AJJ
In an act of uncharacteristic nostalgia, Arizona’s AJJ (formerly known as Andrew Jackson Jihad) will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their chaotic, genre-defying 2007 album People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People On Earth with a special run of shows, featuring the band’s original lineup of Sean Bonnette on acoustic guitar and Ben Gallaty on stand-up bass.
“I can’t believe it’s been ten years since our first decent record came out,” explained singer/guitarist Sean Bonnette when asked about his feelings on the anniversary. “I distinctly remember when we found the album title in Kurt Vonnegut’s Hocus Pocus. We were in a daze driving overnight from Phoenix to LA to play a show. I called Asian Man and left Mike [Park] a message that morning. It felt dramatic. Why didn’t I just email him?”
People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World, the second album from AJJ released in September of 2007, is a thematic rollercoaster. Evoking feelings of both joy and existential dread, this album was the starting point for one of Bonnette’s central lyrical themes: human duality and the inner struggle between good and evil. Frantic folk instrumentation drives the sound of the album, which has been described as “sad in the key of happy” and "Neutral Milk Hotel on meth." This is the album that put AJJ on the map and proudly remains a cornerstone in their great body of work.
AJJ released their latest album, an ambitious and assured collection of scuzzy punk screeds entitled The Bible 2, last summer. The band reconvened with producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Xiu Xiu, Cloud Nothings), who also oversaw 2014’s sonically expansive Christmas Island. Both albums display Bonnette’s most impressive work, who has honed his confessional lyrical prowess into a punk inflected mire of Trent Reznor’s unrestrained turmoil, Jamie Stewart’s profane gallows humor and a touch of David Berman’s surreal quotidian imagery.
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