Fayetteville-based The Plaid Jackets is made of Brandon Adkins and Matt Johannesen.
It seems like Fayetteville-based The Plaid Jackets have a history of falling into things. Falling into being a two-man band, playing funny, yet fine-tuned, fast-paced music and gathering a huge fan base online, at ComicCons and film festivals around the country.
They’ve won awards for best punk band, been described as rock and roll, and told they resemble the likes of the Ramones and the Pixies. But their self-titled Plaid Rock, that’s pushing the Geek Rock revolution, and the humor that’s implied, all began when fate set them as two lone musicians, just wanting to play music.
When the band they had been playing in with three other musicians fell apart, Brandon Adkins (lead vocals and guitar) and Matt Johannesen (backing vocals and drums) found that they didn’t want to stop playing music. They didn’t want to have to go through the process of choosing new members, so they decided to have some fun, call themselves the Cheesy Poofs and make music that fit the name.
“It started as a joke … and we were going to do some pretty cheesy stuff. Just for fun, after a jam session, we put our music on our Myspace. Bailey from (104.9 the X) found it and it became big pretty quick,” Adkins said.
At that point they thought, “maybe we actually have something here.” Most of the songs they’ve created since that time come about in the same way — jokes, conversations, a slip of the tongue. Add a good sense of humor to an even better sense of collaboration, and you get hits like “Adam West is Batman.”
“One of us will say ‘hey, that’s a great idea,’ and the other person will add to it. We’ve always been really good together when it comes to writing,” Johannesen said.
Overall, they stick to the theme of providing happy music for audiences they feel are in desperate need. Something funny, but not quite parody, because both Adkins and Johanneses are serious musicians with a knack for creating tight, hard hitting sounds.
What started as another joke turned into an album featuring 10 of their happiest, funniest, rockinnest songs, recorded at Listen Laboratories, commissioned and funded by a fan, called The New Adventures of The Plaid Jackets. They started with one song, then were asked to play another, until they realized they had produced an entire album.
2013 was quite the year for the brothers in plaid. Their song “Adam West” has been featured in a documentary film, they performed at the Napa Valley Film Festival, ComicCons across North America and a gaming expo in Austin, Texas. They plan on shooting a video with Adam West in January, and best of all they’ll be performing in Fayetteville, Friday, Dec. 20 at the Smoke and Barrel in Fayetteville.
Look out for this dynamic duo, because their flair (for plaid and great music) and sense of humor is catching on fast. Find out more about the band, listen to their music and download their album at www.facebook.com/theplaidjackets or www.reverbnation.com/theplaidjackets.
