Description
Seratones would be just another pretty-good-not-great rock band without frontwoman AJ Haynes' powerful voice leading the charge. Their first LP, Get Gone, brandishes playful guitar hooks that swing in at just the right moments, but Haynes is the band’s best asset, lighting these otherwise-conventional songs on fire. In their mix of soulful grease and punky grit, Seratones feel like a natural, rollicking complement to The Alabama Shakes, but it’s not quite fair to call them a ripoff. Where the Shakes go for the groovy soul of Muscle Shoals, Seratones instead veer toward swinging Southern garage rock. Get Gone’s guitars crackle with the heat of the band’s native Louisiana. In his earliest days as a Squirrel Nut Zipper, Get Gone producer Jimbo Mathus specialized in fast-and-loose tunes that sounded like they might fly apart at any moment, an energy the Seratones often capture well (though some extra occasional grit wouldn’t hurt, either).