Feb 3 2013

Emily Howard and My Red & Blue Giveaway!

Hey y’all.

Emily Howard, My Red & Blue, and Natalie Hart are playing at The Rutledge on Tuesday. THIS Tuesday. All you have to do is pay the price of one Starbucks latte ($5) to get in. It starts at 7:30.

And while Emily, Ben and Natalie’s music are good enough reasons for everyone to go, we at Wannado Nashville have one more reason for you to check out this event: a SUPER-AWESOME PRIZE PACK! Simply follow the instructions in the graphic and you’ll be entered to win:
1) Emily Howard’s New EP, Calloused Hearts
2) Two tickets to Emily’s next show on 2/15 w/ Robby Earle at Two Old Hippies
3) My Red & Blue’s EP, I Might Miss This
+ MORE!

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DON’T miss out on this event. It’ll be the event of a lifetime. And you gotta show up to win.

In the meantime, get your jam on listening to Emily, Ben and Natalie’s tunes:
Emily Howard: ehowardmusic.com, Facebook, @ehowardmusic

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Red & Blue (Ben Eggebrecht): myredandblue.com, Facebook, @myredandblue

 

 

 

 

 

 

Natalie Hart: Facebook, @natalie_hart_

 

 

 

 

 

 

See you there!

– The Wannado Team

Nov 23 2012

Wannado Weekend Update – 11/23/12

For the folks who will be in and around Nashville this weekend, here’s just a small sample of the staggering number of really cool events happening in and around our backyard over the next few days. We at Wannado have decided to highlight these for your enjoyment because they just have that “Nashville feel,” are being organized by local people and organizations, and/or are just that ridiculously awesome. Click the event titles for more information about them.

Friday 11/23/12

The one with the most points wins.

5 Points Friday

10am at 5 Points in East Nashville, FREE

Support LOCAL at 5 Points Friday. Participating stores will be offering discounts and specials to help you get a jump start on unique and local gifts for everyone on your list. The “Grassy Knoll” next to Bongo Java will host this seasonal block party with live music and local beers. As if that doesn’t already sound a heck of a lot more fun than standing in line at 4am in the cold, 5 Points Friday will be raising money for East C.A.N.! Cross items off your shopping list, support local businesses, benefit our puppies and kitties, and have a great time doing it. You just might end up on the nice list this year!

Red is my favorite color.

Red Dawn (1984)

Friday and Saturday, 12am at Belcourt Theater, $8.50

John Milius’s original RED DAWN (the remake opens elsewhere this month) is easily one of the most entertaining and satisfying jingoistic youth actioners ever filmed! In the mid ’80s as the Commie Reds parachute down onto our streets and playgrounds to mercilessly lock our fathers in concentration camps and gleefully shoot our schoolteachers in the face, a ragtag band of high-school meatheads (C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen, Patrick Swayze) are ready to take to the hills and fight back against the new Soviet overlords. Grab your canteen full of deer blood, take a swig and join us. WOLVERINES!!

Will Hoge

Friday and Saturday, 8pm at 3rd and Lindsley Bar and Grill, $20

Born and raised in Tennessee, songwriter Will Hoge made his name honing a blend of soulful Americana and heartland rock & roll. After spending his childhood in the Nashville suburb of Franklin, he left Tennessee to study history at Western Kentucky University. Music drew him back home, however, and he relocated to Nashville to assemble a band.

SATURDAY (11/24/12)

Radnor Lake Volunteer Day

8am at Radnor Lake, FREE

Volunteers work on trail projects including mulching trails, removing invasive plants such as honeysuckle, trail building and occasional park/stream clean up. A lot of trails need to be rebuilt in the wake of the 2010 flood, so volunteers can expect to be moving gravel and mulch around. This work can be tiring, but is extremely rewarding! Water, gloves and bug spray are provided. Every hand helps! This project will happen rain or shine!

Feed me for art!

Starving Artist Sale

10am-7pm at Four Points Sheraton in Brentwood, FREE

Want to pick up some amazing works of art? Original, oil on canvas paintings? How about finding that PERFECT work of art for your house for about 1/3 the price of anything in a gallery around town? How about just for showing up you get a chance to win over $500 in artwork? If you answered yes to any of these questions you need to be at this sale! We are taking over the conference center of the beautifully remodeled Four Points Sheraton in Brentwood TN and transforming it into a beautiful art gallery to display over 700 works of art. Prices range from $39 to $199. Plenty of free parking and free to attend!

Laser Holidays

Saturday and Sunday, 8:30pm at Sudekum Planetarium, $8

Get in the holiday spirit with a fun, family laser show in the Sudekum Planetarium. Laser Holidays features brilliant laser animation and thousands of stars performing to the music of Lonnie Anderson, Burl Ives, Bing Crosby, Randy Travis, Mariah Carey, and others in this fanciful celebration of the winter season.

Nov 22 2012

“Back in My Day, We Always Said Please and Thank You”

Nashville, you’re amazing. You’ve obviously known this for a while, and now many other folks from near and far are starting to realize it as well. So, with a little inspiration from my granny on this Thanksgiving Day, we’d like to give a big thank you to two groups of people very close to our hearts — our wise elders and shining newcomers — both of whom are helping to make our city as great as it is and can be. Without you, we couldn’t do what we do at Wannado.

Respect Your Grandparents, They Know More Than You


 

The New Kids in Town Making Big Waves in the Pool

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for all your great work. You make our dreams come true.

Nov 21 2012

Minton Sparks Ignites The Station Inn

Seriousness, sass, sadness, and symbolism, all wrapped up in one sweet package.

“…If she’s not the ghost child of Flannery O’Connor and Hank Williams, then cotton doesn’t grow in a cotton field.” -Rocker Marshall Chapman

This evening, the incredibly talented, genre-bending Minton Sparks performs live once again at The Station Inn at 7pm for only $10. She’s a poet, short story author, character actor, and songwriter all in one, and her show costs less, yet have more action than, a blockbuster movie. To put it more poetically, she’s a speaker-songwriter who writes flesh-and-blood vignettes about small-town southern family members, teasing out the complexity below the surfaces of people’s lives in ways that tickle the sense of humor, prick the conscience, and lodge in the soul. I had the privilege of being both entertained and intrigued by Minton’s featured performance at a Vanderbilt open-mic a few years back, and past renditions of her one-of-a-kind performances have received glowing reviews from the Nashville Scene.

Here’s a snapshot of what you could be witnessing live tonight.

Nov 20 2012

Contributing to the Word on the Street

Read things. Help the homeless. Stay literate. Everyone wins.

“Newspapers aren’t dead. In fact, one’s keeping us alive.”

Nashville, together you have unknowingly done something amazing. This month, The Contributor celebrates it’s 5th birthday, it’s 5th consecutive year of growing strong and helping Nashville’s homeless community. With nearly everyone contributing at least a little, collectively, we have begun changing the realities of homeless men and women in our city.

For those of you who have somehow managed to miss the friendly faces selling The Contributor on Nashville’s street corners, the paper is sold by homeless and formerly homeless people (vendors) who purchase the papers for 25¢ each and re-sell them on the street for $1 each plus tips – keeping the entire profit of the sale. The paper’s content focuses on issues surrounding homelessness and poverty and is written by local journalists and people who are experiencing homelessness or are working within the homeless community. The paper publishes consistently on a monthly basis and has greatly expanded its circulation and vendor network to become the highest-circulating street newspaper of its kind in North America—circulating more than 100,000 papers per month. Most importantly, vendors of The Contributor have a 30% rate of finding housing using the income from their paper sales.

In fact, just yesterday, the New York Times published an article praising The Contributor‘s resounding success.

I gotta get me some of that paper, paper money.

And today, the Belcourt Theater is hosting a special, one-night-only screening of the documentary Street Paper, which takes the viewer inside the lives of Nashville’s homeless population through The Contributor. It offers a unique look into the lives of the founders, vendors, and writers as the newspaper experienced exponential growth during September 2010. Following the screening, The Belcourt will host a question and answer session with the director (Christopher Roberts), the co-founders of The Contributor (Tasha French and Tom Wills), and various vendors of the street paper. Check out the video below for a preview of the documentary.

Nov 19 2012

New York Thinks Nashville Is Cool

They must be thinking about boots.

Friends, it’s becoming an increasingly common trend that other cool cities are taking sneak-peeks at Nashville… and then growing slightly jealous of all the awesome we have here. In its Travel section recently, New York magazine put out an overview of the famous places to eat, stay, and go out in our city, as well as a few hints on what to do while here. Summing up it’s time in the city with the tag-line of “hot chicken, cool honky-tonks, fierce roller derby,” the Urbanist’s review of Nashville was quite positive. Maybe we’ll start noticing a few more New Yorkers around these parts soon. Either way, it’s always nice to see the city getting the attention it deserves.

Nov 17 2012

Fairytales and Fate

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Hans Graf doing his thing.

Classy and classical Nashville, this Saturday (tonight) is your last chance to be enchanted by Fairytales and Fate, a magical evening of music at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. One of the world’s most esteemed maestros, Hans Graf will lead the orchestra as we welcome back pianist Ingrid Fliter, who is sure to captivate. Descriptions of the pieces on tonight’s menu are below, so bust out that bowtie and enjoy some of the classics.

Ravel – Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose)
Saint-Saëns – Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor
Schumann – Symphony No. 2 in C major

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Ingrid Fliter stares into you soul as well as she plays the music of it.

Experience the wonder of childhood through Ravel’s magical Mother Goose, which brings centuries-old fairy tales to life with flights of fantasy and music of uncommon delicacy. Schumann’s Second Symphony, which the composer wrote even as he struggled with depression, anxiety, and poor health, is the sound of one human soul rallying against the forces of fate, with a triumphant spirit that recalls Beethoven’s Fifth.

Nov 16 2012

Parnassus Books Turns 1!

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+2 literacy points.

 

Nashville, Parnassus Books, the only independent bookstore in our city, just made a year today of keeping the locals literate. With an anniversary party this evening, a story time reading on Saturday, and a special author event on Sunday, co-owners best-selling author Ann Patchett and publishing veteran Karen Hayes are celebrating in style. Check out the Parnassus website for more details and swing on by to thank them for keeping literature alive in our community.

Ann, who’s best-known for her award-winning novel Bel Canto, moved to Nashville at the age of six and has lived here ever since. She and Karen opened Parnassus Books last year to fill the void left by the absence of bookstores in the city they call home. In 2012, she was listed as one of The World’s 100 Most Influential People by TIME magazine for her work with Parnassus. And in addition to being a talented writer and enterprising businesswoman, she’s also witty and funny enough to stump Stephen Colbert.

Thank you, Ann and Karen, for Parnassus and for giving Nashville yet something else of which it can be proud.

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Award-winning novelist. Bookstore owner. Super casual.

 

Nov 14 2012

Meet John Fleming, The Bassist in the Wannado Band

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John, as seen here contemplating the worth of his Spider-Man comic book collection.

“I have somewhat of an obsession, possibly unhealthy, with guitar pedals.”

John Fleming is the bassist in the band of life. While he may not be immediately instrumental to the eking out of a new song, you surely can tell when he’s missing and will most certainly like the music a lot better when he’s playing. Essentially, John is the guy working in the background who lets somebody else take the spotlight so he can ensure that everything sounds how it’s supposed to sound: good. (Also, he plays bass guitar in a real-life worship band, so that helps to make this metaphor a little less figurative.) Drawing inspiration from his growing collection of over 200 movies, countless recordings of Chelsea Football Club matches, a large stack of childhood Spider-Man comics, and every episode of his favorite TV show How I Met Your Mother, John requests that all of his adoring fans and friends address him from now on as “Galactic President Superstar McAwesomeville” whenever you see him take the stage as a bassist. (In fact, call him that whenever you see him in public from here on out.) If you’re not sure what he looks like, imagine a thinner version of Spider-Man with a bass guitar hanging from his shoulder and you have a pretty good idea of John. Recent occasions for which this nickname could have been used include the Wurstfest hosted by The Pharmacy and the Oktoberfest in Germantown. Future occasions include next year’s Soundland music festival.

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John again, as seen here attempting to wear all the Spandex he owns before crawling out into the city to fight crime.

A current senior at Belmont, John is one of our newest interns at Wannado, and he has aspirations of creating the Wannado “Late Night Channel” to cater to those of you wanting to keep the party going after 10 o’clock and later, when most concerts and other events are ending. An avid fan of both the movie and book renditions of The Hunger Games and Fight Club, John has taken cues from both stories and has plans to learn a foreign language or two just in case the last safe haven for humanity happens to be end up being somewhere other than America or another English-speaking country. However, until dystopia falls upon us all, John can often be found trolling the Downtown Antique Mall on 8th Ave South, bar-hopping around the Melrose area, and chowing down on Edley’s BBQ in 12 South. He also finds himself drawn to this unique spot on the bank of the river near LP Field where there’s an amazing view of the city and the dulled music of all the nearby concerts floating in the background. When likening himself to a common kitchen utensil, John prefers to be a spork because “they’re awesome and serve many purposes. Or I guess at least two purposes. Regardless, they’re just real creative.”

P.S. – To see what else John collects, such as the mispronunciation of words, watch the clip below.

Nov 13 2012

Belmont, Thank You for Rocking with Us

All we wannado is rock with you.

Friends of Wannado, check out the guest post below by Team Wannado’s resident music star, Matt Clemons.

Last Saturday, we at Wannado had the privilege of sponsoring Belmont’s annual Rock Showcase. Student produced and featuring student performers, each genre-specific showcase highlights the overwhelming amount of talent within the Belmont community. And the 2012 Rock Showcase didn’t fail to deliver either, as the performances of Belmont artists Telegraph, Coin, Rudy, and Kim Logan made the night unforgettable.

Over at our table in the atrium, we spent the evening in true Rock and Roll form. Wrist deep in glitter and sporting incredibly small pink wigs, we would have made any good rock star proud. We had the opportunity to demo the app to a crowd of new faces and even convinced some of them to channel their inner rock stars in our photo booth. Thanks to everyone involved in making the night wonderful for the Wannado crew, and don’t forget to check out the pictures!

Be sure to check out the specially-made “Rock Showcase Channel” within the app so that you can easily find these great, up-and-coming artists playing again around town in the future.

 

Nov 11 2012

Wannado Wishes You a Happy Veterans Day

A sincere thanks for your service.

As a state known for its volunteerism and service to others, it’s important for every Tennessean to remember those men and women who gave years of service, and perhaps even their lives, to keep America safe for its citizens. So, my fellow Nashvillians, when you pass former and/or current soldiers today, please thank them for their service, time, and efforts given in the name of our great nation.

For a list of all the day’s local events planned to commemorate America’s veterans currently living in Middle Tennessee, check here.

Also, below you’ll find a message of gratitude from the Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner.

Nov 10 2012

Belmont Rock Showcase 2012, Sponsored by Wannado

For those about to rock, we salute you.

Belmont Rock Showcase 2012

Tonight, 7pm at the Curb Event Center (Belmont University), FREE to rock

Bruins of Rock,

Belmont University’s Rock Showcase is one of a series of annual genre-specific showcases that are completely student-produced and feature students as performers. This year’s rock performers are Telegraph, Coin, Rudy, and Kim Logan, and they will competing tonight to perform in the Best of the Best Showcase at the end of the year alongside the winners from the Christian, Urban/Pop, and Country Showcases. (To get a preview of what you’ll be hearing later on tonight, check out this teaser playlist on Soundcloud.)

Wannado is one of the sponsors of the showcase, so be sure to swing on by our table, demo the app with the Wannado team, and get the red-carpet rock-star treatment at our photobooth. And we’ve created a special “Rock Showcase Channel” just for tonight’s event so that you can see these great artists playing again around town in the future. Wannado and Gear 7 Creative (who created the video at the bottom of this post) will also be hosting a not-so-silent auction with all of the proceeds going toward the Nashville Sertoma Club.

Check out the Facebook event page here and let us know if you’re coming. (Also, a big shout-out to Ryan Court and Alena Moran who produced tonight’s event. You’ve been a pleasure to work with.)

Watch the video below to meet the bands that’ll be playing later on tonight.

Nov 9 2012

Wannado Weekend Update – 11/9/12

For the folks who will be in and around Nashville this weekend, here’s just a small sample of the staggering number of really cool events happening in and around our backyard over the next few days. We at Wannado have decided to highlight these for your enjoyment because they just have that “Nashville feel,” are being organized by local people and organizations, and/or are just that ridiculously awesome. Click the event titles for more information about them.

FRIDAY (11/9/12)

This is mighty fine by me.

Joshua Radin and A Fine Frenzy

8pm at Marathon Music Works (doors at 7pm), Tickets $23-$27

Joshua Radin‘s debut album, We Were Here (Columbia), drew critical acclaim and a four star review from Rolling Stone. 2008’s follow up, Simple Times, which hit number one on the overall iTunes chart upon release, went top 10 in ten different countries including the UK where lead single “I’d Rather Be With You” went all the way to number two at radio. He has appeared on Ellen, the Today Show, Conan O’Brian and many others. He has begun co-producing his fourth album with producer Kevin Augunas (Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Cold War Kids). Joshua co-produced his latest LP underwater, which came out in July 2012.

A Fine Frenzy is the enchanting musical world of Alison Sudol. And her sprawlingly ambitious new album PINES reaches for the stars. It is nothing less than the story of our age: an elegy for a planet on the brink of catastrophe. Our planet. A magic-realist allegory about the enduring beauty and awesome power of nature, PINES is a wildly diverse musical adventure — and a cautionary tale for the 21st century. In time, it grew into the story of nature’s fight for survival against the destructive encroachment of mankind. But because Sudol is an artist filled with optimism and compassion, it’s filled not with gloom and doom, but with hope for a better future.

SATURDAY (11/10/12)

For the folks who suffer from cold palms.

Learn to Knit a Pair of Fingerless Mittens

3pm at 1200 Villa Place, Suite 300; $25 reservation

‘Tis the season for knitting! Come learn how to knit these adorable fingerless mittens with May from the Tricycle Sweets Co.! It is the best way to start the knitting season off right! A simple fingerless gloves pattern will be taught in which students will learn how to cast-on, ribbing stitch, form basic cables and cast-off. Students will leave with a pair of handmade fingerless gloves that will keep you warm this winter! All levels of experience are welcome. Materials will be provided. Come join us!

For those about to rock, we salute you.

Belmont Rock Showcase 2012

7pm at Belmont University, FREE to rock

Belmont University’s Rock Showcase is one of a series of annual genre-specific showcases that are completely student-produced and feature students as performers.On Saturday, November 10, four Belmont rock artists will compete to perform in the Best of the Best Showcase at the end of the year alongside the winners from the Christian, Urban/Pop, and Country Showcases. This year’s performers are Telegraph, Coin, Rudy, and Kim Logan.

Wannado is one of the sponsors for this event, so be sure to swing on by, pick up some free swag, and get the red-carpet rock-star treatment.

The tiger knows what’s best.

Nashville Cares presents Under the Big Top: Avant-Garde Redux

7pm at Marathon Music Works; Tickets for this fundraiser start at $100

We want to know, are you ready for the GREATEST SHOW IN NASHVILLE? Join Nashville CARES as they turn Marathon Music Works into a late 1800’s circus with sideshow acts (fire breathers, acrobats, stilt walkers, strong men, etc.), lots of fun, high-energy performances, modern circus animal interpretations, imagination, and a special guest ringmaster!

If you’re looking to support a good cause and have the spare cash, this seems like it’ll be one amazing night.

All of the words, stated.

State of the Word 2012

7pm at Vanderbilt University’s Sarratt Cinema, $5 tickets

Co-hosted by Southern Word and Vandy Spoken Word, “State of the Word” is the region’s leading youth poetry event, which brings together college poets with their high school counterparts in a poetry reunion. They then conduct workshops, rehearsals, and activities all day leading up to the main event. MTSU’s WordUp, Belmont’s B the Word, and Fisk’s Go! Inc. are also event partners. While the event is not a competition, performers strive to showcase their best skills as the group celebrates its progress and invigorates the Nashville community. Southern Word has nurtured the development of young writers who have been featured in The Tennessean, Nashville Scene, Nashville Arts Magazine, WPLN, Chapter 16, and TEDxNashville. These poets deliver their finest performances at “State of the Word” as other students holler in support and dance in their seats. The event is transformational for performers and audience members alike.

He’s a little bit special.

An Evening with Stephen Lynch

8pm at TPAC, $32.75 tickets

Whether he’s singing an ode to “queer tattoos,” telling his potential paramour all the things he won’t be doing for her (he ain’t fightin’ no Lion), or lamenting his new vegan lifestyle (“Tofurkey? Tof**k yourself – I want some meat”), Stephen Lynch will always consider himself “a musician trapped in the body of a comedian.” His unique blend of musical based comedy has earned him fiercely loyal fans around the world who live to experience his sold-out live shows, four best-selling CDs, his RIAA-certified Gold DVD and his top rated Comedy Central Specials. Stephen’s albums “A Little Bit Special,” “Superhero,” “The Craig Machine,” and “3 Balloons” have sold hundreds of thousands of copies around the world. His first DVD, “Live at the El Rey,” was certified Gold by RIAA. Stephen has toured with some of the biggest names in comedy, including Lewis Black and the late Mitch Hedberg. He’s also headlined his own sold out shows throughout the United States, Australia, and Europe, where its been said he’s “the Beyonce of Scandinavia.”

SUNDAY (11/11/12)

They’ll make a statue of her one day.

Regina Spektor with Only Son

7:30pm at the Ryman Auditorium, $24.50-$37.50 tickets

Regina Spektor, originally from Moscow, is a singer-songwriter and pianist with a unique musical style that blends techniques and styles from all genres. Spektor grew up around music, with her father being an amateur violinist and her mother a music professor, she studied classical piano under Sonia Vargas, a professor at the Manhattan School of Music in her late teenage years, and completed a four-year studio program of the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College in only three years. Spektor’s songs are usually based on scenarios and characters drawn from her imagination, combining multiple musical techniques including verses composed entirely of buzzing noises and beatbox-style flourishes in the middle of ballads. Specktor usually sings in English, although sometimes she writes words and verses in Latin, Russian or French. She was featured in 2006 on VH1’s “You Oughta Know: Artists on the Rise,” and performed for President Obama and his wife in 2010 to a standing ovation led by the First Lady.

Nov 8 2012

Citizen Cope plays tonight at Marathon Music Works

So much soul in that beard.

“Rawness improbably balanced by a mixture of danger and delicacy is what gives Citizen Cope his edge. As a singer, songwriter, and producer, he stands alone—an artist immune to corruption.” — Rolling Stone

Local Musicians and Music Lovers,

Songwriting extraordinaire and godly guitarist Citizen Cope is strutting through Nashville tonight with his stories and six-string, and you’ll find him headlining over at Marathon Music Works (doors at 8pm, opening act starts at 9pm). If you’re not sure exactly who Citizen Cope is, it’s probably a safe bet to say that you know at least a few of songs, but may not have known they were his creations. Be sure to check out his website to put a name to one of your favorite tracks like “Let the Drummer Kick,” “Sideways,” “Son’s Gonna Rise,” the last of which you’ll find conveniently at the bottom of this post.

A critically-acclaimed songwriter, Citizen Cope’s work has been recorded by a number of vastly different musical artists — including Carlos Santana, Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton, Dido, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor, folk legend Richie Havens, and Chicago-based hip-hop artist Rhymefest — which stands as a testament to the indefinable genre Cope has created. Citizen Cope’s songs have also been licensed to appear in numerous films, soundtracks, and commercials. To quote from the About section of his website, as a child of Memphis “dug deep into the rich soil of American music, Cope’s roots are complex. You may think of Bill Withers or Neil Young or John Lee Hooker or Van Morrison or Willie Nelson or Al Green. Yet, listening to Cope, you also may think of none of the above. You may not think at all, but rather feel a man exposing stories that haunt his heart.”

(P.S. — Sorry for pushing this post out so late today. All of my technology just gave up within a 24-hour span, and today became an unplanned tech-repair day with activities including getting a replacement phone from the geniuses at the Apple Store and playing Operation on my Sony laptop. But, all is well once again.)

Nov 7 2012

JEFF the Brotherhood: One of the Top 5 Bands That Should Be Way Bigger Than They Are

This.

About a week ago, Robin Hilton, the producer of and co-host for the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered, released his short list of the Top 5 Bands That Should Be Way Bigger Than They Are. Number three on his list was Nashville’s very own do-it-yourself rockers JEFF the Brotherhood, a duo led by Nashville natives and brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall.

“When I want to hear some real *&!@#$ rock ‘n’ roll, I reach for these guys. With a decade’s worth of monstrous albums behind them, they really ought to rule the galaxy by now. Maybe things will change now that they’ve signed with Warner.” — Robin Hilton

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Dan Auerbach (of Grammy-winning The Black Keys fame) had this to say of JTB’s Jake and Jamin Orrall, “They’re amazing. They’re just like absolute characters, and they’re definitely the heart of that scene with those younger bands.”

In that same article, Associated Press music writer Chris Talbott goes on to narrate how “the Orralls formed JEFF the Brotherhood while in their mid-teens and, over time, they’ve laid down a blueprint for other DIY-leaning bands. They run Infinity Cat Records with their dad, Bob, who also was an early Taylor Swift producer and songwriting partner. Like Swift, he’s helped nurture the local scene – almost literally. The label has put out 74 releases in its 10 years and many on the roster are childhood friends of his sons.”

JTB with be touring in the northeast, midwest, and Australia until February, but keep your fingers crossed that they’ll return home for a spell after then. In the meantime, you can surely catch the Orrall brothers playing live on Conan on November 15th, and you’ll find their most popular video, “U Got the Look,” below.