The Brothers Comatose follow up last year's The Metal EP with their latest annual Halloween EP, The Punk EP, featuring four pop-punk renditions of songs from their beloved catalogue. With the band growing up listening to acts such as Weezer, Green Day, NOFX, and Bad Religion, '90s punk and pop-punk music is engrained in The Brothers Comatose's DNA. For All Hallows' Eve, the five-piece string band's bassist and mastermind EP producer Gio Benedetti unveils the new punk collection: four string band tunes all dressed up, ready to rage in their punk rock costumes.
In shadowy backstages across the country while on the road with the Campfire Caravan tour, Benedetti recorded the rhythm guitars atop live drum and bass tracks he had recorded with drummer James Allen (One Armed Joey) at White Whale Recording Studio (Santa Rosa). The Brothers Comatose's mandolin player by profession but guitar slayer by destiny, Ryan Avellone unleashes the fury with sweet solos through the EP. Alex Morrison set down his banjo to channel Joey Ramone on vocals for his tune "Yohio," while Ben Morrison left his acoustic guitar at home, bringing only his most slack-jawed, don't-give-a-damn vocals to the recording studio.
"The first thing I wanted to do for this year's EP was to make things bigger and better by getting a real drummer on the tracks -- no more drum machine," says Gio Benedetti. "I saw James Allen from the Sonoma County punk band One Armed Joey perform last winter, and their new EP sounds incredible. I wanted authentic drum parts on the EP, and James brought that in spades."
The Punk EP features a NOFX-style "Pie For Breakfast:" a fast, harmonized, melodic punk blaster. "Morning Time" showcases a duet with Ben Morrison and special guest vocalist, Jennifer Benedetti (Gio's wife) who sang and toured with a geek core band in the late 90's. "Tops of Trees" dips the band's toes into the strange, murky, oft-shunned waters of late '90s, early '00s hard-rock-meets-punk-meets-nu-metal. "Yohio" captures a classic punk rocker ala The Ramones and Social Distortion.
About The Brothers Comatose
The Brothers Comatose is comprised of brothers Ben Morrison (guitar, vocals) and Alex Morrison (banjo, vocals), Gio Benedetti (bass, vocals), Philip Brezina (violin), and Ryan Avellone (mandolin). When they're not headlining The Fillmore for a sold-out show or appearing at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, the band is out on the road performing across America, Canada, Australia, and hosting their very own music festival, Comatopia. In 2018, The Brothers Comatose will travel to Asia for a month of cultural music exchange and education with American Music Abroad, a program directed by the State Department.
Following three critically acclaimed full-length studio albums (Songs From The Stoop, Respect The Van, City Painted Gold), the five-piece string band disrupts the traditional album cycle and focuses their 2017/2018 release schedule on a series of strategically released songs. Produced by indie-rock legend John Vanderslice, the first four new songs to be released in 2017 include "Don't Make Me Get Up And Go," "Cedarwood Pines," "Get Me Home," and "Joshua Tree."
"CAMPFIRE CARAVAN" FALL 2017 TOUR DATES
Thursday, November 2 -- Minneapolis, MN -- Cedar Cultural Center
Friday, November 3 -- Madison, WI -- High Noon Saloon
Saturday, November 4 -- Chicago, IL -- Lincoln Hall
Sunday, November 5 -- Detroit, MI -- Otus Supply
Tuesday, November 7 -- Pittsburgh, PA -- James Street Ballroom
Thursday, November 9 -- Boston, MA -- The Sinclair
Friday, November 10 -- New York, NY -- Bowery Ballroom
Saturday, November 11 -- Ardmore, PA -- Ardmore Music Hall
Sunday, November 12 -- Washington, DC -- 9:30 Club
Tuesday, November 14 -- Charlotte, NC -- Neighborhood Theatre
Wednesday, November 15 -- Nashville, TN -- The Mercury Lounge
Thursday, November 16 -- Atlanta, GA -- Terminal West
Friday, November 17 -- Raleigh, NC -- Lincoln Theatre
Saturday, November 18 -- Asheville, NC -- The Orange Peel
Thursday, December 28 -- Santa Cruz, CA -- The Catalyst*
Friday, December 29 & Saturday, December 30 -- Petaluma, CA -- McNear's Mystic Theatre*
Sunday, December 31 -- Berkeley, CA -- Cornerstone*