Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

event

Lightning 100 Nashville Sunday Night
CANCELED: Overcoats
Sun April 26, 2020 8:00 pm (Doors: 6:00 pm )
3rd and Lindsley
All Ages
$12.50
Shaving their heads, grabbing guitars, and pulling no punches, Overcoats etched a ten-song bat-tle-cry on their second full-length album, The Fight [Loma Vista Recordings]. Their vision is not about picking up arms, but rather about picking oneself up. It’s the kind of record that might in-spire you to quit your job, run a marathon, divorce your husband, change your life in the way you always wanted to, but needed an extra push for. This is the push… As New York-natives Hana Elion and JJ Mitchell wrapped up touring behind their critically ac-claimed 2017 debut YOUNG, it seemed as though the world was collapsing around them. There was no choice but to fight. “We lost friends to addiction and to gun violence, we were battling an extremely tough political climate, and feeling the weight of existential loneliness,” admits Hana, “We had to learn how to take care of ourselves and each other in a different way.” “There was a realization that we couldn’t wait for life to get easier,” adds JJ. “The idea you have to fight for who you are, what you want, and what you hope to see in the world became poignant for us. We real-ized the thing to do is not to wait for life to get easier, but to start fighting harder.” So, they donned guitars in a shared New York city apartment and wrote the soundtrack to their fight. Hana and JJ personally assembled a team around themselves to help support their vision. Within a self-contained environment and under the watch of one London-based creative director, two LA-based producers, and, of course the two creators, the album came to life. They even self-produced a music video in which they shaved each other’s heads. Yes, that’s right. They shaved each other’s heads. They agree, “We decided it was time to take matters into our own hands and shock some people. We needed to become warriors to fight for the future we wish to see in the world.” Inspired by everything from Young Marble Giants to The Violent Femmes to Iggy Pop, Over-coats rooted this next chapter in electric guitar and punk energy culled from nearly two years on the road. At the same time, they tempered the energy with a vulnerable vitality and irresistible catchiness. JJ explains, “The new music is a bit grittier and more rock-leaning, but there has always been and will always be a through-line of our voices singing in harmony.” “This album is going to break your heart, but also try to put it back together,” states Hana. “Allowing the guitar to dictate the sound, we tried to represent all of the stages of what this realization was. It’s not just depression, anger, and sadness; it’s the motivational stage too. It’s the pop song that helps to distract you from your sadness. It’s a call-to-arms to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and fight to stay alive.” In early 2019, they committed this vision to tape alongside producer Justin Raisen [Angel Olson, Charli XCX, Santigold] and Yves Rothman [Courtney Love, Yves Tumor, Miya Folick]. “We’re always very D.I.Y.,” comments JJ. “We weren’t going to wait for some fancy producers and pop writers to pen us a record. We wrote it ourselves. We needed the right partners to record it. That’s Justin and his secret weapon, collaborator, Yves. They’re both as crazy as we are. They understood our vision: future-classic bangers.”