Brat - We Are the Rockingest CD (KILL02)
Released June 3, 2003

The musical wonder known as Brat began with an afterbar at Eena's place. Freddy just wouldn't leave. What was a girl to do? Party and makeout with Freddy until dawn, that's what. The two continued to get along swimmingly over coffee and cigs the next afternoon. So much so that they decided to make some music together. Eena got out the 4-track and the genius began.

Within a few months Brat was performing at all the premier local underground venues/basements. The duo quickly became Madison's most endearing oddity, winning fans with their male/female vocals, punk rock guitars, cheap keyboards, kazoos, and pots and pans. Drummer Stephen Burke was eventually added for playing live. But on a deeper level, Brat offered philosophy: they saw the light, and they were gracious enough to share it with us on subjects ranging from asshole bosses, to volcanoes and art, to Parkay vs. butter.

We Are the Rockingest, the debut cd, showcases 14 songs written on porches over the summer months with an endless supply of wine. The album carries the charm of the Brat live performance, but offers a more in depth view of their vision. It's an album that combines unlikely instrumentation, turns from smart to silly and back again, and wobbles but never falls down. You, the listener, will find yourself thinking, "Huh?," "Whoa," "Hee hee," and then "Awwww." We Are the Rockingest is at times reminiscent of the handmade stoned-genius of Sebadoh's Freed Weed, the unadorned innocence of Beat Happening, The Vaselines' something something, or perhaps the potty-mouthed mayhem of Bongwater's Power of Pussy. Nevertheless it is a wholly unique work, destined to be a classic in various underground corners of the world.

They didn't just fall out of the sky:

Eena Ballard was born and raised in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She's spent the last few years playing viola, guitar, and singing in the psych-country-rock band Noahjohn. She was also a member of Eugene Chadbourne's Horror Part II and Ernest Tubb Memorial Bands, the New World Ensemble (Tallahassee FL), and has worked live and in the studio with such groups as Best Boy Electric, Frankenfinger, Firebird Band, Nel Aspinal, Tinsel, Gaddis, MaeRae, Divided Body, Gold Sparkle Band, and Forever.

Freddy La Force was born and raised in Sparta, Wisconsin. Soon after arriving in Madison, he quickly made a name for himself in the basement punk rock scene as the energetic and prolific one-man show: Freddy Faggot. A typical Freddy Faggot gig offers 30+ original punk songs in the course of 40 minutes. The singing is heartfelt and the riffs are banged out on the Acoustic/Electric Guchenstein Bratomatic 219 guitar. As an added bonus, partial to full nudity usually commences (Might we add that Freddy is a hairy man). Freddy was also a member of the bands Funrod and Inflatable Grandpa.