You should never, as the saying goes, judge a book by its cover. New Orleans sludge newcomers Brat might be pretty in pink in their press pics, but the second you hear the wail of feedback and a bark of feral viciousness, you know you're in the same familiar mires that spawned the likes of Eyehategod and Crowbar.
We caught up with vocalist Liz Selfish to find out what records make her tick - these are her picks.
1. 50 Cent - Many Men (Wish Death) (Get Rich Or Die Tryin', 2003)
“We have this thing on tour where we get obsessed with a new song, and the last couple of times the guys have started playing Many Men (Wish Death) by 50 Cent. In fact, every time we go to a gas station and have a bathroom break, they all head into different stalls and start playing it at full volume on their phones, all at different times, so that any time anyone enters they literally hear many Many Men. Ha ha ha! Most people don’t say anything, but occasionally we’ll get a 'Is there a concert going on in here or something?’ That’s just a bit we’ve developed that reminds me of touring."
2. Cro-Mags - Apocalypse Now (Alpha Omega, 1992)
“For our fourth tour, we went out with CRO-MAGS, and they played Apocalypse Now every night, so we all became so obsessed with it. There’s one riff in that song that we would always stagedive to, or play in the van, even playing the riff on a piano that was in the venue one night, so that song became very important to us and also to them on that tour."
3. Jesus Piece - Conjure Life (Jesus Piece, 2016)
“Conjure Life by Jesus Piece is what I would practise when I first started learning vocals. I really liked the vocal style and that was my aspiration in a way, even though my vocals now don’t sound like [JP vocalist] Aaron Heard. I’d play it over and over again and sing along, so it was important in my journey as a vocalist."
4. A Day To Remember - I'm Made Of Wax, Larry What Are You Made Of? (Homesick, 2009)
"Before Jesus Piece, I was practicing my vocals doing an A Day To Remember song – I’m Made Of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of? – at karaoke, and that’s how I first learned I could even attempt to do those vocals. That’s kinda where Brat started for me."
5. The Black Crowes - Twice As Hard (Shake Your Money Maker, 1990)
"The Black Crowes was the first concert I ever went to, when I was in seventh grade with my friend and her dad, and I loved the song Twice As Hard. My second concert was actually ZZ Top at a casino in Oklahoma, which would’ve been a cooler answer than The Black Crowes!
6. Operation Ivy - Knowledge (Energy, 1989)
“Knowledge by Operation Ivy is one of the first punk songs I really got into. My older sister showed me bands like them, The Distillers and Tsunami Bomb kind of as my starter kit punk bands. I think that’s what got me onto going down the rabbithole from there into hardcore and into metal, having those great punk bands like that fed to me."
7. Despised Icon - MVP (Day Of Mourning, 2009)
“I started going to shows early in high school. I’m from Dallas originally and it was mostly local DIY stuff in that area, and that kind of showed me that heavy music exists on a local DIY level everywhere. As far as bigger metal shows that I went to, though, I was mainly listening to metalcore and deathcore for the most part. They’re not really genres I listen to frequently anymore, but it definitely helped to shape what I like, and MVP by Despised Icon was a song I really liked during that time that I still think holds up. That’s a song I return to that I’d say still rules."
8. Eyehategod - New Orleans Is The New Vietnam (2012)
“We love all of the New Orleans metal bands, and they’ve all been supportive of us – it has been so cool to have these legendary bands taking us on tour. We’re about to play our first shows with Crowbar, and our first support tour was with Eyehategod. There were a couple of dates where Mike [Williams, Eyehategod vocalist] got sick and couldn’t play, so I sung New Orleans Is The New Vietnam for them and got to front Eyehategod for a song, which is an experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Obviously it has ‘New Orleans’ in the title, so that’s one of the songs that sums up the city for me. We’re lucky to be from a city that has such good metal history."
9. Dave Matthews Band - Satellite (Under The Table And Dreaming, 1994)
“Another tour ritual song that we got really obsessed with was Satellite by Dave Matthews Band. On the Summer Slaughter tour with Veil Of Maya and Brand Of Sacrifice in 2024, we played Chicago, and we were so close to the ‘poop bridge’ on the Chicago River where Dave Matthews’ tour bus dumped a bunch of shit into the river.
We were so excited to go see the poop bridge, and there’s even a little plaque there now that talks about the ‘incident’, which is so funny. It got to the point where on our off days we were just watching live videos of Dave Matthews playing."
10. Luke Bryan - Huntin', Fishin' and Lovin' Every Day (Kill The Lights, 2015)
“We are all over the map with what we play in the van, so Huntin’, Fishin’ And Lovin’ Every Day by Luke Bryan got on our playlist, and we played this show in Indianapolis where afterwards we went out and did karaoke to that song. It’s such a country caricature. We were drinking and scream-singing, and absolutely nobody else in that bar thought it was funny at all!”
