JEFF the Brotherhood

BRM has done it again. We've hunted down, captured and documented the most innovative and exciting artists to recently emerge on a number of different scenes. All month long we’ll be running interviews with our discoveries to help get you ready for what’s to come in 2010. But to get a complete look at our full list of emerging artists, check out our current winter issue.

JEFF the Brotherhood is neither a garage rock band nor a twin brother duo. While many people tend to confuse the brothers outside of their hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, Jake and Jamin Orrall remain true not only to themselves but also to their music. Having played in numerous bands since childhood (Jamin is only 21, while Jake is 23), the two have developed a sound that riffs across the country. Although it might be a challenge to get your hands on some of their earlier recordings, as most of their CD-Rs were distributed locally, catching a glimpse of them in person is rather easy.

Performing together as either JEFF or separately in other bands on their own label, Infinity Cat, which seems to be a group of swingers, they seem to always be on tour. Although their latest album, Heavy Days, isn’t their first, the Orrall brothers consider it their debut. Rightfully proud and incredibly receptive, JEFF The Brotherhood took some time to answer a few questions.

BRM: Were you in a band before JEFF the Brotherhood?

Jake: We’ve been doing this since Jamin was like 9. We’ve always been together, the two of us. We’ve had different bands over the years but this is kind of like the most important to us.

Do all of your friends play music in Nashville?

Jamin: Yeah, all of them.

How was the label formed?

Jake: Well, me and Jamin started it when I was in the 9th grade. We’d do CD-Rs of like our old punk band.

What was your old band name?

Jamin: We were called The Sex. Over the years all our friends started these really awesome bands, and we just wanted to help every body out and have them help us. We were just trying to build a scene because there’s not really much. I mean there’s like one or two other similar labels in Nashville. We want more. We want everyone to start doing it and people to start touring through Nashville.

It seems like you’re always touring. What’s that like?

Jake: It’s a lot of stuff in a van. We … have to run the label out of the van, but we have my dad [who’s] like our home base and we’re like the road crew. And we’re always like doing all this internet shit, promotion and networking.

Jamin: It’s like a full time job on tour so when we’re not doing …music we’re doing …label stuff…it gets kind of tough after a while, but it’s nice to be able to visit my friends everywhere. That’s like the main thing for me.

Is this your first record?

Jake: It’s getting billed as that… [I]t’s the first record we’ve ever promoted.

Jamin: We’ve…done a bunch of shit. It’s just the first time we’ve tried to get everybody to hear it. And it’s the one we’re most proud of out of all.

Jake: It’s the first record released to a wider audience instead of just our friends in Nashville.

How did it come together?

Jake: Well, we recorded it with this guy Gary Burnette in Nashville who … for some reason … knew exactly what it was supposed to sound like. The other thing that I’m really proud of that I think makes this record different is that with our other records we were trying to … make a record that stood up to our live performances…and on this record we abandoned that and just tried to make a really good record.

Do you both write lyrics?

Jake: We write them together … when we have practice. We have practice once a month and try to write as many songs as possible.

Jamin: Whenever we have practice we just try to write songs because we play so many shows.

What’s up with the light that you use when you’re drumming?

Jamin: The light and the music in between sets, that’s kind of like…to turn the space into something more than it usually is… [I]t’s a lot more fun for me and I think it’s more fun for the audience…[S]ome] people just get up and play, but I think it’s a lot more fun when people get to see a show kind of… I try to engage people.

What cities do you have the most fun in?

Jamin: We really have a good time in Chicago, New Brunswick, Nashville [and] Richmond…We had a really good time in Olympia too last summer.

I noticed that Jethro Tull is written on your drum kit.

Jamin: That was a joke, but we do like Jethro Tull a lot.

Are you working on anything else currently?

Jake: I have a band right now called Shredder …with Wes from Natural Child … We’re all in other bands…[T]his entire group of people … could be like 30 bands.

Jamin: Everyone has a band with everybody and everyone plays at different shows in Nashville.

Do you guys miss the food back in Nashville?

Jake: Hell yea! The food in Nashville is awesome.

What’s your favorite thing you miss?

Jamin: BBQ…southern comfort food…real heavy stuff. Chicken fried steak, collard greens and cornbread, candied yams. It’s … kind of hard to find that stuff in the city and when you do find it in certain places that aren’t famous for it…it’s is really expensive. [Y]our gnarliest restaurant in Nashville, someplace in Williamsburg would make it like five times the price and not as good. The Mexican food is really good too.

The others make sense, but I would’ve never thought Mexican food.

Jake: Yeah those are probably the best examples; we actually have a really good restaurant scene in Nashville, like high-end restaurants.

Jamin: We’re all about that BBQ.

Jake: We don’t have good sandwiches, there’s no good bread. There [are] no good delis. There’s like one.

Would you like to say anything else?

Both: Go buy the record, infinity cat.com.

Words and Photos by Naqeeb Stevens

myspace.com/jeffthebrotherhood