TORONTO - Though they're separated by 12 years, brothers Michael and Roberto Occhipinti have long been close.
So when they heard both their names read out as Juno Award nominees for contemporary jazz album, they took it in stride.
"I suppose we could end up like the Gallagher brothers in Oasis, punching each other out, but it's never been like that," Michael said.
Indeed, it hasn't. The nominees at this Sunday's Juno Awards show in Vancouver (CTV, check local listings) grew up together in Toronto among five siblings, the children of Sicilian immigrants. And while they play different instruments -- Michael is a guitarist, while Roberto plays bass -- they have clearly left an indelible influence on each other.
For Michael, competing against a family member isn't unfamiliar. A year ago, he was nominated for a Juno against his cousin David, a fellow guitarist. Neither took home the trophy.
"Last year, I had to chuckle when both our names were read back to back," Michael said. "This year, I had to chuckle again.
"That's got to be some kind of Juno record, I guess."
It's also a testament to a talented family. Their older brother, Peter, is a musician too, though Michael says he's "semi-retired."
At 41, Michael is the youngest of the family, while Roberto is 53. Though the age difference meant Roberto wasn't always living in the city while Michael was growing up, his influence was ever-present.
He got Michael a job as a busboy at famed Toronto jazz club George's Spaghetti House, which has since closed. When Roberto played at the now-defunct Bamboo club, Michael worked the door.
Roberto and Peter helped get Michael hooked on pop music, too. When cruising around in Roberto's Fiat, Michael used to insist they listen to Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life," a record he still loves.
Michael calls Roberto a mentor.
"If anything, it feels nice to arrive at a point where we're kind of colleagues," he said. "He's still inevitably my older brother, but he's my colleague."
In fact, Roberto and Michael are now enthusiastic collaborators. Michael is nominated this year for "The Sicilian Jazz Project," which was originally inspired by Alan Lomax's field recordings taken from Sicily in 1954. Roberto produced and played on the record, and says he was the one who originally brought Lomax's work to Michael.
Michael even suggests Roberto might have spent more time on "The Sicilian Jazz Project" than Roberto's own nominated record, "A Bend in the River."
"I did put in a lot of hours on it," said Roberto, before adding with a smile: "I'm still waiting for the cheque."
Working so closely together -- and taking instructions from each other -- might prove trying for most brothers, but the Occhipintis insist the process was smooth.
"My family is a very -- argumentative is the wrong word, but we talk about stuff," Michael said. "And we talk about it loud, with a lot of enthusiasm.
"When I was a kid, if I had friends come over, they'd always say: Are your parents fighting? And I'd be like: No no, they're just talking. It's just a volume thing.
"But I think that I grew up in a house where people expressed their ideas very strongly, so if my brother does, that doesn't really faze me."
Their father, Giorgio, was a stone mason who constantly played music around the house and sang. Though both their parents have died, Michael says they would have been proud to see their kids working together.
"I think they would be thrilled that my brother and I had done this record together," Michael said. "We're aware of that, the more we play together, and the more we do stuff. But especially this one, we're aware our parents would be very happy.
"It's something we talked about a lot, that they're kind of in the room."
As much as the brothers enjoyed working together, occasionally the comparisons do get a bit tiresome.
Michael admits he gets annoyed when he is misidentified as his brother, while Roberto worries that their accomplishments will be undermined by the fact that they happen to be family.
Though Roberto says their Juno-nominated records were recorded almost identically -- with the same string quartet and the same trumpet player -- he's also quick to point out their differences.
He says Michael has more "Catholic tastes," is a better songwriter and is more prolific. On a personal level, Michael describes his brother as being the much more boisterous of the two.
And their approach to music is different too.
"He doesn't feel any compunction to try to blend together," Roberto said. "He's happy to have two different things -- on the record, he's got a reggae track, and an Afrobeat track.
"I think maybe, what I do, is I maybe try to integrate all these kind of things that I'm interested into one. That, I think, is basically the difference."
And what about the award? Michael has won two Junos before, and Roberto has contributed to a handful of Juno-winning projects.
The brothers insist there's no friendly rivalry over the outcome of these nominations -- "It's not friendly, I get him in a headlock and beat him, I am the older brother," jokes Roberto -- and both say they'll be pleased if either comes home with the trophy.
"I'd be very happy if he won, because I'm pretty heavily involved with that record," Roberto said. "And I wouldn't be so upset if I won."
Here, Michael echoes his brother almost to the word.
"I'll be very happy for him if he wins a Juno award for his record," Michael said, "(but) I'll be happier if I win."