Mom & Dad, Photo by Jessica Pace
A smaller crowd than expected showed up at Walnut House for JEFF the Brotherhood’s label chat/last local show before heading across the pond. Courtesy of Youth Empowerment through Arts & Humanities (YEAH), the Q&A with Infinity Cat was an intimate and subdued half hour, taking place in the performing area of the Murfreesboro venue.
The pre-performance seminar was recorded as Kelley Anderson (YEAH founder and member of Those Darlins) guided the Q&A, which featured Jake and Jamin as well as their manager, Holland Nix, who runs Infinity Cat with the brothers. The seminar primarily focused on three major aspects of running a label: marketing, financing and distribution. It was a pretty laid back affair; one person asked a question. Regardless, they provided some insight into the now-thriving Nashville label that’s produced more than 60 releases to date.
There was little screwing around afterward – Seafood Hotline set up and promptly drowned the place with a heavy clatter bearing the slow-fast-slow dynamic of the ’90s. Mom & Dad followed with trim yet noisy indie melodicism. It must also be noted that one half of the band dresses like ’80s hipsters, which is as fun as the simplistic but tasty bass lines reminiscent of Pixies’ Kim Deal.
JEFF closed out, projecting new tunes (they start recording their next album in January) and tattered favorites of Heavy Days and We Are The Champions over an overexcited hodgepodge of an audience. They answered a request for “The Tropics” and did an especially charged rendition of “Whatever I Want.” They even busted out “Cancer Killer” from a dusty 7”. The crowd, meanwhile, never failed to keep ramming into one another and bang their heads in slow unison (“Ripper”) like it’s brand new to them every time. – Jessica Pace