21st Century Music: The Ettes
21st Century Music are playlists and profiles that focus on artists that have released their music since 2000. These highlight new(er) acts that continue the sound and spirit of the older acts that are the focus of Ceremony. Click on the streaming service of your choice below to listen to the playlist as you read along.
The early 2000s saw a revival in garage rock, that fuzzy, energetic form that arose in the mid-‘60s and helped catapult a thread that led to psychedelic rock, proto-punk, and then punk itself. The Ettes were one of the bands that came out of that revival, but blended some country twangs, harder punk edges, a little coastal harmony, and delivered it all in unrelenting packages of two-minute songs. Indeed, this playlist is twenty songs in a tidy fifty minutes, so hang on to your hat.
The Ettes: Poni, Coco, and Jem
Over the course of four albums in six years the band’s sound didn’t change greatly but did develop some nuances. Their later compositions worked in some more polished craftsmanship and a little more of a pop vibe, though at a slight loss to the careening energy and pace of the first releases. At turns I hear different varying influences from ‘80s girl-group The Belle Stars, to ‘90s female rockers L7 and the later Riot Grrrls, to The Ettes’ more contemporary forerunners in the garage revival such as The White Stripes. Some songs hooked you with melody while others pummelled with machine-like rhythms, but regardless the albums had a remarkable consistency in quality and a fantastic mix of the retro with the modern. I would happily grab a few songs by The Ettes for any party mix or a drive in the car.
The Ettes, with the mysterious, Johnny, far left
The band was formed in 2004 by a trio of New Yorkers transplanted in Los Angeles. Lindsay ‘Coco’ Hames was on guitar and vocals, Jeremy ‘Jem’ Cohen was on bass, and Maria ‘Poni’ Silver drove the trio with her lively drumming. Many of the band’s performances on YouTube include a long-haired, male guitarist, in which the only reference I can find to him is as, ‘Johnny.’ After recording their first two LPs in London, the third was recorded in Nashville. By the time of their fourth LP, the band was not only recording in Nashville but living there. Though there is no mention of the band having folded, nothing has been released since that last LP in 2011. The trio has operated a record store and artist space in Nashville, Fond Object, since 2013 and Coco has toured with Canada’s The New Pornographers and worked on solo material.
The band originally signed with the wonderfully titled label, Sympathy for the Record Industry, out of Olympia, Washington and which specialized in garage rock. They released a demo, Eat the Night, and debut single, “Dead and Gone,” before releasing their first LP, Shake the Dust, in 2006. Two albums on Take Root Records followed, wherein their unrepentant punk speed was refined into the country tinged and more polished power-pop sound. 2008’s Look at Life Again Soon produced their best-known song, “Crown of Age,” while 2009’s, Do You Want Power was their best LP, providing the catchy, pop brilliance of, “Take It with You,” paired with the fantastic, snarling menace of blues and garage rocker, “Walk Out that Door.” By the final LP in 2011, Wicked Will, they were producing fantastically tight and atmospheric tunes like, “Teeth,” which sounded like something that walked right out of Tombstone.
Whether we will hear from The Ettes again, the trio left us a wonderful quartet of albums to enjoy. A refreshingly modern take on some decidedly old-school forms, the band launches through its catchy, short, and powerful songs one song after another, one album after another, and you are highly encouraged to make yourself familiar with this 21st century band.
The Playlist - song \ album (year)
Eat the Night \ Non-album demo (2006)
Dead and Gone \ Shake the Dust (2006)
Spend My Money \ Shake the Dust (2006)
Gimme \ Shake the Dust (2006)
Ghosts \ Shake the Dust (2006)
Chilled Hidebound Hearts \ Look at Life Again Soon (2008)
To Arms \ Look at Life Again Soon (2008)
Crown of Age \ Look at Life Again Soon (2008)
You Can’t Do that to Me \ Look at Life Again Soon (2008)
Where Your Loyalties Lie \ Look at Life Again Soon (2008)
Red in Tooth and Claw \ Do You Want Power (2009)
I Can’t Be True \ Do You Want Power (2009)
Take It with You \ Do You Want Power (2009)
Blood Red Blood \ Do You Want Power (2009)
Walk Out that Door \ Do You Want Power (2009)
Teeth \ Wicked Will (2011)
The Pendulum \ Wicked Will (2011)
You Never Say \ Wicked Will (2011)
One by One \ Wicked Will (2011)
I Stayed Too Late \ Wicked Will (2011)
