INTERVIEW: Jake Orrall Of JEFF The Brotherhood

By Jessica Mlinaric in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 2, 2013 8:20PM

Photo by Jo Mccaughey

“I’m going through changes,” Jake Orrall chants on the slow-burning Sabbath cover that rounds out 2012’s Hypnotic Nights. As one-half of JEFF the Brotherhood Orrall, along with his brother Jamin, has made a name as one of the hardest working bands in the business. Between touring incessantly for nearly 10 years and managing their record label, Infinity Cat Recordings, the brotherhood has been busy. With seven albums to their credit, JEFF the Brotherhood’s gritty garage rock invokes psychedelic metal and punk-pop to recall hot nights and cool beers. In advance of their April 3 show at Subterranean, Chicagoist caught up with Jake to discuss the band’s latest changes including a major label release, performing as a quartet, and co-producing with Dan Auerbach.

CHICAGOIST: You guys lived in Chicago for a while. Do you have any good memories of your time here?

Jake Orral: Yeah Jamin went to Columbia there for two years and I lived there for a few months, but it defeated me. It was a very weird time for me. I didn’t really have friends anywhere else so I moved up there to get the band going. We played in the band Skyblazer at the time which was cool. It was dark times for me but Jamin had a good time, he was in college.

C: You’re adding some band members for this tour. What can we expect from the live show?

JO: The first half of the show we’re playing as a two-piece and we’ll do the more aggressive end of things, more of the party vibe. Then the second half of the show we’re doing as a four-piece and we’ll be playing some old songs that we normally don’t play and stuff off the new record. We’ve been playing as a two-piece for ten years now and it can get really boring, so it’s very exciting for us. I think it’ll be really fun.

C: Over the last several years there’s been a quick trajectory of success for some bands due to online mediums like blogs and Kickstarter. What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of that route?

JO: Well I guess the advantage of going that route would be you don’t have to put in any of the work if you just blow up. The disadvantage of course is that no one wants to credit you after a year and a half if you haven’t taken the time to build an audience or a following.

C: JEFF the Brotherhood is known for its DIY aesthetic, but recently you signed with Warner Brothers. What’s different about being on a major label?

JO: There’s a lot more people involved in the record. There’s more experience, funding, and generally more people who care about the record doing well. It’s pretty awesome. There’s also a lot more work. We approve everything down to a banner that goes up on Facebook, so now that there are more resources we also have to pay more attention to things like that.

C: Previously you had put out all of your own albums, but for Hynotic Nights you had Dan [Auerbach, of The Black Keys] in the studio as well. What was it like co-producing?

JO: It was cool to have someone to bounce things off. You can get really lost when you’ve done this many albums and produced them yourself. You might have this grand artistic vision, but it’s not always the best thing for the song. It’s good to get a second opinion. I really enjoyed it and I think we’ll continue to co-produce with people. It’s less work. Someone will say, “Hey you can change this or that.” Then I’m like, “Oh my God I never would have thought of that, it’s a way better idea!”

C: You guys are from Nashville which is known as a country music town. Yet in recent years it’s seen a rise in rock with guys like Dan and Patrick from the Black Keys or Jack White, who you’ve also worked with, moving to town. What do you think makes Nashville an attractive place for rock music?

JO: I think right now it’s very hip to live there. All the magazines are writing about the Nashville rock scene right now so everyone’s like, “Jack White is there, if our band moves in something good will happen.” I think a lot of people are moving because they want to be part of the scene that all the magazines are writing about, but it’s funny because it’s just like any other scene in any other city in America.

C: What should we be looking forward to from Infinity Cat?

JO: There’s a new Diarrhea Planet album coming out that we’re really excited about. We’re also working on a box set of singles, about five or six of them, which should be cool.

C: What keeps you guys together after so long?

JO: We can’t get in too big of fights because we know each other too well. We can’t take things personally because in the end we’re brothers. It’s a lot easier than someone who’s in a band with their best friend, because best friends get mad at each other if they don’t understand each other.

C: What are you looking forward to musically? Are you writing at all?

JO: We’re writing the new record right now, or trying to. It’s hard to write when we’re working so much. I’m more excited about the new record than the one that just came out. I’m excited to know what’s it’s like to co-produce now and write for that. I’m excited keep some things open-ended. Even though we co-produced the last album, it was already done before we even went into the studio to cut it and we didn’t change very much. I’m excited to take our time with this one and see where it can go.

C: So this changes your whole process.

JO: Yeah. A long time ago we’d only write in a burst, which was basically never. Then we’d have to record in two or three days so it was like cutting a live record. I don’t like to do that because the live experience is so vastly different from listening to a record. I don’t think they should try to emulate each other at all.

JEFF the Brotherhood plays April 3 at Subterranean, 2011 W. North Ave, 8:30 p.m., $15, 17+