Maximum RNR

Originally published in the CJLO Magazine.

It usually comes as a shock to most people that deep in the nether regions of my twee little heart and soul lies a girl who likes it rough, hot, and filthy. And by "it," I mean my music. Grinding guitars, heavy bass, screaming vocals, black clad sweaty men, sideburns, and long hair is what I look for when I go to a show; and Maximum RNR gave it to me not once, but twice at Pouzza Fest this year.

My first "Max" experience started at Underworld on the night of May 19. I was nervous because it was my first time, and also a little late for the show after eating poutine at an alley picnic with my friends. 

When we entered the venue, I could see the band and hear the singing, but had no idea where that crazy voice was coming from. Then through the mosh pit I noticed a microphone cable leading from the stage into the crowd of people going wild. And there he was, Diamond Brent Panther (aka Brenton Ellis) thrashing about in the middle of the pit like the sun with the planets moshing around him in crazy-sweaty unison.

I was thoroughly impressed with a man who can mosh, get hit, physically pick up an audience member, and belt out an amazing tune at the same time. Maybe he is a true professional, or maybe he's just crazy, but the way Diamond Brent strutted about, you would have never known that he injured his back at the Dwarves show the night prior.

Unfortunately, I was only at Underworld long enough to hear two Maximum RNR songs, which is certainly not enough to truly experience what a band has to offer. Plus, Max rarely performs in Montreal these days, is unsigned, and totally punk rock DIY, so I just had to see an entire set. Lucky for me, with the cancellation of Poison Idea, Maximum RNR were booked to headline at Katacombes on May 20, the last night of Pouzza Fest.

So off I was to Katacombes the next night.

I got there super early, and with the police and protest chaos outside, I played with the idea of spending the whole night at one venue so I wouldn't miss any Maximum RNR. However, after seeing yet another ska-punk band that sounded just like every other ska-punk band at Pouzza Fest, I escaped to the terrace outside and debated whether to leave and catch Machinegun Suzie at Underworld.

As I was drinking my pint of brew, I noticed several different people come out to gather their friends inside. "This guy is amazing, you have to see this!" they raved. "This guy" was Jah Cutta, Canada's King of Reggae, accompanied by deejay John Lee of Foufounes Electriques infamous Ska Tuesdays! I felt so lucky to catch the legendary performer of over 30 years spread the Rastafari love in song. Jah Cutta created so much happiness, and his energetic performance made even the roughest looking dude at Katacombes dance to the beat. 

Jah Cutta really showed those stereotypical ska-punk bands how it's done, and I have him to thank because I ended up staying the rest of the night, finally getting my chance to see Maximum RNR in its full glory—well, almost. Lead guitarist Keith Carman was absent from their second Pouzza show.

Though he started on stage, Diamond Brent Panther quickly made his way into the crowd screaming, "Trust Us!" and everyone gathered around him once again to sing along and make rock poses through the entire set. There was lots of alcohol splatter and whisky drinking during the performance, and someone in the audience poured beer in Brent's mouth, all over his face, and into his eyes. But as usual, nothing stopped him.

With Brent in the pit and Keith C. MIA, Curtis Faux made sure that no void was left on stage by thrashing around, his hair flying, slapping that bass so hard that I could literally feel the vibration in my heart and stomach. His last name is pronounced "fox" by the way, and Curtis certainly lived up to it by injecting the band with lots of musical talent and sex appeal.

Keith Maurik, usually on rhythm guitar, proved more-than capable and make up for the lack of a lead guitarist, as he seamlessly plucked the strings on my favourite songs of the night: the super-heavy "Ire of the Ram", and that catchy hard-rock tune "Lucky Charm", both of which have those great guitar riffs that always make me bite my bottom lip and rock out like a West Island girl should.

There was a heat wave in Montreal that weekend, so drummer Mike Childs performed wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and a tattoo around his navel. I've always felt that the drums have got to be the most physically demanding instruments to play, and Mike kept up the energy by banging the skins non-stop for over 38 minutes, his enthusiasm making it seem so effortless.

Their set ended with the brand new Maximum RNR tune "Attack Panther," and for the encore we once again heard "Trust Us", a fan-favourite requested by some late-comers that missed the first few songs of the performance.

After the show I did a little investigative reporting to learn more about the people behind the band. Keith M. describes his band mates Diamond Brent and Curtis as "grifters" who "make things happen." When I asked Keith how they describe him, he replied, "Oh, I'm just the asshole that keeps them in check"—banter seems to be par for the course among the guys in Maximum RNR. Hanging out with Keith was so cool! He told me a bit about his life in music, and how at one point he went to build houses in Indonesia. I really appreciated his openness and sincerity, and could totally tell he has a kind soul.

To end off the night I partied with the band, Curtis gave me a sticker, and I bought a copy of Maximum RNR'sThe Black and White Years, which features their entire catalogue to date, for only five bucks. The CD has been on repeat ever since. Like Angelica and Diego before me, I am smitten!

Maximum RNR Katacombes set list:

01. Trust Us
02. Say What
03. Train Wreck
04. Cutthroat
05. Speaking in Tongues
06. Lucky Charm
07. Deep Inside the Tracks
08. Kill Tom Cruise
09. Welcome to Sodomy
10. Ire of the Ram
11. I Hate the Cold
12. I Turn My Back
13. Release
14. Attack Panther
15. Trust Us (encore, by request)

Theatre Ticket Giveaway!

Listen to "Twee Time" on CJLO 1690AM this Friday, April 20 starting at 8PM.

I'll be opening up the phone lines to give away a pair of tickets to the fabulous new play 5 Angry Men at the McGill's Players' Theatre in Montreal, Canada!

Call in for your chance to get a free pair of tickets to the Thursday, April 26th performance that begins at 8pm (doors at 7:30).

Check out the trailers on YouTube!

Meet the men:

5 Angry Men

McGill's Players' Theatre

April 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28

8pm (doors at 7:30)

Website: www.facebook.com/5angrymen

Buy Tickets: http://5angrymen.eventbrite.com/

Online: 14.25 / Door: $15

Twee Things for April 15

Today in History 2001 my beloved Joey Ramone died in New York City at the age of 49. I was at Movieland renting a movie on VHS when my friend Jesse told me the news.

Today's Quote is from my friend Taylor:

Punk taught me how to survive, Indiepop taught me how to live.

Today's Track Over 21 by Henry's Dress. From the split 7" WISH 6 with Rocketship (Slumberland), released in 1996.

Sure can hear the Ramones influence on this one. Thanks to Sammich for reminding me of the band.

New Stuff find me on This Is My Jam.

It's wrong to wish on space hardware

I've been putting together a writing "portfolio" of sorts, and found this old show review I wrote back in 2006. The CJLO Magazine editor at the time, (Alex Huynh) replied "[...]wow, that was a good review, thanks... really dug it" upon reading it. This was probably one of my favourite shows ever attended, and I'm really hoping the article does the great BB justice.

Billy Bragg

with Seth Lakeman

@ Club Soda

September 22, 2006

I recently remarked to a friend that many shows I've been assigned to review in the past always have an "Our Town" feeling to them. The stage sets are always simple, containing only an amp and maybe a turn table or a guitar stand. No more than one or two people perform on stage at any given time, and the lighting is always minimal or non-existent (Sisters of Mercy I'm looking at you), props and smoke machines sometimes omitted. The show on September 22nd was no different (or so it seemed at first). This was Billy Bragg: guitar, two amplifiers, and a voice.

In my youth I had dreams of seeing Billy Bragg perform. The only album of his I owned back then was Back to Basics (1987), consisting of tracks from his first three politically-charged releases and most notably, his first album Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy (1983). When I listened to the album (and I listened a lot), in my mind I pictured a man alone in a darkened theatre playing guitar and just being himself. The songs echoed in my head, along with thoughts of neighborhood children (myself included) sneaking into the theatre, unseen by Billy, ready to witness something special. Before Billy Bragg took the stage I was left wondering, what will make this show different from those dreams and Our Town?

Over the past 25 years Billy Bragg has been making music and reiterating time and again his personal commitment to political and humanitarian issues. This tour-- promoting the giant box set Billy Bragg Volume I released this past March, which consists of 7 CDs and 2 DVDs and rare previously unreleased tracks (a second volume is set to be released October 9, 2006)-- is very much indicative of these themes and of Bragg's passion for punk, rock, blues and folk music.

Early in his career, Billy Bragg created many songs about his disdain for the Thatcher government in the United Kingdom, and the themes he touched upon then [and in his music even now], are very much valid for today's political climate in and outside of the UK. The show at Club Soda that night was not entirely serious, however, and Bragg often engaged in banter with the audience (which prompted one audience member to laugh and say, "The Comedy Stylings of Billy Bragg"). In addition to his political feelings, Billy Bragg spoke of his vices (hanging out in record shops as a lad), having once drawn inspiration from Simon and Garfunkle, and of his fondness for internet videos depicting talking cats.

Bragg also mentioned MySpace a few times throughout the show, though he did not speak of the run-in he had with that company, wherein Bragg disputed terms and conditions of the site that at one time allowed News International to reuse any content created by users without remunerating the owner, terms which were later changed when Bragg removed his music from the site in protest.

Billy Bragg revealed to us his alter-ego "Johnny Clash," who was a clever mixture of Joe Strummer and Johnny Cash, in the song he affectionately called The Old Clash Fan Flight Song.

Her later mentioned his book (to be released at the same time as Billy Bragg Volume II) The Progressive Patriot: A Search For Belonging, which discusses Englishness and national identity, and Bragg joked how this book should sell very well in Quebec. He performed the title track from England, Half English and later a roadie named Randy brought the man his second cup of hot tea, which was quite fitting.

Bragg's performance gave us a chance to see how truly amazing the man plays the electric guitar. His technique appeared effortless, and the songs sounded much richer and passionately felt; for example, Like Soldiers Do from Brewing Up With Billy Bragg (1996) performed live was more amazing than the original recording that it took a verse or two to realize what song it was. He continued to touch upon matters of the heart with Sexuality from the album Don't Try This At Home (1996).

One stand-out was a currently unreleased new song, entitled Farm Boy. He "forgot" the words and asked if the crowd knew the lyrics and could help him out. The main set ended with a clever song depicting a summary of what he discussed during the show.

The first encore included the songs Black Wind Blowing and Eisler On The Go from Mermaid Avenue (1998) and Mermaid Avenue II (2000), which he played acoustically. The song lyrics on these albums are originally by Woody Guthrie, and later became part of a collaboration between Bragg, Wilco and Natalie Merchant after Guthrie's daughter Nora became familiar with Billy Bragg's music in the early 1990's. She personally requested that Billy Bragg compose music for unused lyrics written, but never realized as finished songs, by her father. She was impressed by his ability to perform effortlessly with country and blues musicians, and because they (Woody and Billy) touched upon similar subject matter in their songwriting.

Bragg also performed prison songs originally by Leadbelly, and then employed a steel slide on guitar for the famous song The Bourgeois Blues, and also updated the lyrics to make them contemporarily relevant.

For his second and final encore, childhood dreams were realized when Billy Bragg performed all seven tracks from Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy, most notably The Milkman of Human Kindness, To Have and To Have Not, and crowd-favourite A New England. For that final song, Bragg invited fans to sing the chorus, and then surprisingly added the since-forgotten "extra" verse (added to the late Kirsty MacColl's version of the song):

My dreams were full of strange ideas / My mind was set despite the fears / But other things got in the way / I never asked that girl to stay / Once upon a time at home / I sat beside the telephone / Waiting for someone to pull me through / When at last it didn't ring, I knew it wasn't you.

Billy Bragg remarked how he wanted to be a soul singer, but that deep in his heart liked being a punk rocker. One might argue that he is indeed both, and what made this show different, made the man real, and what brought so much to life was his sense of humour. The show ended with his call to the audience that we fight cynicism and keep the faith.

Parlovr "Twee Time" Takeover

It's kind of weird how I have to go way out of town to see really rad Montreal bands. Last year when I was in New York City attending the M pour Montréal CMJ showcase, I finally got to catch Parlovr live for the first time. 

Their set at the CMJ was such a blast, so I took a video of the party that gathered on stage during their last song that night.

Parlovr's self-titled CD made the rounds at CJLO a few years ago, and when I heard through the Twitter-vine that they had a new album coming out in May, I was like, "Eeeeeeee they have to come party on Twee Time!"

Alex, Jeremy, and Louis agreed, and so it happened. I invited them to take over the show, and here is the end result:

I'm going to start badgering them to come back and do a session in our production studio here at CJLO. In the meantime...

Keep your eyes and ears open for Kook Soul, out on Dine Alone Records May 15.

Thanks again guys! xoxo Steph

Thee "Twee Time" Show is originally broadcast on CJLO - 1690AM in Montreal. Go to cjlo.com for details and show times.

Never a Dull Moment at CJLO

When the youtube video "Never a dull moment on the NYC subway" made my facebook feed earlier this year, it warmed my heart to see two perfect strangers come together, let down their guard, and just jam out a rockin' tune.

Captured on film is an amazing break from the monotony of a subway ride that made even the toughest-looking New Yorkers let go, sit back, and smile. Stuff like this rarely, if ever, happens in Montreal, and the video left me feeling a little less jaded.

We're really lucky that someone was there to share this moment with the world!

As soon as I saw the video, I checked the description to find out who this tiny woman with the powerful voice was. Her name is Jessica Latshaw, a musician and writer living in New York City. I sent her a message and she kindly agreed to be interviewed on the Twee Time Show.

So here's the postcast from the March 9th episode:

Skip forward to 26:07 to hear the interview.

Thank you so much Jessica! All the best xoxo Stephanie

Jessica's blog: This Life in Writing

Jessica Latshaw on YouTube

Get "Ain't My Friend" by Jessica Latshaw on iTunes Music

Thee "Twee Time" Show is originally broadcast on CJLO - 1690AM in Montreal. Go to cjlo.com for details and show times.

Twee Things for March 29

Today's Quote:

@GideaPark There's a sparrow just chilling like a villan in this tree here. It's all like 'tweet'

@GideaPark I love how sparrows are back in fashion, they disappeared for a while but now they're bigger than ever.

@GideaPark They don't have the lasting appeal of the pigeon though. They're so classic and timeless, like the little black dress of birds

Check out @GideaPark's mixes on 8tracks:

Holding my breath from Milquetoaster on 8tracks.

Montreal Mix Tape Club

The DJs and volunteers at CJLO 1690AM have been participating in having fun! For the past few months, we've been:

- Exchanging mix CDs via the "Take a Mix, Leave a Mix" Christmas stocking in the DJ booth at the station

- Sharing music mixes via 8tracks.com and soundcloud in the "CJLO Mix Tape Club" Facebook group

- Making original CD art

- Meeting a couple of times a month to exchange our mixes at the "Le Divan Orange 5 á 7" in le Plateau Montreal

I'm so happy about the ethusiasm everyone has had for this experiment, so I decided to start a REVOLUTION

Presenting the "Montreal Mix Tape Club" Facebook group!

This is a group for music lovers in and around Montreal who love to create mix CDs, mix tapes, MP3 mixes, and for people who want to meet new people, get together, share and talk about music, and have FUN. Please join us, add your friends to the group, and post your ideas on how to make this the best Montreal music community ever!

Stay tuned for more news and events.

xoxo

- Steph

Campus radio is important, it's alive, it's thriving!

CJLO 1690AM is hosting its first annual funding drive!

The CJLO community is looking to obtain a small terrestrial FM signal in Montreal's downtown area, and we need your support.

Our station is very important to Concordia University students who wish to gain on-air and news/music journalism and production experience, so I'm hoping some of my listeners will donate what they can so the students can be heard by the Montreal community DOWNTOWN!

CJLO also fosters local, independent scenes and creates communities for music lovers (our latest incarnation is the CJLO Mix Tape Club), supports independent/underground artists, breaks new bands, exposes listeners to new releases, and carries a wide variety of programming including News, Spoken Word, Hip Hop, Classical, World, Metal, Electronic, Punk, Rock, House, Blues, Jazz, Goth, Indie-Pop, and more!

Go to http://www.cjlo.com & http://www.cjlo.com/fundingdrive for details, and if you donate via PayPal don't forget to comment that Stephanie Dee from "Twee Time" sent you!

Crush Alert

To begin, I'm going to allude to a personal story of mine...

Not too long ago I found myself in the middle of your typical girl-meets-boy drama. We partied, mated like bunnies, then after a couple of months of dating he broke up with me and went running back to his native country for another chick, whom he eventually married. Yeah, I was hurt. Blah, blah, blah.

Always realise that out of any misfortune comes opportunity!

If that relationship had gone in my "favour", perhaps I would have been the girl in those sad wedding photos that creeped up on my Facebook the other day. Living in Switzerland, feeling lonely so far away from all I know and love.

But a chance meeting on Sunday, February 5 has further lead me to review the great stuff I've been up to since the break-up.

I've gone to lots and lots of shows and heard some really kick-ass music. I've taken New York trips, and made some amazing friends along the way (I'm writing about you Abby, Amrew, Kelly, and my brothers Paul and Ian!). My radio show is reaching new heights, and not only that! I conquered Rock 'n' Roll by getting an interview with a band that I really, really wanted to share with the world.

Yeah, you know what? What's been going on lately is pretty fucking awesome. So many cool things would never had happened if my heart didn't break. And I'm going to keep on breaking it until it opens.

Which leads me to this major crush alert I've got going on right now: Artist, musician, roadie, and promoter...

Perry Cola!

He is one of those guys who has absolutely no idea how freaking rad and cool he is. He's weird, and weird, well... those are my people. So what if I only met him for an extremely brief moment on February 5? Sometimes that's all you need to really spot a kind soul. And other people have noticed it too.

This is what I know:

1. He sings and plays guitar in a band from Phildelphia, PA called Dry Feet

2. He collects t-shirts

3. He puts on shows in his home town

And he is super nice!

Dry Feet Video

How great is that? Reminds me a little of The Gruesomes, and some of those east coast Canadian bands.

Perry is the inspiration for a little song I'm writing. Here's the chorus:

Zip 

Gaah 

Bamf 

Smash 

Pow 

Bang 

Onomatopoeia goes my heart

So this week I sent Perry a message asking him to come back to Montreal in the spring and stay forever, and confessed that I've got a total crush on him. He was like, "oh you do not!" But I do.

Crushes can't be helped! La la la feelings!

Oh! And I want to see his band and interview him for CJLO.

Anyway, I truly hope Perry and I meet again, party, and become great friends. All the best to him. xoxo

Interview: JEFF the Brotherhood

One week into JEFF The Brotherhood's 2012 North American tour with The Kills, I had the chance to chat on the phone with guitarist Jake Orrall about his new gear, the Infinity Cat label's Canadian connection, and what's going on with the band since signing to Warner Bros. Records.

Stephanie: Hey Jake, you're live on CJLO.

Jake Orrall: All right!

S: How are you?

J: I'm good. I'm driving down the highway on interstate 10...

S: What city are you in right now?

J: I have no idea.

S: I want to wish you a Happy Birthday!

J: Aww thank you, that's very sweet.

S: Your birthday was last Friday [January 20], and JEFF also kicked off a tour with the Kills that same day, how's that going so far?

J: It's going awesome so far, really awesome. Tired of driving, but it's a really good show. And everyone on the tour is super nice.

S: Were you a fan of the Kills beforehand, or did you just meet them...

J: Casual fan, casual fan.

S: And I know you also have an LP of rarities just you just released on Infinity Cat. Can you tell us about The Brotherhood of Light?

J: Yes, kind of older stuff that's out-of-print... the more kinda cosmic side of JEFF The Brotherhood, I guess.

S: The cover of Brotherhood of Light has some symbols of the zodiac, Hebrew letters, the Star of David, the moon and the sun. I'm wondering where that concept for the cover came up?

J: The cover is actually from an old astrology pamphlet from a secret society called the Brotherhood of Light.

S: Oh wow! Is a secret society and mystical symbols something you're interested in?

J: Yeah, absolutely. Kind of a hobby, I guess.

S: Can you tell us a little bit about that book?

J: I found it in just an old pile of junk, and it's just kind of full of numbers, algorithms and stuff. It doesn't make any sense to me, none of it makes sense at all, actually. It's pretty weird, but it's interesting.

S: Just this week your video for "Bummer" has been going around the internet.

J: Yeah.

S: That was filmed in Hawaii, just in December. Did you have a chance to do any vacationing while you were there? Were you there to play shows, what happened?

J: We were there to play shows, but we were playing at surf competitions and a lot of that was really dependent on the weather and the tides, and surf. So we had to be there for two weeks in order to have enough time just for any possible schedule for shows. So we did get a lot of time just to hang out, which was really nice.

S: Did you take any surf lessons, or did you know how to surf beforehand?

J: No, I didn't do any surfing. I was just body surfing... boogie board.

S: The director of the video [Lina Plioplyte] also did your video for "Mind Ride".

J: Yeah, and our video for "Hey Friend".

S: Oh, cool. I didn't know that. Mind Ride has themes of black metal, satanic symbolism, and virgin sacrifice. So with that, and the Brotherhood of Light, I'm getting kind of a witch vibe from you guys. I'm wondering have you ever sacrificed a virgin?

J: (pauses) I... (inaudible mumbling) I'm not going to say anything about that.

S: (Laughs) Have you ever used a virgin to catch a unicorn?

J: Sorry?

S: (Repeats the question)

J: (Pauses) Uhh, no.

S: Do you believe in unicorns?

J: (Pauses) Sure, why not?

S: JEFF has been touring extensively for quite a while now, I know you were in Montreal last year for the VICE.com launch party.

J: We just flew in for that one.

S: You had a comedian there opening for you guys, Neil Hamburger, and I'm wondering what you thought of his show?

J: Oh, we're big Neil Hamburger fans. We just listened to one of his things that hasn't come out yet, umm, in the van yesterday. He's cool.

S: And I know his set was really long and a few of my friends wanted to get going and I'm like, "No, you have to stay for JEFF The Brotherhood! Trust me!"

J: (Laughs) He's not for everybody. (Laughs again) Not for everybody.

S: And The Spits also played, which was really awesome...

J: Yeah, yeah we're big fans of them too. We've played with them a bunch...

S: They describe themselves as "punk for the people", and I'm wondering how you and Jamin describe your band.

J: Uh, we just... we try to not ask how to describe our band, we try to just let people figure it out for themselves, I think. I don't think we're really... allowed to describe our own band.

S: I like that answer, people can get what they want from your music and feel how they feel.

J: Also, anyone can get what they want out of any of music, we're just not gonna tell them what we expect them to get out of it.

S: I'm going to talk a little bit about Infinity Cat.

J: Yes.

S: You have two Canadian bands on that label, there's Uncle Bad Touch from Montreal, and Peach Kelli Pop from Ottawa.

J: It's pretty much exclusively Canada and Nashville (Laughs) on the label, dunno why.

S: How did you get in contact with Uncle Bad Touch and Allie Hanlon from Peach Kelli Pop?

J: Uhh, Allie, we played a show with her other band White Wires [Allie is on drums], who we are also big fans of, and we had a copy the Peach Kelli Pop record... and I listened to it with some friends and went, "This is awesome... where do I get it? I don't know, I don't think you can get it. I think it's just in Canada... You can get it really." So, then I was like, oh let's just ask them if they wanted to put it out on record 'cause it's awesome, and so we did. And then Uncle Bad Touch, it was actually kind of a similar thing. We played with them, and became friends with them, and started doing shows together and stuff, and they had an LP and it hadn't been released in the US. So, that's kind of how it started.

S: Do you have any plans to collaborate with them musically...

J: Yeah, we actually almost recorded with Uncle Bad Touch, like a big collaboration thing the last time we were in town, but we didn't have time. We don't really have any real hard plans for that kind of stuff...

S: I've spoken to Allie from Peach Kelli Pop a couple of times, and she's a really good drummer as well as playing the ukulele and the guitar.

J: Yeah.

S: And I'm wondering if, because of that interest in drumming, did she have any sort of friendship, or love connection with Jamin?

J: (Laughs) You'd have to ask them.

S: If I ever get to meet up with her [Allie] again, I'm gonna to ask her if she would like to start a JEFF tribute band with me called STEPH The Sisterhood because that's my name, my name is Stephanie... 

J: Oh yeah, that would be really...

S: I think it would be kinda cute.

J: (Laughs)

S: You know, I could play the ukulele, and maybe she can get like a little toy drum set and we'll do JEFF songs... Peach Kelli Pop style.

J: I'd love to hear it. (Laughs again)

S: I'd love to play it, it sounds like fun... I wonder if a JEFF song would work on the ukulele with four strings... But, you know, you play the top three-strings on your guitar. 

J: Yeah.

S: Have you always played that way?

J: No, I used to have two, and only two, then I added one after the second album.

S: Wow, I'm really curious, how exactly do you get such a huge sound out of just two/three strings?

J: Well, I have a really, really nice pickup in my guitar, that was built by a guy named... in Nashville; a very talented pickup builder. But even before I had that uhh, I think it sounds a lot better now, but I use a Big Muff distortion pedal. Umm, and it's an old Russian one, it's not like a new one. And I play through a bass amp and a guitar amp, and I just EQ instead the bass amp is really, really bass-y, and the guitar amp is really treble-y, and then I just; when they mix together they make up for all the lost sound of not having a bass... A really big amp... Yeah, and I also got this custom made amplifier cabinet, speaker cabinet, which I got the day before this tour, and they're really cool. I'll have them at the show, in Montreal. I'm really excited about it, they sound really good.

S: Yeah, I can't wait to hear it, and I read that some of your gear was stolen last year in Nashville, so be sure to keep an eye on your stuff when you're here in Montreal.

J: I will. It's pretty hard to sell, if they do get stolen. (Laughs) I got some of my stuff back from a pawn shop when I got broken into last time, but the guitar wasn't there and the pawn guy was like, "No it only had three strings on it; I didn't want that piece of junk"... It's missing three strings, so he's like "I can't do anything with this". So the guy didn't buy it from them [the thieves], so I guess they probably just threw it away.

S: The saying goes, opportunity comes disguised in the form of misfortune, and you got a pretty wicked guitar out of it.

J: Yeah... I really didn't care when I got my new guitar that my old one had been stolen. (Laughs)

S: I also saw your post on Twitter that you guys were in the studio recording a few weeks ago.

J: Yeah, just basically recording another album, and I think it's the best one we've ever done.

S: I can't wait to hear it! Can we expect to a new single soon?

J: I dunno, we have to mix it when we get back from this tour, so we'll see.

S: Will this album be released on Infinity Cat? Because there's some buzz about you and Jamin being signed to Warner Bros. Records last year.

J: Yeah, we're doing, JEFF The Brotherhood's doing... umm, we just signed with Warner Bros., and this album will come out Warner Bros. slash Infinity Cat kind of thing.

S: Has the dynamic of the band, and how you run things at Infinity Cat, changed since being signed to Warner? Do you still feel independent...

J: We have a lot more freedom because of the resources we have access to. While before our record label basically consisted, you know, of me and... being on tour all day, and my dad and some interns at home mailing out packages. Now we have, you know, all these departments and all these people working for us. We come up with an idea, and we can send it to Warner Bros. and they get it done. And it's really been awesome so far; it really opened up a lot of new opportunities for us. And we also work harder and be a more professional band. But it's kinda like, it's almost like we just got like promoted at our job, and our job is like playing music, you know? It's fucking awesome...

S: I've always felt that, you can have the biggest bass amp, or the biggest guitar amp, or any pedal that you want; but for me I felt that your music really came from the soul, and it spoke to me for sure. And everyone I know who, like when I convinced my friends "Please stay at the VICE party to see JEFF", and they're like, "I'm so glad that I stayed".

J: That's awesome.

S: I wanted to thank you guys so much for sharing you music. I know, umm... some people think you're a pretty new band, or didn't hear much about JEFF, and you guys have been around since 2001.

J: Yeah, it's hard to get your name out there, you know. It really helps when people bring their friends to shows, and make them stay out ‘til the end, so thanks for that.