scope to encompass universal themes of family dynamics.
Join Nabil as he engages in heartfelt conversations that traverse cultural histories, the impact of non-traditional childhoods, and the ways our relationships shape our identities. Through personal stories, the show confronts the challenges of loss and grief, while celebrating the unique bonds that define us. Each episode seeks to answer the profound question: What is family?
Discover remarkable stories from individuals of diverse backgrounds as 'Identified' unravels the complexities that make family so unique.
The executive producer for 'Identified' is Kieron Banerji, and is produced by Palm Tree Island.

X Ambassadors and The Story of the Band Two Brothers Never Meant to Start

Chad Clark's father was Martin Luther King's lawyer, a man who, as Chad puts it, "changed the 20th century." 

On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, the Beauty Pill and Smart Went Crazy musician talks about what it means to make art in the shadow of that kind of legacy, including the thing he rarely says out loud: he never shared his music with his dad.

Guest: Chad Clark
Host: Nabil Ayers
Executive Produer: Kieron Banerji

00:00 "My dad changed the 20th century"
00:34 MLK's lawyer, the atheist & the reverend
02:57 Why he never shared his music with his dad
03:42 "I was shot at there once"
04:52 The Carter years
06:57 Harlem, Philly & the family line
09:42 A New York childhood
12:03 Arlington, and a hard first
13:36 The questions he'd ask his father now
16:42 "Songwriting equals girls"
17:54 Dischord, Ian MacKaye & the privileged-punk verdict

Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are—and how we find belonging.

Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He’s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.

Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from—and where we’re going.

Read more about Nabil:
➡️ https://www.nabilayers.com/

Chad Clark's father was Martin Luther King's lawyer, a man who, as Chad puts it, "changed the 20th century."&nbsp;
On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, the Beauty Pill and Smart Went Crazy musician talks about what it means to make art in the shadow of that kind of legacy, including the thing he rarely says out loud: he never shared his music with his dad.
Guest: Chad Clark Host: Nabil Ayers Executive Produer: Kieron Banerji
00:00 "My dad changed the 20th century" 00:34 MLK's lawyer, the atheist &amp; the reverend 02:57 Why he never shared his music with his dad 03:42 "I was shot at there once" 04:52 The Carter years 06:57 Harlem, Philly &amp; the family line 09:42 A New York childhood 12:03 Arlington, and a hard first 13:36 The questions he'd ask his father now 16:42 "Songwriting equals girls" 17:54 Dischord, Ian MacKaye &amp; the privileged-punk verdict
Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are&mdash;and how we find belonging.
Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He&rsquo;s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.
Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from&mdash;and where we&rsquo;re going.
Read more about Nabil: ➡️ https://www.nabilayers.com/

Chad Clark | What I Learned From My Father’s Role With Martin Luther King and Jimmy Carter

Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups doesn't believe in perfect families, just ones where you feel safe and loved. Everything else, he says, is colouring. On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, he traces where that idea comes from: a childhood in Los Angeles shadowed by his mother's brain tumour, she was given six months in 1980, and lived sixteen more years, and summers in Kailua, Hawaii, inside a sprawling "calabash" family where nobody's quite sure who's actually related.

Along the way: the grandfather who drove around Kailua with "Pearl Harbor Survivor 19" on his car, the great-grandmother with hidden whiskey bottles and four husbands, an engineer father "fascinated and terrified" watching his son on stage, the son who draws the band's merch and sleeps through their sets, and why, for a man who performs for a living, family is the one place you shouldn't have to.

Guest: Brian Aubert (Silversun Pickups)
Host: Nabil Ayers
Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji
Creative Agency: Palm Tree Island
 
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Check out our Podcast:
➡️https://linktr.ee/identifiedpodcast

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00:00 The myth of the perfect family
01:33 "Safe enough to be a jerk"
02:30 His mom: given six months, lived sixteen years
04:18 Two sets of grandparents, best friends
05:36 Pearl Harbor Survivor #19
06:54 Gran-Nana Leah & the hidden whiskey
08:24 A math man watches his son on stage
09:41 Nico, the band's youngest artist
14:27 Hawaii: island fever & calabash family
20:18 A place where you don't have to perform

-

Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are—and how we find belonging.

Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He’s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.

Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from—and where we’re going.

Read more about Nabil:
➡️https://www.nabilayers.com/

Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups doesn't believe in perfect families, just ones where you feel safe and loved. Everything else, he says, is colouring. On this episode of Identified with Nabil Ayers, he traces where that idea comes from: a childhood in Los Angeles shadowed by his mother's brain tumour, she was given six months in 1980, and lived sixteen more years, and summers in Kailua, Hawaii, inside a sprawling "calabash" family where nobody's quite sure who's actually related.
Along the way: the grandfather who drove around Kailua with "Pearl Harbor Survivor 19" on his car, the great-grandmother with hidden whiskey bottles and four husbands, an engineer father "fascinated and terrified" watching his son on stage, the son who draws the band's merch and sleeps through their sets, and why, for a man who performs for a living, family is the one place you shouldn't have to.
Guest: Brian Aubert (Silversun Pickups) Host: Nabil Ayers Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji Creative Agency: Palm Tree Island &nbsp; -
Check out our Podcast: ➡️https://linktr.ee/identifiedpodcast
-
00:00 The myth of the perfect family 01:33 "Safe enough to be a jerk" 02:30 His mom: given six months, lived sixteen years 04:18 Two sets of grandparents, best friends 05:36 Pearl Harbor Survivor #19 06:54 Gran-Nana Leah &amp; the hidden whiskey 08:24 A math man watches his son on stage 09:41 Nico, the band's youngest artist 14:27 Hawaii: island fever &amp; calabash family 20:18 A place where you don't have to perform
-
Identified is a podcast series that explores identity, race, culture, and family through personal conversations. Hosted by author and music executive Nabil Ayers, each episode dives into lived experiences that reveal how our backgrounds shape who we are&mdash;and how we find belonging.
Nabil is the author of My Life in the Sunshine (Viking, 2022), and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, and GQ on themes of race, music, and personal history. He&rsquo;s also the President of Beggars Group US, co-founder of Sonic Boom Records, and founder of the record label The Control Group / Valley of Search.
Identified brings together notable voices for reflective, vulnerable conversations about where we come from&mdash;and where we&rsquo;re going.
Read more about Nabil: ➡️https://www.nabilayers.com/

Silversun Pickups' Brian Aubert: "Family Is Where You Don't Have to Perform"

Jon Ronson joins Nabil Ayers on Identified for a conversation about family, fatherhood, growing up in Wales, finding his identity as a writer, and the strange series of events that ultimately led to his new book, The Castle.

Jon traces his story back to Cardiff, where he grew up feeling like a square peg in a round hole. He remembers being dropped off alone at a Specials concert at just 12 years old, pretending to faint so he could get over the barrier, and unexpectedly meeting Terry Hall backstage.

He talks about escaping Cardiff for London, discovering journalism, writing for Smash Hits, The Guardian and Time Out, and the unlikely turn that took him into Manchester’s music scene as the manager of The Man From Delmonte and keyboard player for the legendary Frank Sidebottom.

Jon also opens up about his family: an often-absent father who later apologized, his parents’ award-winning Welsh hotel, an extraordinary family portrait that went spectacularly wrong, his marriage, and his relationship with his son.

And then, there is The Castle...

Jon tells Nabil about waking up to a series of alarming texts from his son after he and his friends had been lured to a mysterious castle several hours outside New York. What happened there eventually sent Jon himself to the castle, which crafted the orgins of his latest book.

Guest: Jon Ronson
Host: Nabil Ayers
Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji
Produced by Palm Tree Island

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00:00 Jon Ronson's Son and the Mysterious Castle
01:25 Growing Up Jewish in Cardiff
03:55 Childhood, Fear and Freedom
04:51 Meeting Terry Hall at 12 Years Old
07:15 Escaping to London
09:18 Leaving Cardiff and Finding Journalism
11:39 Jon's Relationship With His Father
13:15 The Extraordinary Ronson Family Portrait
18:36 Returning to Wales
19:03 Getting His First Break as a Writer
20:18 Frank Sidebottom and the Manchester Music Scene
23:37 Marriage, Fatherhood and Moving to New York
25:21 The True Story Behind The Castle
28:18 What Family Means to Jon Ronson

Jon Ronson joins Nabil Ayers on Identified for a conversation about family, fatherhood, growing up in Wales, finding his identity as a writer, and the strange series of events that ultimately led to his new book, The Castle.
Jon traces his story back to Cardiff, where he grew up feeling like a square peg in a round hole. He remembers being dropped off alone at a Specials concert at just 12 years old, pretending to faint so he could get over the barrier, and unexpectedly meeting Terry Hall backstage.
He talks about escaping Cardiff for London, discovering journalism, writing for Smash Hits, The Guardian and Time Out, and the unlikely turn that took him into Manchester&rsquo;s music scene as the manager of The Man From Delmonte and keyboard player for the legendary Frank Sidebottom.
Jon also opens up about his family: an often-absent father who later apologized, his parents&rsquo; award-winning Welsh hotel, an extraordinary family portrait that went spectacularly wrong, his marriage, and his relationship with his son.
And then, there is The Castle...
Jon tells Nabil about waking up to a series of alarming texts from his son after he and his friends had been lured to a mysterious castle several hours outside New York. What happened there eventually sent Jon himself to the castle, which crafted the orgins of his latest book.
Guest: Jon Ronson Host: Nabil Ayers Executive Producer: Kieron Banerji Produced by Palm Tree Island
-
00:00 Jon Ronson's Son and the Mysterious Castle 01:25 Growing Up Jewish in Cardiff 03:55 Childhood, Fear and Freedom 04:51 Meeting Terry Hall at 12 Years Old 07:15 Escaping to London 09:18 Leaving Cardiff and Finding Journalism 11:39 Jon's Relationship With His Father 13:15 The Extraordinary Ronson Family Portrait 18:36 Returning to Wales 19:03 Getting His First Break as a Writer 20:18 Frank Sidebottom and the Manchester Music Scene 23:37 Marriage, Fatherhood and Moving to New York 25:21 The True Story Behind The Castle 28:18 What Family Means to Jon Ronson

X Ambassadors and The Story of the Band Two Brothers Never Meant to Start

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