Photo by Jo McCaughey

This interview originally appeared in the August issue of AUX Magazine. Download and subscribe here.

You’ve heard the same story before: a band with humble roots finally signs to the big leagues. Seemingly out of nowhere, their next album is filled with frills. Then a two-piece band of brothers start tossing around the idea of adding in an extra member or two. It happened with the Black Keys (sort of), and now it’s happening with JEFF the Brotherhood. With a new big-label backing from Warner, the Nashville two-piece released their seventh studio album and major label debut Hypnotic Nights in July. Talking to front man Jake Orrall about everything from border customs to working with the Black Keys’ own Dan Auerbach, we learned that while there’s a definite end game to the band’s extended journey, everything that happens between then and now is still very much in the air.

AUX: You’ve been at this longer than people might realize. How does the album fit in with the rest of your discography?

Jake Orrall: It’s the best one so far.

What makes it better than the others?

We had a little more money to work with, so we could go into a nice studio and use nice microphones and get good quality sound. We had a little more time to work with, too.

I guess that’s how having Warner behind you helps the recording process, but does your deal have any impact on how you write songs?

That’s still the same. I never really took into consideration before how other people would interpret the songs, I’d just write them, because that’s what I do for fun. Now that I do it for a job, I try to take into consideration how other people are going to interpret them, or what other people get out of the songs and try to make it so they can appeal to the widest audience as possible.

Was there anything you did in the studio this time around that you maybe can’t pull off live since it’s just the two of you on stage?

We have a policy where, when we’re making a record, we try to make the best possible record we can make, and when we play a show, we try to play the best possible show we can make within our means. We don’t try to make our record sound like the live show, or vice versa. Fundamentally, you experience some different senses, so we try to treat those things very differently.

How was it working with Dan Auerbach on the album? His career has had a similar trajectory to yours.

It’s funny. We’ve both been in bands for the same amount of time, we both started within a couple months of each other. They were a little older when they started and I think had more of an idea of what they were doing at the beginning. Working with him on the record was really, really fun. It’s the first time we’ve ever had any kind of co-producer, so it was a little weird at first, but it ended up being nice to have a third party to bounce stuff off of.

Weird just because it’s someone you’re not used to working with?

No. We became really fast friends, and it was really easy to work with him. It’s just weird to have someone else coming up with ideas that wasn’t us.

It kind of feels like the Black Keys almost broke the taboo of working with a major label. For a while, it was kind of this forbidden, faux-pas almost.

The music industry is a lot different.

Have you experienced that sense at all since you’ve signed? Obviously from what you’ve told me, it’s helped.

It’s been amazing. We really haven’t gotten any sort of negative reaction at all. Just a lot of people who are really curious about what it’s like, I guess.

How does your label, Infinity Cat, play into all of this?

They’re going to put the Infinity Cat stamp on the back. We’re doing our own special pre-sale package on our site.

It almost helps two-fold, then.

We’re hoping it will help of the rest of the artists just by association.

When you started the label, did you see that being built up as well?

We started the label to put out our band’s music, so we were just thinking about trying to get our stuff out. It wasn’t until a little later that we started putting out our friends’ bands and stuff. The idea was, when we started touring we didn’t know anybody who toured or who had ever toured, we didn’t know any other bands that were really doing that except for Jamin’s [Orrall, brother/drummer] old band, but they did it in a completely different manner. So we went through a lot of bullshit, all that normal shit. We did like four years of playing friends’ basements in the middle of nowhere, and staying at the same level, and then when we started to get a hold of how to tour effectively, then when other friends started bands we had contacts and a jumping off point for them, being associated with a label.

What was the idea behind putting out the Hypnotic Knights EP before the full length?

We hadn’t released anything in a little while because we’d been so busy, so we figured we would put out four of the songs and have something exciting at the merch table for the die-hard fans who want to buy everything we’ve got.

“I’d like to be done with it by the time I’m 35 or so. I’d like to get onto the next phase in my life.”

As for the full length, is there anything that stands out as something you might not have done in the past?

There are things on the album that we couldn’t have been able to pay for, like having a saxophone player, or a gospel singer. We’ve always really liked the idea of having all kinds of really cool sounds, but we never had the means to get them. Although on our last album, our friend came down and played sitar on it. That was pretty cool, but he did that for free.

I thought I heard some sitar on the new album, too.

No, that’s just a little sitar guitar. It’s just a weird pick-up you put on the guitar.

You’re still only playing with three strings live. Do you ever have the urge to add those extra ones?

Not until we can afford to add a bass player. Right now we don’t need one.

You cover the low-end by splitting your sound, right?

Yeah, and it’s a lot easier to get that low-end with three strings than six, I think. But once we can afford to tour with an extra person, then I’ll probably switch to a regular guitar.

So you’re open to the idea of expanding beyond a two-piece, then?

I mean if we played the songs like we play them in the studio, we’d be a four or five piece band probably. But then again, that’s not necessarily what we want to do. I don’t know, it would be really nice, a luxury, to have another person on stage filling out the sound, but it’s just too expensive right now.

So is it just you and Jamin who tour right now?

We tour with a merch person and a sound person when we can.

You’re touring in a bus, right? It probably helps then that it’s not just you and your brother. I’d imagine you’d butt heads if it was just you two.

That’s true. We did the van thing for seven years. We were like, “fuck it, let’s get a small bus.” We can spread out a little bit. We can sleep during the day.

We were hoping to catch up with you guys when you were in Toronto, but I guess there were some time constraints because you were worried about border customs. Do they give you guys a hard time?

I feel like the border from America to Canada, Canada to America, when you’re a band is one of the worst national borders you can cross in the world. They’re really, really, really hard on bands. For some reason they just hate them. They hate us. They treat us like criminals, and it’s offensive and scary and pretty fucking annoying.

How are the shows in Canada?

We always have really fricken’ badass shows in Toronto. I love playing Toronto. I think, being on stage, you only see the front five rows of the kids going crazy. Maybe there’s another bunch of people out there crossing their arms, but that’s fine, they’re allowed to do that. As long as there’s some kids having fun up front, then it’s easy for us to play.

So what’s the end game after this album, if there is one?

We want to do this for as long as Warner will have us on a contract without dropping us, I guess. Then we’ll do something else.

Is that a worry?

It’s not that it’s a worry, but that’s the timeframe. As many albums as they’ll let us make, we’ll do. But I’d like to be done with it by the time I’m 35 or so. I’d like to get onto the next phase in my life.

How old are you now?

I’m 26.

What’s the next phase?

I don’t know yet. There’s a lot of stuff I’d like to do. If I stick with this and we keep getting to make records then it’ll make it a lot easier to do those other things I’d like to do.

It’s got to be surreal to have this backing finally. Do you think you’ll ever put the albums you did before Heavy Days out again?

Yeah, I think so. Well, maybe. They’re not very good. They’re really not.