Brother JT (born
John Terlesky, but called "
JT" most of his life) was previously a longtime member of Bethlehem, PA's terrific
garage rockin'
Original Sins. Later he associated himself with
Vibrolux, an
experimental group who are part of southeastern Pennsylvania's Psychedelphia scene (along with
the Photon Band,
Three 4 Tens,
Asteroid Number Four, and a few others). He's also known for playing infrequent solo shows, often performing while seated on a folding chair, a bottle in a brown paper bag at his feet. For these events,
Brother JT lapses into a kind of a manic street preacher-cum-bluesman persona. His nom de guerre, by the way, was suggested by noted music scribe
Byron Coley, the benefactor of his first album (
Descent, which contained two long suites for guitar and song), who thought high priest
Brother JT looked like "a kind of defrocked monk hermit."
JT seems to be influenced by an accumulation of eccentric "outsider" rockers (
Roky Erickson,
Skip Spence) and influential bohemian underground groups (like
the Fugs) and albums (like
Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention's
Freak Out!).
Maybe We Should Take Some More? -- recorded in
the Living Room, West Easton, PA, in winter/spring 2000 with various friends joining in at times -- is part of a series of more than ten
Brother JT solo efforts, a mostly accessible yet eccentric smash-up of styles and genres crammed full of primitive
pop, innerspace guitar wankery, and
acid folk ballads. There are backwards-masked, double-tracked, and flanged vocal effects; throbbing drums; the occasional woodsy recorder; and brain-clotting feedback from droning and swirling guitars completely unencumbered by
prog rock claptrap or faked or forced crescendos like your average bin-clogging
indie rock/
emocore mewl. ~ Bryan Thomas
