The Defibulators

New York has a long history of producing great bands. From punk pioneers like The Ramones, Television, and Blondie to glam bands like New York Dolls, the Big Apple's bands are always distinctive. The Defibulators are definitely distinctive, though if you heard them you wouldn't guess they're from New York. You just don't get too many honky-tonk bands out of New York.

You would think a rockabilly-bluegrass-country-dance band from New York would be easy to dismiss as a novelty, interesting simply because of how different they are from their contemporaries. But you can't dismiss The Defibulators for one simple reason: they're good. Really good actually. Grab your partner and swing her around good. The only real way to get a feel for how good they are is to listen to them. - POP CULTURE WILL EAT ITSELF

New York has a long history of producing great bands. From punk pioneers like The Ramones, Television, and Blondie to glam bands like New York Dolls, the Big Apple's bands are always distinctive. The Defibulators are definitely distinctive, though if you heard them you wouldn't guess they're from New York. You just don't get too many honky-tonk bands out of New York.

You would think a rockabilly-bluegrass-country-dance band from New York would be easy to dismiss as a novelty, interesting simply because of how different they are from their contemporaries. But you can't dismiss The Defibulators for one simple reason: they're good. Really good actually. Grab your partner and swing her around good. The only real way to get a feel for how good they are is to listen to them. - POP CULTURE WILL EAT ITSELF

"No yee-haws or any other hoots or yawps were held back a few nights earlier at a show by the Defibulators.....Like a hoedown band from a Warner Brothers cartoon - raucous and slightly surreal" - NEW YORK TIMES

"No yee-haws or any other hoots or yawps were held back a few nights earlier at a show by the Defibulators.....Like a hoedown band from a Warner Brothers cartoon - raucous and slightly surreal" - NEW YORK TIMES

From the overalls to the sawing fiddle, the Defibulators bring a deep-fried Dixie vibe. It's a shock to learn they're from hipster central: Brooklyn. It'd be gimmicky, but their tightly woven sound, strange drawl and junkyard accompaniment is used to full effect. The band shines on fast-paced tracks like "Ol' Winchester"—a sonic tornado guaranteed to cause spontaneous fits of un-ironic foot tapping. They accessorize their big city hoedown with a no-shit washboard player named Metalbelly, a '77 ambulance as tour van and a coloring book complete with a word jumble that includes "washasaurus" and "pigcow." Money is a throwback to classic country that stands on its own two red long-johns-clad feet. - BOSTON WEEKLY DIG

From the overalls to the sawing fiddle, the Defibulators bring a deep-fried Dixie vibe. It's a shock to learn they're from hipster central: Brooklyn. It'd be gimmicky, but their tightly woven sound, strange drawl and junkyard accompaniment is used to full effect. The band shines on fast-paced tracks like "Ol' Winchester"—a sonic tornado guaranteed to cause spontaneous fits of un-ironic foot tapping. They accessorize their big city hoedown with a no-shit washboard player named Metalbelly, a '77 ambulance as tour van and a coloring book complete with a word jumble that includes "washasaurus" and "pigcow." Money is a throwback to classic country that stands on its own two red long-johns-clad feet. - BOSTON WEEKLY DIG

The Defibulators are part of the growing country music scene in Brooklyn, N.Y. Like other bands from the area such as O’Death, they look at country music in a unique way. But where O’Death draws from hard rock and metal, the Defibulators would rather just have fun, incorporating comedy and a colorful stage presence into their set. Swinging through the Basement in Nashville earlier this week in support of their debut album, Corn Money, the band passed their attitude on to an audience that was right with them, despite it being National Hangover Day.

Vocalist, guitarist and banjo player “Bug” Jennings explained that none of the band’s seven members are originally from Brooklyn, and when they started playing together, their diverse backgrounds led them naturally to country music, especially bluegrass. But not wanting to be limited by the sometimes rigorous nature of the genre, they opted for a more lighthearted feel with Bug, who has a background in stand-up comedy, and Californian-born singer Erin Bru at the front. When asked if he was bothered by the novelty moniker they will no doubt inherit, Bug responds, “Yeah, it does bother me … but I guess we’re asking for it.” (One of their songs explores what would happen to a group of roller skating go-go dancers in the back of a moving tractor trailer.)

But novelty act or not, the Defibultors are gifted musicians, and I never got the impression they were making fun of country music. Maybe they were making fun of artists who neglect to enjoy themselves onstage, but this band seemed genuine about their craft. Their songs were interesting and a pleasure to listen to, plus any band that can do an excellent cover of the Coasters‘ “Down in Mexico” is cool with me. - CMT

The Defibulators are part of the growing country music scene in Brooklyn, N.Y. Like other bands from the area such as O’Death, they look at country music in a unique way. But where O’Death draws from hard rock and metal, the Defibulators would rather just have fun, incorporating comedy and a colorful stage presence into their set. Swinging through the Basement in Nashville earlier this week in support of their debut album, Corn Money, the band passed their attitude on to an audience that was right with them, despite it being National Hangover Day.

Vocalist, guitarist and banjo player “Bug” Jennings explained that none of the band’s seven members are originally from Brooklyn, and when they started playing together, their diverse backgrounds led them naturally to country music, especially bluegrass. But not wanting to be limited by the sometimes rigorous nature of the genre, they opted for a more lighthearted feel with Bug, who has a background in stand-up comedy, and Californian-born singer Erin Bru at the front. When asked if he was bothered by the novelty moniker they will no doubt inherit, Bug responds, “Yeah, it does bother me … but I guess we’re asking for it.” (One of their songs explores what would happen to a group of roller skating go-go dancers in the back of a moving tractor trailer.)

But novelty act or not, the Defibultors are gifted musicians, and I never got the impression they were making fun of country music. Maybe they were making fun of artists who neglect to enjoy themselves onstage, but this band seemed genuine about their craft. Their songs were interesting and a pleasure to listen to, plus any band that can do an excellent cover of the Coasters‘ “Down in Mexico” is cool with me. - CMT

Brooklyn’s sly honky-tonkers the DEFiBULATORS create a fantastic, fantastical debut. Big-band sound, smart-band lyrics, and artist’s-band instrumentalism conspire to twang you into 1920s Arkansas. In a good way. Pleading vocals and pleasing whackabilly rhythms complete the magnificent effort, sending you moseying (briskly) to your record store.

Reminds us of: Iron Horse | The Infamous Stringdusters | a swirly in an bourbon-filled outhouse - MELOPHOBE

Brooklyn’s sly honky-tonkers the DEFiBULATORS create a fantastic, fantastical debut. Big-band sound, smart-band lyrics, and artist’s-band instrumentalism conspire to twang you into 1920s Arkansas. In a good way. Pleading vocals and pleasing whackabilly rhythms complete the magnificent effort, sending you moseying (briskly) to your record store.

Reminds us of: Iron Horse | The Infamous Stringdusters | a swirly in an bourbon-filled outhouse - MELOPHOBE

Brooklyn Twang
The Defibulators make country music without irony. Or do they?

Despite mainstream country’s failed attempts at conquering Manhattan (the fabled Lone Star Café, the radio station WYNY), the incongruous subculture of indie country continues to thrive here, albeit in fits and starts. A previous heyday, in the eighties, gave way to bands like Last Roundup and the Surreal McCoys. “Things got dark and scary in the early eighties,” says former Roundup singer Amy Rigby. “Maybe we were looking for something sweet, and country was a refuge.” Sounds like right about now. And perhaps coincidentally, a new cache of bands is cropping up, this time mostly in Brooklyn, including O’Death (high-on-speed folk-country, like an American Pogues), the Dixons (steel-guitar-laced shuffles), and the intentionally misspelled Defibulators, whose debut CD, Corn Money, arrives this week.

On a recent weeknight at the bar Southpaw in Park Slope, the Defibulators’ guitarist and banjo player Bryan Jennings (who goes by the name Bug) and singer Erin Bru slip into harmonies that recall the storied Gram Parsons–Emmylou Harris duets. Barreling away behind them are a fiddler and a washboard player, and two-steppers fill the dance floor. It’s not exactly the career Jennings envisioned back when he was an alt-rock fan disdaining what he refers to as “Nashville country.” It took moving to New York (to attend NYU, where he met Bru) to appreciate the sounds of his hometown, Fort Worth, Texas. While Jennings was working at a Manhattan barbecue joint, a co-worker (now the band’s lead guitarist) introduced him to Hank Williams and other fifties icons. “It was the same kind of rush I had when I used to listen to Pearl Jam,” he says. “It was the melodies, the harmonies, the soul. These people were singing from their gut.”

In the way they re-create the barroom swing of the Hank era, the Defibulators and their fellow indie-country bands present themselves as more authentic than, say, Taylor Swift. But while Corn Money has moments of unvarnished beauty (“Your Hearty Laugh”), it also includes a degree of Hee Haw–style cornpone (note long underwear). So what is their music: paean or put-on? “It’s not ironic, what we’re doing,” insists Bru. “We’re not making fun of [country music].” Jennings arches his brow. “Or are we?” Noting Bru’s disapproval, he adds, “We’re not making fun of it. We’re having fun with it.” Sighing, Bru sums up the mystery that is their world: “It’s kind of hard to describe to people.”

- NEW YORK MAGAZINE

Brooklyn Twang
The Defibulators make country music without irony. Or do they?

Despite mainstream country’s failed attempts at conquering Manhattan (the fabled Lone Star Café, the radio station WYNY), the incongruous subculture of indie country continues to thrive here, albeit in fits and starts. A previous heyday, in the eighties, gave way to bands like Last Roundup and the Surreal McCoys. “Things got dark and scary in the early eighties,” says former Roundup singer Amy Rigby. “Maybe we were looking for something sweet, and country was a refuge.” Sounds like right about now. And perhaps coincidentally, a new cache of bands is cropping up, this time mostly in Brooklyn, including O’Death (high-on-speed folk-country, like an American Pogues), the Dixons (steel-guitar-laced shuffles), and the intentionally misspelled Defibulators, whose debut CD, Corn Money, arrives this week.

On a recent weeknight at the bar Southpaw in Park Slope, the Defibulators’ guitarist and banjo player Bryan Jennings (who goes by the name Bug) and singer Erin Bru slip into harmonies that recall the storied Gram Parsons–Emmylou Harris duets. Barreling away behind them are a fiddler and a washboard player, and two-steppers fill the dance floor. It’s not exactly the career Jennings envisioned back when he was an alt-rock fan disdaining what he refers to as “Nashville country.” It took moving to New York (to attend NYU, where he met Bru) to appreciate the sounds of his hometown, Fort Worth, Texas. While Jennings was working at a Manhattan barbecue joint, a co-worker (now the band’s lead guitarist) introduced him to Hank Williams and other fifties icons. “It was the same kind of rush I had when I used to listen to Pearl Jam,” he says. “It was the melodies, the harmonies, the soul. These people were singing from their gut.”

In the way they re-create the barroom swing of the Hank era, the Defibulators and their fellow indie-country bands present themselves as more authentic than, say, Taylor Swift. But while Corn Money has moments of unvarnished beauty (“Your Hearty Laugh”), it also includes a degree of Hee Haw–style cornpone (note long underwear). So what is their music: paean or put-on? “It’s not ironic, what we’re doing,” insists Bru. “We’re not making fun of [country music].” Jennings arches his brow. “Or are we?” Noting Bru’s disapproval, he adds, “We’re not making fun of it. We’re having fun with it.” Sighing, Bru sums up the mystery that is their world: “It’s kind of hard to describe to people.”

- NEW YORK MAGAZINE

Brooklyn, New York's The Defibulators aren't the type of group that can be easily pigeonholed. Their debut recording on City Salvage Records, Corn Money, is frenetic and varied, encompassing nearly every musical genre.

At heart, Bug Jennings and Erin Bru are roots-rocking punk iconoclasts. Buoyantly reflecting the tough, sun-soaked rhythms of the South and West, The Defibulators funnel Corn Money through a transistor radio on the opening, "WRUB." What follows is high-speed, honky-tonk anarchy defined inside the parameters of the broad, sweeping "Defibulator." Just think Old Crow Medicine Show meets Squirrel Nut Zippers. Bru's star shines brightly on the show stopping throwback number, "Get What's Coming."

A stunning group of accomplished musicians round out the The Defibultors' troupe, including Freddy Epps on upright bass, Metalbelly on washboard/harmonica, Justin Smitty on fiddle, Roadblock on guitar and Mike Riddleberger on drums. Produced by John Hill and Terence Bernardo, Corn Money is a brash, bold, trend setting accomplishment for The Defibulators.

This is exciting and original material for challenging times. - HONEST TUNE

The Defibulators (not defibrillators) hail from Brooklyn, New York’s thriving indie scene and they’ve developed a funky, rootsy, out-of-control sound that’s all their own. The six-man, one-woman band blends bluegrass, country, honky tonk, rockabilly, Dixieland jazz, punk, and maybe a touch of anti-folk into an intoxicating, good-time mélange that’s guaranteed to slap a smile on your face.

The Defibulators may tour in a 1977 ambulance, but the source of the band name remains mysterious. They came together when country music-hating singer/guitarist Bryan Jennings left Fort Worth, Texas. He attended college in New York City hoping to immerse himself in Western civilization. He soon met singer, and future girlfriend, Erin Bru and a country music-loving guitarist from New Jersey named Roadblock. Roadblock gave Jennings a mixtape CD of vintage ’40s and ’50s country, swing, and bluegrass, and Jennings got hooked on pre-Nashville country. They began playing as a rockabilly trio and slowly added members until there were more people on stage than in the audience, including two washboard players supplying syncopated percussion. They soon whittled the personnel down to seven: The original trio and Justin Smitty on fiddle, Freddy Epps on bass, Mike Riddleberger on drums, and Metalbelly on harmonica, washboard, and percussion.

The Defibulators landed a residency at the Rodeo Bar, a New York City country bar, and started winning fans with uncontained shows that used both electric and acoustic instruments for roots-heavy, post-punk music that reinvents the conventions of country music with a CBGB-meets-Grand Ole Opry feel. Corn Money is their debut album.

The band comes blasting out of the gate with “Defibulator”, a bluegrass rock song with ferocious, stinging electric guitar, stomping percussion, out-of-control fiddling, and lead vocals with a high, lonesome sound. It could be about having a heart attack or it may be a protest song about the war in Iraq, but its good humor and over-the-top energy make it a winner. Other spirited entries include the bluegrass-meets-punk drinking song “Ol' Winchester.” It’s marked by a blazing country harmonica solo, uncontained vocals, and the first Spike Jones vocal and instrumental bridge I can ever recall hearing that’s not on a Spike Jones record. (Look him up if you don’t know who he is.) The tune deals with the joys of drinking yourself to death and devolves into a mindless cacophony. Instrumental “The Gravy Shake” is another unusual hybrid, a country surf tune based on a catchy, twang-heavy electric guitar lick that’s complemented by a bit of fancy country fiddlin’. “Corn Money” is an ode to underage drinking and self-destruction, a two-step honky tonk rocker with rippling, jazzy guitar work and a driving rhythm section. The tempo doubles, then quadruples before ending in a loose, boozy free-for-all.

The band goes retro on “Honey, You Had Me Fooled”, a Dixieland-meets-Texas swing tune with New Orleans-flavored clarinet and trumpet work. Bru and Jennings harmonize on the playful lead vocal. Bru’s smoky, sensual alto takes lead vocal chores on “Get What’s Coming”, a ’20s style blues with a lazy washboard rhythm and gypsy guitar and fiddle fills. On “Wandering Eye”, she’s both coy and subtly sexy as she moans the lead vocal. It’s a tale of a gal who just can’t help flirting, or maybe even going beyond flirting. The slurred guitar lead mimics the mournful sound of pedal steel and the fiddle underscores the message of longing and desire.

On the hardcore country side, the band delivers “Dum-Dum”, a swinging Bakersfield-meets-jug band tune with a surreal lyric sung and another charming duet by Jennings and Bru; “Go-Go Truck” is a (surprise) truck-drivin’ song with nasty, clanging lead guitar, a stop-and-start New Orleans-flavored rhythm, and a salacious lyric. “Drive You Off”, the second trucker song, is steeped in fatalistic humor.

“Xmas Ornament”, the oddest tune on the album, is about a mountain man having sex with a bear. Its hook-laden, descending progression recalls Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and leads to a strange, spooky, spoken word bridge and a dark punch line. The music the Defibulators make probably won’t give you a heart attack, or save you from one, but their high-energy tunes will definitely have you jumping around the room doing a pogo hoedown in no time. - CRAWDADDY

The Defibulators (not defibrillators) hail from Brooklyn, New York’s thriving indie scene and they’ve developed a funky, rootsy, out-of-control sound that’s all their own. The six-man, one-woman band blends bluegrass, country, honky tonk, rockabilly, Dixieland jazz, punk, and maybe a touch of anti-folk into an intoxicating, good-time mélange that’s guaranteed to slap a smile on your face.

The Defibulators may tour in a 1977 ambulance, but the source of the band name remains mysterious. They came together when country music-hating singer/guitarist Bryan Jennings left Fort Worth, Texas. He attended college in New York City hoping to immerse himself in Western civilization. He soon met singer, and future girlfriend, Erin Bru and a country music-loving guitarist from New Jersey named Roadblock. Roadblock gave Jennings a mixtape CD of vintage ’40s and ’50s country, swing, and bluegrass, and Jennings got hooked on pre-Nashville country. They began playing as a rockabilly trio and slowly added members until there were more people on stage than in the audience, including two washboard players supplying syncopated percussion. They soon whittled the personnel down to seven: The original trio and Justin Smitty on fiddle, Freddy Epps on bass, Mike Riddleberger on drums, and Metalbelly on harmonica, washboard, and percussion.

The Defibulators landed a residency at the Rodeo Bar, a New York City country bar, and started winning fans with uncontained shows that used both electric and acoustic instruments for roots-heavy, post-punk music that reinvents the conventions of country music with a CBGB-meets-Grand Ole Opry feel. Corn Money is their debut album.

The band comes blasting out of the gate with “Defibulator”, a bluegrass rock song with ferocious, stinging electric guitar, stomping percussion, out-of-control fiddling, and lead vocals with a high, lonesome sound. It could be about having a heart attack or it may be a protest song about the war in Iraq, but its good humor and over-the-top energy make it a winner. Other spirited entries include the bluegrass-meets-punk drinking song “Ol' Winchester.” It’s marked by a blazing country harmonica solo, uncontained vocals, and the first Spike Jones vocal and instrumental bridge I can ever recall hearing that’s not on a Spike Jones record. (Look him up if you don’t know who he is.) The tune deals with the joys of drinking yourself to death and devolves into a mindless cacophony. Instrumental “The Gravy Shake” is another unusual hybrid, a country surf tune based on a catchy, twang-heavy electric guitar lick that’s complemented by a bit of fancy country fiddlin’. “Corn Money” is an ode to underage drinking and self-destruction, a two-step honky tonk rocker with rippling, jazzy guitar work and a driving rhythm section. The tempo doubles, then quadruples before ending in a loose, boozy free-for-all.

The band goes retro on “Honey, You Had Me Fooled”, a Dixieland-meets-Texas swing tune with New Orleans-flavored clarinet and trumpet work. Bru and Jennings harmonize on the playful lead vocal. Bru’s smoky, sensual alto takes lead vocal chores on “Get What’s Coming”, a ’20s style blues with a lazy washboard rhythm and gypsy guitar and fiddle fills. On “Wandering Eye”, she’s both coy and subtly sexy as she moans the lead vocal. It’s a tale of a gal who just can’t help flirting, or maybe even going beyond flirting. The slurred guitar lead mimics the mournful sound of pedal steel and the fiddle underscores the message of longing and desire.

On the hardcore country side, the band delivers “Dum-Dum”, a swinging Bakersfield-meets-jug band tune with a surreal lyric sung and another charming duet by Jennings and Bru; “Go-Go Truck” is a (surprise) truck-drivin’ song with nasty, clanging lead guitar, a stop-and-start New Orleans-flavored rhythm, and a salacious lyric. “Drive You Off”, the second trucker song, is steeped in fatalistic humor.

“Xmas Ornament”, the oddest tune on the album, is about a mountain man having sex with a bear. Its hook-laden, descending progression recalls Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and leads to a strange, spooky, spoken word bridge and a dark punch line. The music the Defibulators make probably won’t give you a heart attack, or save you from one, but their high-energy tunes will definitely have you jumping around the room doing a pogo hoedown in no time. - CRAWDADDY

Brooklyn isn't a place you'd likely find a jerry-rigged moonshine distillery. Or backyard animal husbandry. Or … oh wait, I'm sorry. Brooklyn has those things now, because Brooklyn is slowly becoming a home-away-from-home for Appalachian transplants, country folk and purveyors of fine bluegrass. That being said, we'd like to introduce you to the outer borough's rowdiest, loudest, outlaw act: The Defibulators.

Like a 10,000 volt shock of electricity straight to the privates, the seven-piece waste absolutely no time getting you to dance at their live shows. The Defib's new album Debt'll Get'em was born out of two years of touring, and has plenty of chicken-pickin', cat-callin', and continuous snare rolls to fill your ears with God-fearing and blind-boonzin' for days.

But it's their single 'Cackalacky' that really shows off what these troubadours are all about.

"'Cackalacky' started as a shout out to a friend from North Carolina. The basic idea is about a roots musician from N.C. who moves up to N.Y.C. to find work. (Maybe he heard 'I & Love & You' and thought it sounded like a good idea?) He's kind of a hotshot who thinks he's gonna take Brooklyn by storm. The annoying reality of city life soon starts to creep in and dissolve his romantic notions, forcing him to do some things he didn't expect in order to fit in and get by," the band's Bug Jennings tells The Bluegrass Situation.

In fact, the country outfit's video for "Cackalacky" follows that exact same storyline (but features a kinder ending than the song's dark epilogue).

"The irregular rhythm of the song came from a wonky ceiling fan in my apartment. I had been wanting to write a crooked fiddle tune and that pattern got stuck in my head. We wanted the song to be fun so we added this Mule Skinner type of hillbilly-holler-back throughout the tune to keep it moving and get the crowd yelling back at us when we play it live."

If you're a songwriter, this is just another reminder to never ignore the mundane items in your apartment. Debt'll Get'em is available now at all online retailers. - THE BLUEGRASS SITUATION

Brooklyn isn't a place you'd likely find a jerry-rigged moonshine distillery. Or backyard animal husbandry. Or … oh wait, I'm sorry. Brooklyn has those things now, because Brooklyn is slowly becoming a home-away-from-home for Appalachian transplants, country folk and purveyors of fine bluegrass. That being said, we'd like to introduce you to the outer borough's rowdiest, loudest, outlaw act: The Defibulators.

Like a 10,000 volt shock of electricity straight to the privates, the seven-piece waste absolutely no time getting you to dance at their live shows. The Defib's new album Debt'll Get'em was born out of two years of touring, and has plenty of chicken-pickin', cat-callin', and continuous snare rolls to fill your ears with God-fearing and blind-boonzin' for days.

But it's their single 'Cackalacky' that really shows off what these troubadours are all about.

"'Cackalacky' started as a shout out to a friend from North Carolina. The basic idea is about a roots musician from N.C. who moves up to N.Y.C. to find work. (Maybe he heard 'I & Love & You' and thought it sounded like a good idea?) He's kind of a hotshot who thinks he's gonna take Brooklyn by storm. The annoying reality of city life soon starts to creep in and dissolve his romantic notions, forcing him to do some things he didn't expect in order to fit in and get by," the band's Bug Jennings tells The Bluegrass Situation.

In fact, the country outfit's video for "Cackalacky" follows that exact same storyline (but features a kinder ending than the song's dark epilogue).

"The irregular rhythm of the song came from a wonky ceiling fan in my apartment. I had been wanting to write a crooked fiddle tune and that pattern got stuck in my head. We wanted the song to be fun so we added this Mule Skinner type of hillbilly-holler-back throughout the tune to keep it moving and get the crowd yelling back at us when we play it live."

If you're a songwriter, this is just another reminder to never ignore the mundane items in your apartment. Debt'll Get'em is available now at all online retailers. - THE BLUEGRASS SITUATION

These days it is quite difficult for us to distinguish between the multitude of bands that have decided to pick up a banjo and add a little twang in speak. The success of bands like The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons, The Lumineers, and on and on and on has made record labels look anywhere to find artists of similar molds and we get it. It sells like hotcakes. Country music and similar genres are all still huge moneymakers, but with this derivative sound a fatigue starts to kick in and listeners tend to slowly reject. Hell, we find ourselves immediately passing over any press releases that mention traits like the previously mentioned artists, but every once in a while one sneaks its way in and turns out to be pretty darn good. Such is the case with Brooklyn’s The Defibulators. The aren’t your usual foot stomping, quick guitar strumming gimmeke type of band. They have substance and harmonies that recall the music that was played at the Grand Ole Opry in its heyday. They are set to release their new album Debt’ll Get’em on August 27th and we think you should get aquainted with them with their new single from that release “Let Me See That Ponytail Run.” - MY OLD KENTUCKY BLOG

Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., the Defibulators are a band with a rootsy sound, drawing from the grit of both the country and the city. Bandleader Bug Jennings says “Get Yer Papers” was inspired by a boot maker and the woman Jennings thought was the man’s wife.

“I used to take my boots to him to get resoled. He lived in a studio in Hell’s Kitchen with this gal,” Jennings tells CMT Edge. “He told me they’d been together for years but that ‘she’d never get her papers on him.’”

The phrase stuck with Jennings. Years later, he wrote “Get Yer Papers” about a couple who refuses to get married despite living together indefinitely — and needing each other completely.

“Maybe they’ve had their hearts broken before or are just too stubborn and cynical to admit they need anybody,” Jennings said. “It’s a sort of marital standoff between the two, even though they both know deep down they’ll never leave one another.”

Sung as a duet between Jennings and bandmate Erin Bru, the rousing track comes from the Defibulators’ upcoming album, Debt’ll Get ‘Em, arriving Aug. 27. Check out the CMT Edge premiere of “Get Yer Papers.” - CMT Edge

Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., the Defibulators are a band with a rootsy sound, drawing from the grit of both the country and the city. Bandleader Bug Jennings says “Get Yer Papers” was inspired by a boot maker and the woman Jennings thought was the man’s wife.

“I used to take my boots to him to get resoled. He lived in a studio in Hell’s Kitchen with this gal,” Jennings tells CMT Edge. “He told me they’d been together for years but that ‘she’d never get her papers on him.’”

The phrase stuck with Jennings. Years later, he wrote “Get Yer Papers” about a couple who refuses to get married despite living together indefinitely — and needing each other completely.

“Maybe they’ve had their hearts broken before or are just too stubborn and cynical to admit they need anybody,” Jennings said. “It’s a sort of marital standoff between the two, even though they both know deep down they’ll never leave one another.”

Sung as a duet between Jennings and bandmate Erin Bru, the rousing track comes from the Defibulators’ upcoming album, Debt’ll Get ‘Em, arriving Aug. 27. Check out the CMT Edge premiere of “Get Yer Papers.” - CMT Edge

Music Premiere: A Brewing Banjo Backlash

The ubiquitous instrument enters the "meta" phase of its popularity

It’s been clear for a while that the banjo has infiltrated pop music. In fact, we wrote about it right here back in April.

But now the banjo has officially entered the next phase of pop-culture ubiquity: backlash.

On their new album Debt’ll Get ‘Em — available today — Brooklyn-based country outfit The Defibulators poke loving fun at the instrument’s new life as a status symbol on the track “Everybody’s Got a Banjo,” streaming for the first time below.

“A lot of people have realized what a great instrument it has always been, but beyond that, it’s become a trendy icon,” the band’s Bug Jennings tells TIME via email. “I mean, even the new Robin Thicke video’s got a naked gal bouncing around with a banjo pretending to play one. Why? Well, because it looks cool on a naked girl, I guess. Who cares what it sounds like or that’s it’s an incredibly difficult instrument to master!”

As the song states, if you don’t know how to play it, it still looks cool — but it’s cooler if you do know how. And Jennings knows what he’s talking about, since he does.


- TIME

Somewhat weird, certainly smart-assed, but seriously entertaining, The Defibulators from New York, New York have unleashed their latest album Debt’ll Get ‘Em, ripe for weird looks and rank misunderstanding, but filled with some really good times.

They say there’s a band for every moment in time, and though that may be a tall order to lump on The Defibulators’ shoulders exclusively, they seem to define this strange time in country roots better than most. In many ways they’re a hipster band themselves, being a country band from the Big Apple and blending sometimes hokey elements and campy attitude into what otherwise is authentic country music. At the same time they’re armed with a keen sense of self-awareness, not only of themselves, but of their time and surrounding, and are quick to harp on the silliness of every other Anthropology major running around with a banjo, and legions of roots musicians moving to the big cities to take part in Mumford mania.

There’s no doubt that in 20 years or so, roots revival bands in their vests and suspenders will be the laughing stock of popular culture just like hair metal bands are today, but the Defibulators ask why wait 20 years when you can make fun of them right now, and in some ways make fun of yourself by proxy? Being a country band from New York City is somewhat campy itself, so why not embrace your fate, own it, revel in it, and most importantly, not let it get in the way of making great music, or the music you want.

The line between where the sarcasm ends and the seriousness begins with The Defibulators is hard to define, and they appear to like it that way. But one thing for sure is the Defibulators are nothing to laugh at as players or songwriters. New York may be getting infiltrated by hayseed musicians from North Carolina, like the moral of the Debt’ll Get ‘Em song “Cackalacky” conveys (see video below), but it’s hard to make it in NYC no matter what style of music you play unless you have some serious chops. And The Defibulators have them, evidenced throughout this album, and specifically on the seriously fun instrumental “Rumble Strip.” Can’t say enough about the players of The Defibulators, and there’s a total of seven of them so you could get tongue tied trying to shower accolades on them all, but needless to say, Debt’ll Get’Em is worth the listen if only for the music.

the-defibulators-debt'll-get-emAcoustic guitar, banjo player, and front man Bug Jennings writes the majority of the songs, and is responsible for wrapping the true message behind The Defibulators so tightly in so many veils, it keeps you on your toes at all times, wondering just what the hell is going on, and if they are laughing at you or with you, or if you’re just supposed to stop wondering and listen to the damn music. Songs like “Working Class,” “Get Yer Papers,” and “He-Haw In Heaven” all have moments where they feel like they’re totally a bit, but nonetheless convey the entertainment of a honest to goodness country song.

The Defibulators secret weapon is the breathtaking Erin Bru, who can squeeze the pain out of a song like few others. Though she’s only featured out front in a few songs, she threatens to steal the show every time, like in the sultry “Pay For That Money.” When a girl is added to a band just to stand there and be cute and maybe sing some harmonies and shake a tambourine, there is nothing worse. But in instances like Erin Bru and The Defibulators, it can help legitimize the entire thing.

One of my concerns about the Defibulators is where they exactly fit in this big, scarey music world. Their strength is that their music is hard to pigeon hole, but it also might be their weakness. Aside from drawing shallow similarities to Jonny Fritz, I’m not sure where they belong, or if enough people will get them. But I got Debt’ll Get Em, or maybe it got me, but either way I definitely found it worth the listen.

1 1/2 of 2 guns up — 4 of 5 stars - SAVING COUNTRY MUSIC

The time I spent living in New york taught me some things. One, New Yorkers aren’t rude they just don’t have time for your dumb ass, and New York has is a great market for roots music.

Brooklyn’s The Defibulators have been creating tunes some time and garnering a lot of praise by mashing their throwback honky-tonk with frenetic bent. Think of them as the perfect soundtrack for a family picnic, or a meth lab. Yes that’s a compliment.

Their upcoming ssophomore album “Debt’ll Get’em” (August 27) was recorded in Woodstock, NY, at The Isokon with D. James Goodwin and Eli Walker, and Sunset Park, Brooklyn, at Motherbrain with co-producer Brian Bender (Langhorne Slim, Jose James), ‘Debt’ll Get’em’ is a 10-track and if the below tunes are typical i look forward to an amped-up take on classic country classic.

The video for “Cackalacky,” directed by Alexis Boling, follows a hayseed as he finds his way in the big city looking for music success.And “Pay For That Money” is a sassy swagger of a song about fiscal responsibility and moral comeuppance.

Kick back and enjoy the ride, pilgrim.
- TWANG NATION

The time I spent living in New york taught me some things. One, New Yorkers aren’t rude they just don’t have time for your dumb ass, and New York has is a great market for roots music.

Brooklyn’s The Defibulators have been creating tunes some time and garnering a lot of praise by mashing their throwback honky-tonk with frenetic bent. Think of them as the perfect soundtrack for a family picnic, or a meth lab. Yes that’s a compliment.

Their upcoming ssophomore album “Debt’ll Get’em” (August 27) was recorded in Woodstock, NY, at The Isokon with D. James Goodwin and Eli Walker, and Sunset Park, Brooklyn, at Motherbrain with co-producer Brian Bender (Langhorne Slim, Jose James), ‘Debt’ll Get’em’ is a 10-track and if the below tunes are typical i look forward to an amped-up take on classic country classic.

The video for “Cackalacky,” directed by Alexis Boling, follows a hayseed as he finds his way in the big city looking for music success.And “Pay For That Money” is a sassy swagger of a song about fiscal responsibility and moral comeuppance.

Kick back and enjoy the ride, pilgrim.
- TWANG NATION

As the songs of the summer slow their rotation (so help us if we have to hear “Blurred Lines” one more time...), it’s safe to say we’re all itching for some fresh tunes. Here are a few up-and-coming New Yorkers to reenergize your ear buds.

If you like Mumford & Sons Banjo lovers, you’ll wanna get in on the Defibulators. the high-energy, seven-piece group just released a new album, Debt’ll Get’em, yesterday and will be celebrating by tearing up Brooklyn Bowl tonight.

- PURE WOW

As the songs of the summer slow their rotation (so help us if we have to hear “Blurred Lines” one more time...), it’s safe to say we’re all itching for some fresh tunes. Here are a few up-and-coming New Yorkers to reenergize your ear buds.

If you like Mumford & Sons Banjo lovers, you’ll wanna get in on the Defibulators. the high-energy, seven-piece group just released a new album, Debt’ll Get’em, yesterday and will be celebrating by tearing up Brooklyn Bowl tonight.

- PURE WOW

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Defibulators (not defibrillators) are a rootsy country band from Brooklyn, NY with an out of control sound that blends bluegrass, country, jug band, honky tonk, rockabilly, Dixieland jazz, and folk music for a good-time sound that has a cross-generational appeal. The six-man, one-woman band -- singer/guitarist Bryan Jennings, singer/percussionist Erin Bru, mighty lead guitarist Roadblock, Justin Smitty on fiddle, standup bass man Freddy Epps, drummer Mike Riddleberger and Metalbelly on washboard, percussion, and harmonica -- calls their music whackabilly. They honed their chops at the Rodeo Bar, a New York City club that caters to young country music fans winning an audience with hootenannies that had a Carter Family-meets-Ramones vibe. Corn Money may be their debut album but it presents a band that's fully formed, with an eclectic acoustic/electric sound all their own. Corn Money was made in the studio but it's put together like a live show interspacing songs with short interludes like "Steal Harmonicas" and the tossed-off pedal steel solo "Rusty Nights" that leads into an instrumental called "The Gravy Shake" that combines swinging acoustic fiddling from Justin Smitty and Roadblock's twanging surf guitar licks. It may be the first cowboy surf tune ever waxed. The title tune delivers on its promise of debauchery: it's a jazzy celebration of teenage drinking and the troubled married life it leads to with Smitty's fiddle and Roadblock's guitar trading solos as the tempo rapidly increases until the band falls into a boozy jumble. "Ol' Winchester," is another unruly drinking song, a bluegrass/punk tune played at a galloping tempo with a searing harmonica interlude that includes a Spike Jones-like instrumental bridge. Bryan Jennings and Erin Bru show off their vocal chemistry on the playful Dixieland-meets-Texas swing tune "Honey, You Had Me Fooled" while Bru steps out on her own for "Get What's Coming" a sly blues full of double, and single, entendres that puts her purring alto to good use. They also contribute two sold highway songs: Justin Smitty's fiddle adds a vaguely Eastern European gypsy feel to "Drive You Off," the tale of a guy trying to drink and drive away his blues in a big motor home, while "Go-Go Truck" is a three-chord honky tonk rocker with a solo that careens down the track like a semi full of nitro rubbing sparks off the guard rail with its out of control energy. The Defibulators ain't gonna save you from your next heart attack, but the album's irrepressible energy will have you up and dancing around your hospital bed in no time.
review by j.poet - ALL MUSIC GUIDE

With their new album, "Debt'll Get 'Em," the band lives well beyond the promise of their first album and the critics' praise, delivering a blistering, let's-get-down-to-the-truth, eclectic mix of musical styles that push and stretch the boundaries of country music by blending genre-bending guitars, fiddles, and banjo with the often haunting vocals of Erin Bru and the won't-let-you-stop-thinking lyrics of Bug Jennings. One thing's for sure, the songs on this new album won't let you sit still, whether it's the chicken-picking guitars and dance-floor fiddles of "Working Class" or the Commander Cody-like guitar heavy instrumental, "Rumble Strip," in which Chris Hartway's guitar moves from Don Rich's Bakersfield sound to Dick Dale's surf guitar and Bill Kirchen's jumping Telecaster grooves. At the same time, on the smoky ballad "Real Slow" Bug Jennings and Erin Bru channel the "Grievous Angel" harmonies of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris.

Every song on the album, according to Jennings, deals with the consequences of not taking debt—both literal and figurative debt—seriously. "Pay for That Money" features Bru's haunting voice layered over mournful fiddles as well as lush echoing and shimmering guitar chords and asks "what do you get when you burn/through your plastic stacks." "Working Class" follows the exploits of someone who "grew a crop of credit cards and never saw the bill…[who] could've been a doctor…but didn't see the point to earn/more dough than I could drink." "Real Slow" and "Let That Ponytail Run" plumb the depths of debt that lovers incur when they chase after the ephemeral beauty of a love that might not ever have been in the bank in the first place. - NO DEPRESSION

In “Everybody’s Got a Banjo,” a dusty funk tune on the Defibulators’ new album, “Debt’ll Get ’Em,” the band pokes fun at the hipsterization of Americana with the standout line “If you don’t know how to play it, well it still looks cool.”

It’s tongue-in-cheek humor from a seven-piece country-rock crew that dwells in Brooklyn and features plenty of its own nimble-fingered banjo rolls. But the Defibulators’ sound falls more in line with such Texas outsiders as the Gourds and the sadly defunct Asylum Street Spankers than anything coming from the indie-folk sect.

The group specializes in rowdy, punk-fueled twang highlighted by heaps of blue-collar wit and courtesy nods toward traditionalism. Electric roadhouse riffs meet harmonica howls in the rockabilly charge of album opener “Holy Roller,” while a fist-pumping singalong chorus anchors the honky-tonk blues of “Working Class.” In the relaxed song “Real Slow,” the lead vocals of Bug Jennings and Erin Bru unravel a boozy heartbreak tale through an old-school duet in the spirit of Johnny and June.

“Debt’ll Get ’Em” showcases plenty of reverence for classic country, but as a band that began by filling sets with Black Flag covers, the Defibulators can’t help but exude an underlying frenetic energy. It’s on full display in “Cackalacky,” a gritty, full-throttle foot-stomper about an Appalachian picker who moves to New York City seeking stardom. It’s more well-placed irony from a band taking full advantage of the urban revival of roots music.

— Jedd Ferris - WASHINGTON POST

"Sinister, squawking urban honky-tonk and rockabilly served hot and dirty." - Mike Grimes

"Sinister, squawking urban honky-tonk and rockabilly served hot and dirty." - Mike Grimes