The traffic light flashes from green, to yellow, to red, at the corner of Adams Avenue and Felton Street. The occasional car rolls by, but for the most part it’s a quiet mid-week evening in the San Diego neighborhood of Normal Heights.
A few figures scuttle into a local pub. As the door opens, the reverberations of loud country twang spill onto the empty street.
After paying the friendly doorman the $3 cover, the door opens to a long, narrow room packed with the warm buzz of patrons talking loudly over pints of frosty Guinness. A quartet, set up in the corner by the door, bangs out a country ballad, complete with scratchy, soaring harmonies.
It’s Wednesday night, which, for the past few years now, has been The Hatchet Brothers’ night to serenade the regulars at The Ould Sod.
The Hatchet Brothers, a foursome of local music vets, is simply a band born from the love of playing live without a net.
Originally, the band served as an outlet for local songwriters Gregory Page (ex-Rugburns) and Frank Lee Drennen (ex-Loam, and currently Dead Rock West) to explore old time country and murder ballads from the ’20s and ’30s. The two had met during jam sessions in the early-’90s at Java Joe’s, and immediately felt a connection.
Soon Page and Drennen started playing at The Ould Sod, seeing the Wednesday night shows as a chance to get on stage and just play. The band rounded out its current lineup with drummer Charlie McCree and bassist Jack Reynolds, both of the local band Momma.
The band’s first album, Tools of the Trade, was born from the same relaxed mentality that the Wednesday jam sessions held.
“We recorded two days after we met,” explains the bespectacled Page. “We made an album at Frank’s house (across the street from The Ould Sod in Normal Heights); we just set up recording equipment in his living room. Basically what you hear when you hear Tools of the Trade is the Hatchet Brothers being formed.”
Four years later, The Hatchet Brothers have created a loyal following at the The Ould Sod, as young and old sing along with its brand of down-home country mixed with a punk, D.I.Y. attitude.
“We’re in the classic country tradition,” says Drennen, breaking down the band’s sound. “Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash, a lot of the tunes they got famous for, they didn’t write. But it’s all in their artistic interpretation of it that totally made it their own. And The Hatchet Brothers work within that same idea and grab from that tradition.
“But we’re like Johnny Cash meets The Clash. More like Johnny Clash, that’s our style.”
The Hatchet Brothers have a new album out, Love Hurts, but don’t have the standard slick press releases, stickers and P.R. packets to help promote the disc. They rely on the power of their Ould Sod shows and word of mouth.
“We just set up in the living room with a PA; it was all captured live and in the moment,” says Page. “We’re such a live sounding band, it’s hard to imagine us recording in a Pro Tools studio. Wouldn’t have been right. Would’ve been against the law.”
“It’s the most fun I’ve had playing music.”
“The Hatchet Brothers have survived (longer) than most bands I’ve been in,” adds Drennen. “We’re totally flexible, because we have to be. There’s no expectations with the Hatchet Brothers, and oddly enough, it’s been successful.”
--Jeb Stewart
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Just wanted to let you know the new CD is here and you can get it on Jennifer's profile page. Oh yeah, we have Johnny Hiland playing on this thing. The radio release is set fot late July. Once that's done we'll be adding a lot more shows. Hope to see you at one
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Lynnsk.com
Our debut album is scheduled to be released in June. The first single of the album "Halfway Home" will be featured on the off road video Dezert People Cinco. Please vote for us to play Warped Tour by clicking on the image below. Thanks for your support!
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Happy New Year!
Come celebrate with us
Thursday, January 4 at the Casbah!
A one-time-only show with:
LOAM
DEAD ROCK WEST
TRUCKEE BROTHERS
a Populuxe Records night!!!
