Florida Brothers Band proudly hails from Milwaukee, WI - they are a three-piece band constructed of vocals, bass and drums. Self-described as, “A well-oiled concoction of volume, distortion, libations, and a punch of utter nonsense.” I think that captures their effect well. For my money, I like to think of them as a fuzz band made of the gnarly Looney Tunes characters assembled and fronted by the Tasmanian Devil. A whirlwind of antics transcends the lyrics to the music, intense as it is quirky. I had heard a few tracks from this release as well as their newest release, Pick Your Sting before seeing them live recently and I was surprised they walked on two legs when they came on stage. From the intro track going into, “Hot to Trot” through, “Simply Ravishing” there is an air of spatial, rumble-y, sometimes whimsical sludge throughout. The drums, drummer and how they were both recorded make for a booming pulse during the entire album. For me, his playing on, “Pay Window” in particular is a showcase of his punch and creativity behind his drum set and one of my favorite tracks on the album because of it. His character is palatable and consistent throughout, never wavering from the target it would seem, and he hits the mark every single track. The bass on the album is unapologetic, it’s throwing a drink in your face but it’s a delicious drink. Simultaneously filling the void of both lead and bass lines, the electronic hum he accomplishes has as much thump as it does grit. He does this all while making some impactful, awesome effect choices throughout. Last but not least, the vocals are like a mixture of what I imagine Blackbeard sounded like combined with a northern pig farmer. They coat each track with vex, attitude and sarcasm, perfectly framing the two piece orchestra behind him. This goes for each band member but I truly can’t think of anyone else musically to compare him to. When you have that level of character and creativity in your music AND it’s as digestible as the Florida Bros are, I think you have something really special and really worth listening to.
Both You Will Hate Us as well as Pick Your Sting are available for streaming on Spotify as well as bandcamp and as this is written, copies of the Pick Your Sting cassette are still available for purchase on their bandcamp.
Link to the album on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/5T1pohPhnZOpOi5b2OImTY?si=yzPrDVseRDyDRphFOjHSZw
floridabrothersband.bandcamp.com/