Burger Hangover 3

The best rock 'n' roll, the kind that gets under your skin and makes all your senses heighten, is simple and comprised of hard work and unrelenting passion—all of which JEFF The Brotherhood. JEFF The Brotherhood embody and exemplify on their Warner Bros. Records debut LP, Hypnotic Nights. Brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall have been playing together since they were little kids and formed the group when they were in high school. The boys grew up with a voracious appetite for any music they could get their hands on.

The band incorporates a DIY ethos in everything they do, including their raucous live shows. JEFF have been touring tirelessly for the past 10 years, playing any and all conceivable venues—from basements and backyard sheds to Bonnaroo and The Bowery Ballroom. The duo clocked in over 400 shows in the past two years alone and have shared bills with Best Coast, Fucked Up, Pentagram, The Kills, The Greenhornes and more.

When it comes to creating their desired sound, JEFF believes that less is more. This idea is reflected in Jake's decision to play a guitar with only three strings. Jake explains, "When we started the band, I didn't know how to play guitar," he remembers, "I thought, in order to teach myself, it would be easier to play if I simplified it. I started with two strings, but you can't really play any chords that way, so I added a third string [which added] this interesting limitation that forced me to create my own style and approach to the instrument."

These musical intricacies all come together on Hypnotic Nights, which was co-produced by Jake, Jamin and musician/producer Dan Auerbach (Dr. John, The Ettes). The album was recorded in Nashville at Dan's Easy Eye Sound Studio in early 2012. JEFF entered the studio focused and prepared with a clear vision for the album they wanted to make, completing Hypnotic Nights in only one week. For any other band, completing an album in seven days would seem like a challenging feat, but for JEFF those seven days felt like a luxury when compared to the amount of time spent on making 2009's Heavy Days and 2011's We are The Champions, which were released on the band's own label Infinity Cat Recordings. Each took only three days to make.

"We've never worked with a producer before, so this was the first time we'd ever had any outside input," says Jamin. "It was Dan's first co-production, too, and it really worked. He just hung out, let us do our thing and helped when we needed it." Adds Jake, "We write songs without anyone else in mind, so Dan brought in this idea of, 'Well, you guys do what you do and I'll present it so everyone else will understand.'"

The result is Hypnotic Nights, an album that uniquely blends elements of indie, punk, garage, and psychedelic rock. The first single, "Sixpack," is a fuzzed-out rocker driven by reverb-heavy riffs and propulsive drumbeats. Songs like "Leave Me Out" and "Dark Energy" venture into new musical territory for JEFF, but the band isn't afraid of experimentation. After all, it's this imagination and ingenuity that makes Dan Auerbach plainly say, "JEFF The Brotherhood are the next big name in showbiz."

In the end, Jake and Jamin just want to write great songs, play great shows and inspire fans to rock along with them. For JEFF The Brotherhood, blood is thicker than water—and music runs through the band's veins.
The Coathangers were a band before they were musicians. The Atlanta quartet started out as an excuse to hang out and play parties. Their jokey attitude ran deep, right down to their name--a self-admittedly crude abortion reference for an all-girl group. The whole knowing-how-to-play-an-instrument thing was just a minor hurdle in their musical mission. And to their credit, The Coathangers stormed onto the scene, regardless of the handicap, as a completely unaffected, unpretentious, deliciously sloppy, and totally infectious rock band. What they lacked in formal training they made up for in an innate understanding of how to craft a hook and propel a song forward on sheer charisma. It was impossible not to like them.

Despite the casualness of The Coathangers approach to making music, that devil-may-care attitude and rowdy house-show vibe resonated with folks across the globe. The band released two albums and toured the states with bands like The Thermals, Mika Miko, These Arms Are Snakes, and Young Widows. Five years later, that reckless energy from their
half-serious roots is every bit as vibrant and rambunctious on their latest album, Larceny & Old Lace. But this time around we're hearing a band that's honed their trade and incorporated more stylistic variations. It's also the band's first experience in a proper studio; the album was recorded with Ed Rawls at The Living Room in Atlanta, Georgia. The result is a record that feels like The Coathangers we've always known and loved, but sounds like a band taking their trade more seriously. Where their past recordings were a mash-up of garage rock's
rough and loose instrumentation and no-wave's abrasive tonalities, Larceny & Old Lace showcases a broader song-writing range. "Go Away" taps into a '60s girl-group sound. "Call to Nothing" employs the paint-peeling guitars, dance beats, and slightly ominous melodies of the early post-punk pioneers. "Well Alright" is reminiscent of Rolling Stones' bawdy R&B strut. "Tabbacco Road" is perhaps the biggest leap for the band, completely eschewing their rabble-rousing strategy in favor of penning a pensive and somber ballad. Are we seeing a kinder,
gentler Coathangers?

"Never!" is the response from drummer Rusty Coathanger. "We're definitely in a different place creatively and personally. This album has songs that go deeper than on [sophmore album] Scramble, much more serious for us... say whaaaaa?!" Old fans needn't worry though—lead single "Hurricane" is still a glorious, gritty garage rocker and
"Johnny" is still a brilliantly noisy no-wave tune. The Coathangers
are merely stretching their boundaries, as you'd expect any other act
on their third album to do. "We wanted to try and write different
styles of songs and push ourselves to really create something familiar but still unique," says Rusty. "Because everyone is into so many different types of music, you get a hodgepodge kind of sound. However different the songs we feel its still a cohesive album, as far as every song sounding distinctly like a Coathanger's song."

With this broadened artistic horizon, refinement of technique, and Ed Rawls' production allowing every instrument to shine without detracting from the band's natural grit, The Coathangers' latest offering is easily their best record to date. Larceny & Old Lace will be released June 7, 2011 on Suicide Squeeze Records. Join the party.
"What's in a name? that which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet." - Romeo and Juliet

If Shakespeare was alive to get the led out, he would've listened to Diarrhea Planet, Nashville's favorite six-piece rock and roll band. Outfitted with a drummer and bassist that barrel forth with the power of a thousand locomotives and a four guitar arsenal able to unleash a meticulous torrent of expertly crafted hooks, riffs and solos, DP take everything you knew you loved about rock, punk and pop, jack it up way past 11, and leave you catching your breath and massaging the kink in your neck from all that head banging. Over the past few years, Diarrhea Planet have packed basements, bars and clubs with enough power to cause a blackout at the Super Bowl (no one's said they weren't not responsible for this year's fiasco), honing their chops and fine-tuning the 13 indelible cuts that make up their second LP I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams, which will see release via Infinity Cat recordings.

Formed back in 2009 by frontman Jordan Smith, friend Evan P. Donohue, and drummer Casey Weissbuch, Diarrhea Planet was the trio's answer to the often stuffy, self-serious environment of Belmont University, where they were students. Soon after, the band tapped bassist Mike Boyle and third guitarist Brent Toler, and set about recording their debut EP Aloha — a boisterous, bombastic effort with enough massive hooks and chants to betray the fact it was recorded in a bedroom — which was self-released in 2009 and wracked up over 10,000 downloads. When Donohue left the band in 2010 to focus on his own music, they added friends and sure-fire shredders Evan Bird and Emmett Miller, who's 12 additional strings allowed Diarrhea Planet to start striving for the kind of joyous, stadium-sized tunes that's the stuff of pure rock and roll dreams.

On their 2011 debut Loose Jewels (Infinity Cat), The Planet showcased not just their knack for hooks, but also a unique approach to songwriting: In a nod to the grindcore acts he grew up listening to, Smith did away with the traditional, rigid verse-chorus-verse structure in favor of more piecemeal arrangements that move assuredly and effortlessly from one part to the next. Fleshed out by undeniable pop sensibilities, Loose Jewels was a 100-meter sprint of pure joy peppered with shred offs, fret-taps and a whole lot of whooping and hollering. On the road, the band showed what they were truly made of, unleashing power stance tableaus, on-stage theatrics and six-string tricks, while still hitting every necessary note with pristine precision. In the years since, they've shared stages and tours with Jeff the Brotherhood, Fucked Up, The Men, Wavves, Screaming Females and Titus Andronicus, who even shouted out The Planet on their last LP Local Business. Just recently guitar goddess Marnie Stern said she'd be the band's fifth axe slinger, and someone has to make sure that happens.

Back in December 2012, DP headed to Marcata Recordings, the barn-turned-studio in Upstate New York owned and operated by Kevin S. McMahon, a famed indie producer behind records by Titus Andronicus, Swans, The Walkmen, Real Estate and plenty more. The band wanted to go as big as possible, and set about cutting an album that delivered just that — I'm Rich traipses giddily across the rock and roll spectrum thanks to the band's ever-expanding understanding of how to utilize its four guitarists to maximum, orchestral effect. It's glorious, unabashedly fun, and bolstered by a musical and emotional maturity that reveals itself in the increasing complexity of the arrangements, musicianship, and lyrics.


This past March at SXSW, Diarrhea Planet set about solidifying a new wave of converts: Despite a busy schedule that saw them doing double duty on a few days — while also competing with the fest's deafening echo chamber and hyper-branded "secret" events — DP dominated every venue they played, and soon found their name on everyone's lips. How could it not be after such heroics like Miller and Bird scaling a rickety scaffolding at Cheer Up Charlie's for the final shred-off of fan favorite (and first DP song ever written) "Ghost With A Boner"? But while the over-the-top theatrics and goofiness provided good fodder, the music itself was just as impossible to ignore, even when their sets were packed with new songs unfamiliar to many audience members. With the impending release of I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams and a sprawling summer tour, Diarrhea Planet are ready to conquer hearts, demolish ear drums, and remind you that while rock and roll's never needed saving, it's damn good to have a band that makes it as wholly life-affirming and flat out fun as it's supposed to be.

-JON BLISTEIN