Back in 2017, we introduced you to an…unconventional Milwaukee project called Florida Brothers Band. In that article, we said the unusual, interesting, and utterly enjoyable group “crafts punk earworms that will make you smash your neighbor with a steel chair.” Since that outset, the singlet-wearing band with a singer who channels Reginald “The Crusher” Lisowski released its debut full-length, You Will Hate Us, along with a simply ravishing music video in late 2019.
Things have been relatively quiet with the Flo Bros since then, but the band is set to return to the ring, er, to the stage this weekend with a brand new EP. That forthcoming effort, Pick Your Sting, will be released on Saturday, July 16 with an accompanying release show at Circle-A Cafe. According to vocalist Chris Loker, “Pick Your Sting is a tongue in cheek take on the infamous Poison Idea release, Pick Your King, and everybody’s favorite old wrestler, Sting.”
The straightforward sound, menacing tone, and silly song subjects don’t deviate too far from what you’ve heard on You Will Hate Us, but it it isn’t broke, why would you ever want to fix it? Loker tells Milwaukee Record, “We’re still mostly talking about wrestling, food, and having a good time.” Though the EP—which was recorded and mixed by Shane Hochstetler at Howl Street Recordings and mastered by Carl Saff—thankfully offers more of the same in many ways, there’s also a cover of a song by Columbus protopunk band Electric Eels and “more serious song” called “View Never Changes” that Loker describes as “a loose compare and contrast study between a pro wrestling conglomerate and elected representatives carrying themselves and their titles.”
Before the EP’s release and Saturday’s Circle-A Cafe release show, you can listen to two tracks from Florida Brothers Band’s Pick Your Sting below.