Musician Spotlight: Andrew Jackson Jihad
This Punk/Folk Duo from Phoenix Arizona Is All-Acoustic
Jan 7, 2009
Sporting a wide range of influences and instruments, Andrew Jackson Jihad is ready to take over the world with a love for the human race. Sure, it might not appear so at first, with lyrics like “Rejoice although this world will devastate you/And rejoice although this world will penetrate you”, but this duo from Phoenix, Arizona are in love with humanity.
Not only does it provide them with material for their songs, sung about rapists, cannibals, and generally despicable people, but as they say at the end of their 2007 album People That Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World, “people are the best thing that ever happened”.
Andrew Jackson Jihad: Early Days in Depressing Folk/Punk
While their newer albums are conceptual and far more refined, Andrew Jackson Jihad's early material is rife with tongue-in-cheek black humor and catchy songs. Their debut, Candy Cigarettes and Cap Guns, was by far their darkest album, but the band's unique sense of humor never failed to keep a listener interested.
Sean Bonnette, guitarist/lead singer writes ironic songs about the coolness of smoking cigarettes and hipsters, fearless of being too graphic. “Daddy Didn't Love Me” is a song where the narrator thanks his father for abusing him in multiple ways, and the song “F*** White People” is exactly what it sounds like.
But the band's earlier material serves as the perfect example of their sound. Bonnette and bassist/vocalist Ben Gallant haven't really changed their sound, but they don't need to. Their basic folk sound includes at any given time acoustic guitar, upright bass, drums, mandolin, banjo, and horns just to name a few. The chord progression is nothing new, but it allows for fun songs which quickly become singalongs at live shows.
People That Can Eat People, New Releases Bring Out Conceptual Style
As Andrew Jackson Jihad has put out new material and perfected their sound, they have also gotten deeper and more interesting to listen to. Although they have retained their singsong lyrical style, the band now has choruses like “And I hope that our candles flicker and die/So that our hearts don't burn to the ground” instead of simply shouting out the name of the song.
People That Can Eat People, although a few tracks are re-released from their 2006 Issue Problems, is by their most cohesive album, looking at humanity at a whole and professing the band's love for even the most evil of people.
Their newest EP, Only God Can Judge Me, continues in this category, further highlighting the band's realistic philosophy. Bonnette and Gallant promote the popular folk theme of loving everyone equally, but their punk rock roots point out all the horrible people whom they ironically support.
The philosophy is almost as intriguing as the music, and it helps a listener understand that there's a lot more to Andrew Jackson Jihad than four chords, a bunch of acoustic instruments, and some drunk guy singing about killing people.
Andrew Jackson Jihad has two LPs, Candy Cigarettes and Cap Guns and People That Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World. They are signed to Plan-It-X Records and can be followed on tour via Myspace.
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