The Briefs - Biography
The Briefs are a Seattle-based punk rock quartet, known for their vivacious live shows, irreverent fast-pulsed lyrics and shout-along choruses, loud retro sartorial choices and flickering three-chord punk songs that usually chime in around two minutes in length. Having formed in 2000 when the political landscape was different—the band refers to its inception happening during a time of “innocence,” when Clinton was in office and the Twin Towers were still upright—the original line-up of Daniel J. Travanti (guitar/vocals), Chris Brief (drums/vocals), Steve E. Nix (guitar/vocals) and Lance Romance (bass/vocals) used vintage gear and took its kinship cues from acts like Buzzcocks and England’s own punk spewers, The Adverts, as well as borrowing heavily from Orange County underground punk legends The Stitches (who got to this whole reconstruction back in the early 1990s far before it was trendy to do so.) In the decade since, The Briefs have released numerous 7” singles, five full-length albums, have toured extensively throughout North America and Europe, and developed a rabid cult following just about everywhere they’ve brought their spirited sound.
The group began hanging out together in the 1999 at various DJ nights in Seattle, and, sharing a passion for late-1970s punk music, decided to form a band. Rather than mimicking the original movement, The Briefs wrote collectively, occasionally scathingly and often humorously, with subject matter whimsically ranging from politics to girls to celebrities, without any kind of agenda. With their made-up handles (Daniel J. Travanti is the name of the actor who played Captain Frank Furillo in Hill Street Blues), they began earning a reputation in the Northwest by releasing a series of 7” power-chord singles, usually quick-jab anthems similar to Generation X’s output, songs that stayed with their audiences. With skinny ties, bleached hair and other wardrobe eccentricities that recalled the new wave look of 20 years before, the band signed a deal with Northwestern indie label, Dirtnap Records, and released its debut LP, Hit After Hit (2001). With every member taking his turn on lead vocals and also in backing vocal roles, the sarcastically titled record had pogo-punk anthems like “Silver Bullet,” with a running refrain of “kill Bob Seeger right now, kill Bob Seeger right now.”
The Briefs returned two years later with Off the Charts (2003 Dirtnap), a purposely over-derisive record which featured back-to-back tracks called “Ain’t It the Truth” and “Piss on the Youth,” as well as the quasi-hit crowd-pleaser, “(Looking Through) Gary Glitters Eyes,” which carried the faux-UK accent to new levels. After touring the album, revered Los Angeles-based indie punk label Better Youth Organization (BYO) signed The Briefs to a deal and released the band’s third long player, the 14-track Sex Objects (2004). With only one song busting the three-minute threshold (“Killed By Ants”), most kept with the straight-ahead oi-like buoyancy of previous material. Almost as a complete juxtaposition from the flippancy of the band’s lyrics in bulk, the track “Orange Alert” pointed up the chaotic state of America under the Bush Administration, another mixed-in song that bitterly criticized the U.S. government. With a wider distribution and a lengthier, further reaching tour schedule, The Briefs began making bigger inroads in the punk genre. Their song “Destroy the USA” kept with the half-smiling material of the previous album, where the track “We Americans” threw patriotism into shambles. BYO subsequently re-released the band’s two Dirtnap releases in the fall of 2004.
The 28-minute Steal Yer Heart (2005 BYO) came out a year later, and the fourth LP was the first for bassist Steve Kicks (formerly of the Canadian punkers, New Town Animals), who replaced Lance Romance on thick strings during a European leg of the Sex Objects tour. One of the projects Romance focused on was directing a video from Steal Yer Heart for the single, “Getting Hit on at the Bank.” That same year, Revel Yell put out a collection of Briefs’ singles called Singles Only, which featured a smorgasbord of earlier material such as “(I Think) My Baby is a Communist,” and a Kinks’ cover, “Come Dancing.”
After touring Europe for much of 2006 and a stateside leg opening for The HorrorPops, The Briefs put out a documentary (and accompanying CD) called The Greatest Story Ever Told (2007), directed by Lewis Ingham. Since then the band has been put on hiatus—as they are quick to point out that they have not broken up—to focus on side projects. Steve E. Nix and Steve Kicks created the power-pop/punk band The Cute Lepers, and Chris Brief is spending time in Germany. In 2012 they reformed.
