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John & Brittany
Set To Release New EP
Stories To Be Told
On October 7th
Philadelphia, PA – Rock duo John & Brittany have officially announced the release of their new EP Stories To Be Told, set to drop on October 7th! Their boy/girl dynamic captures the sweetness and tension of predecessors like Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks combined with the punk ferocity of The Kills. For more information, please visit: http://johnbrittany.com/.
After releasing their 2013 debut full-length album Start Sinning, Philly songwriters John Faye and Brittany Rotondo saw the album’s title track catapult into heavy rotation on Sirius XM’s Little Steven’s Underground Garage, and place 3rd in LSUG’s year-end listener’s poll (Joan Jett was #1). The music video for their follow-up single “Paper Planes” aired on over 100 video outlets in the US and Canada, making it all the way to “The Freshmen” on MTV-U and to MTV.com. John & Brittany made well over 100 live appearances within the year, sharing stages with the likes of The Smithereens, Everclear, Gin Blossoms, and Matthew Sweet, in addition to headlining their own shows at venues such as World Cafe Live and the Theatre of the Living Arts. Enter the new 2014 EP Stories To Be Told, whose title was suggested to John & Brittany by Little Steven Van Zandt (E-Street Band). Upon first listen to the as-yet-untitled EP, Van Zandt commented to his producer, Dennis Mortensen, that each song was like a short story unto itself, and playing off the title of the record’s closing track, Stories To Be Told came into being.
The song which inspired the title, “Story To Be Told,” is a touching eulogy to a young man who John & Brittany met only once, during a hospital gig for Musicians On Call, a non-profit organization that brings musicians to the bedsides of the terminally ill. Notable for its gentler, folksy sound, the song harkens back to John & Brittany’s roots as an acoustic duo, cutting their teeth on the open mic circuit in Philadelphia. The rest of the EP, their first vinyl release, is equally illuminating and much harder rocking. The opening track and first single “St. Valentine,”chosen as Little Steven’s Underground Garage “Coolest Song in the World”, is a quintessential J&B rocker, with snarly punk attitude and a chorus that will have dysfunctional lonely hearts everywhere singing “You dig it when I suffer.” “La Tierra” (which is Spanish for “The Land”) continues the duo’s occasional latin rock infatuation with a look at the modern American underbelly. With a nod to 2013’s “El Gato,” a down-on-his-luck ex-con ponders “If it feels like your 10th life and you’re out on borrowed time,” the song seems to suggest that, for the 99%, life on the outside is becoming more and more indistinguishable from life on the inside. This song also caught Little Steven’s ear and landed onto the Underground Garage playlist.
In spite of its relative brevity, clocking in at under 20 minutes, Stories To Be Told is a satisfying listen, once again bringing the creative and personal dynamic that defines John & Brittany to the foreground. Their growth as a song writing team with each release seems to remain a bit of a mystery to them. “We fight tooth and nail for what we want out of each song. None of these was a walk in the park to write, especially in the emotional sense. But every time we felt like it was hopeless or a dead end, we just tried another path and all of a sudden the song would go from nothing to this vivid world that we just wanted to keep exploring.”
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Check out more on John & Brittany, here:
Track Listing:
01. St. Valentine
02. Delacroix Blues
03. La Tierra
04. Hank The Hound Dog
05. Story To Be Told
Upcoming Shows
Aug 22 Red Dwarf Studios Sewell, NJ
Sep 6 Dave & Buster’s Philadelphia, PA
Sep 12 The Stone Pony Asbury Park, NJ
Sep 20 Rusty Rudder – Dewey Beach Music Conference Dewey Beach, DE
Oct 4 Hi-Nella Bar and Grille Hi-Nella, NJ
Oct 17 Hard Rock Café Philadelphia, PA
Nov 29 World Café Live Wilmington, DE
Dec 12 Steel City Phoenixville, PA
Dec 26 World Café Live Philadelphia, PA
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Review of Rock duo, John & Brittany new EP Stories To Be Told; “Engaging and Radio Worthy”
October 5, 2014 Comment Off 44 ViewsReview of Rock duo, John & Brittany new EP Stories To Be Told; “Engaging and Radio Worthy”
By: Don of Don411.com
Coordinated by: Shoshie Aborn | Big Picture Media, www.bigpicturemediaonline.com
When I was first presented with John & Brittany (John Faye and Brittany Rotondo) “Paper Planes” (official music video) I could almost hear some 80’s rock bands in John’s voice, The Cars’ Ric Ocasek and the lead singer, Donnie Vie from Enuff Z’Nuff “New Thing”. The call out was designed to be a compliment, because John has the voice that lends itself well for what they are trying to accomplish. I can envision John & Brittany hitting the terrestrial airwaves and certainly SiriusXM Radio stations more often than not. The band has full control of their instruments and absolutely no indication of being being an amateur garage band. They have the quality to be opening acts that can warm up crowds and can headline venues for sure. It is obvious John enjoys what he does because it appears effortless
on his part. Even though we don’t hear Brittany in the songs, the lyrics are hers through poetry written; John made the music to match. So, Brittany can be considered the lyricist.
What is nice, the entire band is able to provide slight different musical style variations and still not deviate entirely from their
their core talent:
“St. Valentine” – Catchy song and fun to listen to.
“Start Sinning” – Music really compliments the lyrics.
“Zzzoloft” – Sounds a little like ska!
“Gas Mask Queen” – Very tight music-wise.
“Dirty Little Magazine” – Kinda like heavy blues and rock.
“Paper Planes” – The video highlights the talent of both John & Brittany and their band.
“Woe” – Guitar dominates and voice compliments.
“El Gato” – Conga in Rock and Spanish Guitar, who would have thought?
“Survive” – Smooth to listen to and edgy.
“Tommys Not A Widow” – We determined that indeed, Tommy is not a widow.
“Mississippi Fred” – This is soundtrack material for MTV late night mischievous cartoons.
“Cigarillo” – Perfect roll of the r’s, sounds very Spanish on occasion.
“Queen of Mean” – Voice works nicely with guitar lead.
“Devil’s Allure” – Flows nicely.
Overall, great EP. My take? Engaging and radio worthy.
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Youtube: http://YouTube.com/StartSinning
Dec 26 World Café Live Philadelphia, PA
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