WHEN Them Slack Jawed Sons of Bitches started out 2 1/2 years ago, they didn’t know they’d wind up playing their trademark “rubber burnin’ honky tonk.” They didn’t know what they wanted to play. Guitarist and lead vocalist Steve Laflen was writing songs on an acoustic guitar, while drummer Jeff Okubo brought a heavier, metal-inspired influence.
Then bassist Eric Burchfield answered their online ad. Raised on classic country, he would later, through the repeated making of mixes, bring Ernest Tubbs’ “Thanks a Lot” to the band’s set—it’s now the closer for every show. Their sound began to form around the trio’s shared musical heroes, like Johnny Cash. “It just started leaning that way,” says Burchfield.
“I wrote most of the songs based around Eric’s limitations,” jokes Laflen. “Eric is probably a descendent of Johnny Cash’s bass player.”
“You have to admit,” Burchfield says, “it keeps things simple.”
In all seriousness, however, Them Slack Jawed Sons of Bitches aren’t as simple as they might lead you to believe. The San Jose band’s debut, Whiskey and Waffles, shows how many styles they can handle. There are punked-up Cash beatwalkers like “Staring Back at Me” and heavy alt-country laments like “Bring Me to My Knees.” Though they’re not a rockabilly or psychobilly band by any stretch of the imagination, “Be Alright” and “Honky Romp” could pass for great songs that the Rev. Horton Heat never wrote. A big beat often collides into loud and fast guitar riffs.
“We all like punk rock, too,” says Okubo. A South Bay native, he met Tuscon-transplant Laflen in a rather unusual and potentially disastrous way—he was dating one of Okubo’s ex-girlfriends, who introduced them. Okubo was himself married by that time, minimizing the awkwardness. “They were all cool with it,” says Burchfield. “But I thought it was creepy as hell.”
As a trio, the band quickly began developing its all-over-the-map sound. “I’ve always been an eclectic songwriter,” says Laflen. “Sloppy Saddle” and “Hold Up” [the band’s two instrumentals] are diametrically opposed.”
Then, of course, there was the name. All three were throwing ideas around. “We were emailing each other every day, trying to make each other laugh,” says Burchfield. Finally, Laflen threw out “The Slack Jawed Sons of Bitches” (“Them” would come later). Okubo loved it—”I was like, ‘How can it not be that?’ he says—but he had a tough time convincing the others. “I had friends saying, ‘Anything but that, anything but that!'” remembers Burchfield. Naysayers should know that Laflen and Okubo originally flirted with playing as “the Fart Pod Five,” and ask if, all things considered, they came out all right in the name department.
The group was championed by Caravan booker Rachel Warner (“Rachel told us we were great even when we sucked,” says Burchfield), and found success there but also got support from the Blank Club and tastemakers like Nahui Langoretta. “He’s the quintessential cool downtown guy,” says Okubo. “Getting the thumbs up from him was important.” Still, Laflen felt something was missing. He wasn’t yet confident in his vocals, so they went searching for a fourth member. But instead of a vocalist, they ended up with a lap steel player, John Vaughan, who was much older than the rest of the band.
“He said, ‘I’m 65, but I rock,” Okubo says. “I said, ‘We don’t care how old you are, we just care if you rock.’ Our live shows are better with him. Some of our songs are pretty heavy, they’re fast and punk rock, and the kids are looking at him and saying, ‘This guy is old enough to be my grandpa.’ And he’s doing stuff that’s like Jimi Hendrix.”
“He brings the real cool to the band,” says Laflen.
Them Slack Jawed Sons of Bitches have just released their debut CD, ‘Whiskey and Waffles.’ Check online for information on their upcoming CD release show.
