Brothers from Bend beating the odds against cystic fibrosis while making reggae tunes

There are bands that have a message and then there is Indubious. Live your life to the fullest regardless of the situation is just one communique from the Bend, Oregon, band.

Brothers Evton, 38, and Skip Burton, 41, were each diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, which is a an inherited life-threatening disorder that causes severe damage to the lungs, digestive system and other organs.

“Ever since I can remember I knew I had a disease,” Evton Burton said.

The Burtons parents received the news when their boys were toddlers. Evton and Skip Burton turned lemons into lemonade at an early age, refusing to believe they had a teenage death sentence. The brothers decided to live life to the fullest.

“Having cystic fibrosis really set us on our path,” Burton said while calling from his Bend home. “Having a sense of your own mortality from a young age connects you with what’s most important.”

The Burtons, who grew up in San Francisco loving Bob Marley, the Beatles and Steel Pulse, learned early that material objects weren’t important.

“We discovered it wasn’t about things or money,” Burton said. “It was about what our souls really wanted and needed. It’s about what speaks to our spirit.”

Nothing has mattered as much as music for the Burton brothers, who formed Indubious in 2008. Indubious, which will perform Saturday at the Lucky You Lounge, is a reggae band with traces of dub and roots and plenty of energy, heart and most of all, positive vibes.

“There’s nothing we’re more passionate about than making our music,” Burton said. “I’m just so happy when I play the keys and I look over and my brother is playing bass. When we open our mouths and sing, it’s just pure joy.

“It’s like we’re singing to God or singing to an old friend.”

“BELEAF,” the latest and fifth album from Indubious, topped the Billboard Reggae chart and hit number 2 on iTunes Reggae chart.

“We have so much to be thankful for,” Burton said. “A lot of people think it’s a miracle that we’ve accomplished so much but my brother and I see it another way.”

The Burtons story can be experienced next month courtesy of a revelatory and entertaining documentary, “Mystic Fibrosis: A Guide to Living Indubiously,” which will be released Nov. 22 via Falling Forward Films and Apple, Amazon, Google/YouTube, Vudu and Vimeo on Demand.

“You can see how different our lives are,” Burton said. “When we were kids we were told that we wouldn’t live past our teenage years. What we heard caused my brother and I not to listen to other people when they spoke about our lives. We were told that we were going to die and we said, ‘That’s not true. I think that’s BS.’

“We decided to write our own story. Because of everything we fell deeper into intuition. Ultimately we decided to trust ourselves as opposed to the world. The funny thing is that out biggest challenge has become our biggest blessing.”

Evton Burton survived a double lung transplant in 2018.

“I’m so fortunate to still be here but I believe my brother and I will be around for a long time,” Burton said.

The oldest living cystic fibrosis patient lived until 86.

“See that proves that anything is possible,” Burton said. “We’re also proof of that. No doctor would have guessed that we would reach this age and fulfill our dream as musicians.”