I’ve never been one to frequent dive bars, but Bobby’s Idle Hour made for a great new find and a new night out of my normal routine. I turned up for an interview and stayed for a hangout with Alex and Larry, making for an easy Wednesday night in Nashville.
As the smoke gave the bar a bit more haze, the stories being served at the bar were tastier to me at that moment than any beer that could have slid over the old, slick countertop.
Larry shared some insight about rock and roll with me by noting that songwriting of this kind requires a liberal use of the word “baby.” Them Vibe’s Facebook profile reveals little “About” them initially by only displaying the quote “Rock and Roll every day of the week… Baby.”… and now I get the joke….
By the end of our conversation I had dubbed them the “’Okay guys,” because they seem to be ever in the wake of giving friends and open windows – even after the door itself has closed – and in their hour of need have been offered help and opportunities and had to merely sit back and humbly, gratefully reply “Okay!”
From Queens and Boston, Larry Florman and Alex Haddad not only survived but have evolved since the breakup of former band Her and King’s County. Back in NYC Larry performed under the guise of Brother Love, recording two albums and working as a singing waiter to make ends meet. First a drummer, Larry knows percussion and adds dimension and complimentary rhythm to Alex’s get-up guitar playing, and some moments of falsetto that draw you back into the room from wherever your mind could have been wandering throughout their harmonies.
Their musical chemistry was already apparent to them before the band split, and the natural next step was for newer-member Alex and “Brother Love” to jet off on a duo venture, revamping their inner rock and soul and shaking it up for old fans. Together they have made East Nashville home and joined in the giant web-weaving of artists, techs and business bodies. Affluent in creative types, the east Nashville area attracted these gentlemen with its sweet aroma of diversity: “Diversity is natural. Your voice is your voice…” When they discovered Lightning 100, they pursued fast on the heels of the local artist promoter, hoping to catch some air time and build another bridge in music city.
For an album that they began recording only in January of this year, Them Vibes has literally rock and rolled their way speedily through a process that comes so natural to them. But while “Rock and Roll” is “everything – being made up of many different parts of other things,” performing in the Country industry impressed upon them the difference storytelling makes in songwriting. It is the element for painting these stories through song that keeps them writing and recording.
Their first album as a duo is estimated to drop digitally Sept. 17th, and hopefully sooner than later it will be followed by an LP.
Lightning 100 radio station has been looping the single “Lorelei,” a tune about being so crazy in love that the overwhelming emotions result in jealousy, murder and finding a way to make it into eternity together. “…. it’s really just about love and madness. The name Lorelei was one of the very last things we actually came up with when writing.” While capturing more of the sporadic jealousy, this love song packs a real punch at the romantic idea of we’ll be together forever – this woman stands for something we all can understand, getting sometimes too caught up in the moment and following the way we feel. But sometimes you just have to follow those good feelings and them good vibes.
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By, Kaitlyn Crocker,
