Call it six-string sibling rivalry.

The two boys of White Rock's Remedios family are competitive when it comes to playing the guitar, one attempting to outdo the other with bluesy licks on a Stratocaster.

Yet the evidence also suggests a strong brotherly bond between Sam & Luke, as they're known on a growing number of local stages.

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Sam and Luke Remedios (foreground, from left) with new bandmates John Nicolson (bass) and Fran Lee (drums) in White Rock, where they're set to play the Spirit of the Sea Festival on August 2.

Sharon Doucette

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United as a band, they've impressed adults and fellow teens with a "soul-pop" sound that borrows from the likes of John Mayer and Stevie Ray Vaughan, yet rings with originality, too.

A good number of songs have been written by Sam who sings and has longer hair than his equally mature brother.

"I absolutely want to write and play my own songs," Sam says. "I love covers, too, but I don't want to get stuck doing that."

To "sound fuller and more complete," Luke says, they've joined forces with bassist John Nicolson and drummer Fran Lee, talented teens with Semiahmoo Secondary roots -- a bit of a ying-yang thing with the Earl Marriott-schooled Remedios brothers.

In a rehearsal-session performance for the Now this week, Sam & Luke -- as the band is known -- ripped through Mayer's "Come When I Call" and "White Ocean," an original with a challenging mid-song tempo change. For the photo shoot, the quartet wore uniforms of jeans, Converse sneakers, black collared shirts and white ties. "We like the look," Sam said later, when the Now inquired about the band's gig at next weekend's Spirit of the Sea Festival (4:30 p.m. Saturday, August 2 at the outdoor Spirit Stage, East Beach).

"We've seen and heard some of the music there (at the festival) over the past couple of years," said Luke as his bandmates nodded, "and it's really good. We're excited to be playing there."

The Remedios family moved to Canada from San Francisco in 2004 and quickly embraced the creative community on the Semiahmoo Peninsula. Mom Jude is an artist whose work is on view at Surrey Art Gallery, and dad Ken is semi-retired from the software biz.

Amazingly, their sons are self-taught on guitar, with little parental influence when it comes to music.

"They're very intuitive," says their proud father, "and they've listened to the great guitarists," including Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana.

Not long ago, Sam and Luke learned how to play guitars behind their heads. They showcased the trick in a show at a local Wired Monk coffee house and repeated it this month during the talent search hosted by White Rock Blues Society at the Sandpiper Pub. Sam & Luke are among the four finalists there next Wednesday night (July 30), with Tales of Abbott, The James Sheppard Band and Compound Blues Band.

In mid-August, Sam & Luke compete for the Red Robinson Talent Showdown crown at the PNE.

For song and video samples, see sameandluke.com.

tzillich@thenownewspaper.com

© Surrey Now 2008