Evil Bebos want to reintroduce you to the genre where louder is better, and you’re not supposed to understand what the hell the lead singer is saying.
With a name like Evil Bebos, this Murfreesboro quintet might slip under the radar and wind up on a metal show bill at Rocketown.
And while the boys might have a good time observing all the purist metal and banging their heads, their brand of high-brow metal, mixing classical composition sensibilities and psychedelic influences with their base need to rock hard, might make some metal heads stop and stare.
“I think one of the things that is a little strange about us, is that we aren’t really metal heads, but we play heavy music,” admits drummer Jeff Ehlinger. “We are artsy kids who are trying to imitate metal music.”
That journey takes listeners through thick, rich, hard highs and the most pared down lows, where often a single sound succeeds in sustaining a song long enough for the band to whip it up again into an audible fury.
Evil Bebos is Chris Click (guitar/bass and vocals), Jeff Ehlinger (drums), Devin Lamp (synthesizer and noise), Rob McKinney (guitar and vocals) and Corey Taylor (bass/guitar and vocals), a group of local fellas who have managed to build quite the reputation through endeavors like Sauce Juice, an artistic collective that fosters some of Murfreesboro and Nashville’s more ground-breaking musical acts (The Ascent of Everest, Baby Teeth Thieves, Dead Hippies and Core of the Coleman).
Their paths crossed while attending school and carrying out the age-old tradition of playing in local bands here in Murfreesboro. Their name came from a plant eating dog they met in local blues man and party animal Mad Dog Johnson’s kitchen.
“We started jamming in our living room about two years ago. We started playing shows before we even had music, so we just made it up as we went along,” Ehlinger said. “I was hoping for more of a noise band thing, but it developed into the beast that it is today, and we couldn’t be happier.”
Between sessions of serious musicianship, that just happened to include banging their heads, Evil Bebos also dabbled in social experimentation when members lived in the notorious Acid Living Room, a house venue which succeeded the Neat Pizza house as a platform for musical exposition and extrapolation.
“It was a really creative environment with tons of music, interesting food, new art, and strange people,” Ehlinger said.
More recent endeavors include the release of the album The Dead Language, a post-rock metal album loosely organized around themes of Greek mythology and paranoia, produced with the help of Jason Dietz, officially set for release on April 15.
Their supporting tour included a March date at this year’s South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.
“We had about 150-200 people at our show, which is the most people we have ever played for,” Ehlinger said. “The Vice President of the South by Southwest festival showed up at our show, and she was impressed enough to invite us back anytime we wanted to come.”
Evil Bebos will be in Murfreesboro celebrating the release of The Dead Language April 17 at The Walnut House. In May the band will take their experimental music on the road for a series of East coast live shows. They are currently negotiating a deal with MTSU’s Scared Rabbit Records.
Find out more about Evil Bebos at evilbebos.com.
