JEFF The Brotherhood are a Family Affair

JEFF The Brotherhood are a Family Affair

04 November, 2011
by: Domzig

This is what happens when you give kids too much sugar

Being in a band with your brother is certainly a great angle for any journalists looking to write about you, but it also has to take some real stones. Most people I know can’t get along with their siblings for more than a day or two, so I have to take my hat off to JEFF the Brotherhood; made up of former Be Your Own Pet members, Jamin Orrall and his brother Jake, these guys have to spend eight to nine months a year driving around with just each other for company. That must take some serious patience.

For all its obvious downsides, hanging out with your bro all the time does have its advantages. OK, so you may end up arguing about the smallest thing, but thanks to that intimate understanding that you only get with members of your own family, it does mean that your band will probably be tighter than a Yorkshire housewife. JEFF the Brotherhood are certainly proof of that. Without even trying, they throw psychedelic rock, indie rattle and high spirited power pop into the blender and come out with amazing party rock that makes you want to chuck beer over yourself and hi-five anyone in range. They’re like Sonic Youth playing Ram Jam songs.

Even though they come from a musical family (their dad is Nashville songwriter Robert Ellis Orall) it’s taken 'the Brotherhood longer to reach the ‘big time’ than most. Starting out in 2002, the band released their first five records on their own label, Infinity Cat Recordings, which was funded mostly by $5 donations from members of their mailing list. In between, they’ve spent the last ten years touring the US and playing almost every art gallery, backyard party, rooftop show and dive bar gig they could get on.

Hard work does have a habit of paying off however, and sure enough, this relentless, almost suicidal work ethic resulted in the world finally taking notice at the tail-end of last year. Releasing splits with Best Coast, The Tropics and Ty Segall and letting the internet do the rest, JEFF the Brotherhood were hailed as one of the best ‘finds’ at this year’s SXSW, and from the buzz their two London shows generated last January it feels like this could really be their time.

Before they come back to our shores this month, I caught up with Jake to gauge the mood...

JEFF The Brotherhood - 'Diamond Way' by SpunkRecords

Most brothers can’t get on for more than five minutes – what’s it like being on tour with yours?

You definitely learn a lot about each other, and I think learn to understand each other better. It doesn’t cut down on any arguments, but I think the intense exposure means you can see where the arguments are heading, and easily brush them away.

Who’s in charge then?

Ha ha, well when we’re on tour I’m usually the ‘tour manager’. I dunno. We take turns...

Did you guys grow up listening to the same sort of things?

Sort of, but not really. We’ve always had our own things, but we’ve lived across the hall from each other for most of our lives, so you end up sharing quite a lot. There’s always been things I’ve been into that Jamin isn’t that into, but for the most part our music tastes are kind of the same.

What sort of stuff influences JEFF the Brotherhood?

Mostly obscure, cheesy '70s hard rock, and ZZ Top. We combine that with weird German experimental rock.

I‘ve always thought you guys have a slightly Thin Lizzy style edge...

Yeah, we probably do.

You own your own label, right, and are pretty well known Stateside for your relentless touring – how important is/was the whole DIY thing to your music?

The whole landscape of DIY has changed so much since we started JEFF the Brotherhood. The most important thing for us is to be able to do exactly what we want to do exactly when we want to do it. That doesn’t mean doing this all by ourselves, because that will be way too much work, but we want to maintain total control of the music we make. We never want to do anything we don’t want to do, and we’ve been pretty good at sticking to that so far.

You guys tour with the Kills in January and fill some pretty big venues in the US – does the UK feel like a bit of a step down?

We’ve only played the UK once, and that was only two shows in London, so I can’t really comment. Our first European tour definitely felt like our first US tour though. I mean, there was a couple of big shows but for the most part we were back to playing house shows and people’s basements. This one should be a lot different – it seems like it has a lot more planning behind it.

As Americans, how important is it for you to be popular in the UK?

The main thing is that if you tour as much as we do, then even though the US is a big place, there’s only so many times you can play a certain city before it becomes too many. That’s the practical reason, but you have to admit that it’s also pretty cool to be liked in another country that’s not your own, right?

Yeah I suppose it is. OK, last question, could you take Death From Above 1979 in a fight?

I don’t know very much about that band...

You know, ‘Romantic Rights'? Those two Canadian guys...

Two Canadian guys? Well, probably then...

JEFF the Brotherhood are playing the Old Blue Last on the 10th of November and The Lexington on the 14th. Should be good 'uns.

Domzig