“Seeking bassist for loud, fast, extremely drunk rock & roll side project. Influences: Dead Boys, Dead Kennedys, Stooges, MC5, Mudhoney, early Replacements. Minimal time commitment. We have to really like hanging out with you. Also, no complaining or creative disagreements allowed. In fact, creativity is frowned upon. We favor pure adrenaline and enthusiasm over chops and interesting ideas. Have no songs yet, but we have a show booked.” That’s the Facebook add answered by bassist Jesse Cole, who would go on to finalize the creation of the fast, loud and seedy garage punk band, Illiterates.
Illiterates are a new band out of Atlanta with LA ties, recently picked up by Baby Robot Media. Their debut album, Makeout Mountain, was released in September of last year to blistering reviews, and Illiterates have since busied themselves recording a follow-up LP, Goddamn Gun-Toting Junkie Camaro Enthusiasts, which is produced by Ed Rawls (Black Lips, The Coathangers) and promises more of the frantic and impulsive transmittal velocity as the first. That album will be released on June 14th.
Of Goddamn Gun-Toting Junkie Camaro Enthusiasts, guitarist Steve Labate says, “We’ve always wanted illiterates to be raw. We force ourselves to keep things simple. If anyone’s ever overthinking a part, anyone else could throw up a veto and strip the idea down to its base layer. Recording totally analog with Ed and Justin was a reflection of that ethos. It was all about the feel of each take rather than capturing a perfect performance.” “God is E Flat” capitalizes, perhaps excessively on that concept being one note strummed in concession as an inventory is taken over people’s various past and present theistic obsessions.
“In classical music, E-flat is considered the ‘Key of the Divine.” continues Labate. “A lot of old composers would write their divine-inspired symphonies to God in E-flat, so we wrote a whole song around just that one note.”
Simple songs for simple people… That’s you young scenesters, and I’m glad to premiere “God is E Flat” for you today, available below – and I highy (cough, cough) recommend going back and giving Makeout Mountain another listen as well. (Link provided above.)
“We just want to hit that primal part of your brain that’s all id,” explains vocalist, Steve Albertson. “Just sex, drugs, violence, viscera, energy.”
Labate goes a step further… “Maybe it’s a bit of escapism, trying to get away from everything going on in the world right now, but just for a moment, we want to let people live out that fantasy of what rock & roll was when you were a kid.”