CB Brooks has had enough. While he grew up in the punk and skateboarding culture of the Philly ‘burbs, Brooks has spent the last decade in folk rock and outlaw country music scenes. He was drawn to country/roots for the honest storytelling and bare-bones composition that country and punk rock tend to share. However while the world was trapped inside during the COVID 19 pandemic, Brooks was stuck in a prison cell.
After his incarceration for weed charges was up, he skipped town to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue his counter-culture country music dreams and quickly thereafter threw in the towel. There was no way to escape the rampant commercialism and nostalgia-driven propaganda that has engulfed the country music establishment. He could no longer turn a blind eye to the injustices he had witnessed over the past year, both in his one-on-one encounters with law enforcement and in the violence across the US played ad nauseam in the news.
His giving up birthed LOVE HOUNDS, his new Nashville-based four piece. In what Brooks has dubbed UnAmericana, Love Hounds unites his love of punk rock and outlaw country with a wink and a nod to cowpunk, but a sound all of their own. The band consists of David Keith on drums, Eric Ralls on lead guitar and Josh Emmons on bass, tied together with Brook’s distinct gravelly voice.
Their forthcoming first album, No Love, is a reflection of and reaction to Nashville’s honky tonks and highways, sprawling suburban strip-malls, two-day delivery conglomerates and a skyline of cranes. It’s being back in the burbs, all anger and angst with silence no longer being an option. This collection of screams into the void results in a rowdy and incriminating protest album that points the finger at everyone, but most especially Brooks himself.
Capturing the spirit of Brooks’ journey, new single Endonesia is essentially his “f*** you, I quit” song. “I’ve had enough of indifference,” he dips in during the verse, alluding not only to his newfound realization that music and capitalism shouldn’t mix, but to his fresh anger toward the United States and toward an unfair system that favors those already in power.
The message is blunt, but aurally the song subverts expectations in unexpected ways, riding its soaring guitars victoriously across a sonic finish line that culminates in Brooks’ vocals that scream and skyrocket across his frustrated tonal universe.
Upcoming Shows:
October 14th // Murfreesboro, TN // CXR
November 19th // Nashville, TN // UnAmericana Fest
