Think of some of the great family bands throughout popular music history and a lot of controversy comes to mind, in addition to brilliant music.

Whether we’re talking about the damaging effects the controlling Cowsills dad had on some of his kids’ psyches, the artistic direction power battles between Brian Wilson and his cousin/bandmate Mike Love, or even the comical (if sometimes violent) stories told about the fighting between The Kinks’ Davies brothers, it just seems like fire is often played with when families make music together.

But how about a family band story that’s mostly filled with lightness, along with the great tunes? Durham, North Carolina’s Secret Monkey Weekend (named derived from a Tiger Beat magazine article) is an outfit that was originally borne out of tragedy but has become a ray of tuneful hope.

The Kinks mention above is an apt one when thinking about SMW. Jefferson (Jeff) Hart, a seasoned musician who plays guitar, sings, and does the majority of the songwriting for SMW, is such an avid Kinks fan that he’s been part of three different Kinks tribute acts over the course of his lengthy musical career. In one of those outfits, he played with drummer Matt Brown, another musician with an impressive record of accomplishment, including a stint in a band with Grant Hart.

When Brown tragically died of a heart attack in 2012, he left behind his wife Laura and their daughters Ella and Lila, along with his rich musical legacy. But that wasn’t the end of Jeff Hart’s connection to Brown and his family. Hart eventually became a guitar instructor to Ella, the elder Brown daughter. That led to him becoming close to the whole family and ultimately forming a romantic bond with Laura. And that led to him and the two girls making music together and becoming a band. Their first album, ‘All the Time in the World,’ was released in 2022, and its follow-up, ‘Lemon Drop Hammer,’ is coming out now.

“We’ve gravitated toward a dirtier sound live, like The Kinks and The Smithereens had.”

I sat down with Jeff, Ella and Lila few weeks ahead of when the new record is set to drop. I started our conversation by asking Ella (bass and vocals) and Lila (drums and vocals) about their biological dad’s life.

Ella: Our dad was a drummer since the age of eight. That was his passion in life. He and our mom met at a rock show. They got married in 1992 and had me in 2002 and then Lila in 2007. He was always in bands, usually at least two bands at a time. So Lila and I really grew up saturated in music.”

Then I queried Jeff as to his personal history in bands prior to bonding with the family and forming SMW with his two stepdaughters.

Jeff: My first band that really started playing in clubs was The Hanks, in about 1987 or ’88. We were kind of like The BoDeans, but more country sounding since we were from the South. And there was some R.E.M. feel to that band. After that band broke up, I played under my own name for a while and made four solo albums. Somewhere in there I played with Chris Stamey, and ultimately got to know all the members of The dB’s. And so, I’ve just played with a lot of people over the years, Don Dixon included. And so, with this band I’ve made a point of looping those same people in and introducing Ella and Lila to them and their music and keeping those people aware of what we’ve been doing as a band.

Jeff and Laura married in 2015.

Lila: Sometime after Jeff started giving Ella guitar lessons, I remember that the four of us would sometimes go get dinner together, or ice cream. Eventually my mom and Jeff started getting really close and it became a relationship.”

Their union spawned more than a love relationship; it brought about a family band made of Jeff and the two girls.

Ella: By early 2016 I was a little more serious about learning an instrument. And one day I just thought, I think I want to play bass. Let me give this a shot. I’d played piano and guitar before, but bass was the first instrument that came easy for me. And having a great guitar player in our house – Jeff – made it that much easier to learn bass.”

Lila: We had a drum kit in our music room. And when I was so still so tiny that I could barely reach the kick pedals, I just jumped behind the kit and started playing with Jeff and Ella.
The White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army’ and ‘Miss You’ by The Rolling Stones were among the earliest songs the threesome banged out together.

Ella: For maybe the first year of us playing together, we worked off playing a lot of covers. But we also had a huge store of original songs we could do, because of Jeff’s deep catalog of songs. In around 2019, we had some friends who had a small record label who encouraged us to start making recordings. So that led to us making recordings that went on the first album.

Making an album for that label didn’t pan out, but ultimately the band came into contact with an influential music figure who helped them realize a vision of releasing a record.

Lila: I think Ella and I first met Don Dixon in around 2019. He was Papa’s idol. My 11-year old self was pretty starstruck because, you know, this guy produced R.E.M.

Jeff: When we were ready to make the first record, I thought of self producing it. But my wife Laura said you should really get a producer; it’ll help with the kids. And she said, “Think of your dream producer and let’s see if we can get this to happen. And I said, “Well, Don Dixon comes to mind, and I’d love to do it at Mitch Easter’s studio.”

A GoFundMe campaign, along with a little familial financial assistance, raised the needed funds. And soon the trio and Dixon were in Easter’s famed studio in Kernersville, North Carolina, assembling their debut long player, which ultimately got released in spring of ’22.

Despite both kids being in school, including college for Ella, the band remained an active entity in the intervening three years between album releases, writing when they could and playing a steady run of live gigs. This time around, SMW recorded their album close to home, at Magnetic Sound Studio in Durham, but still with Dixon on the control panel.

Jeff: The biggest difference for me between the two album recording experiences was this time all three of us were very close to each other physically, whereas on the first one we were spread out, in different areas of the studio.

Ella: I think we play our best when we’re physically close to each other like that.

As with the first record, the band was well prepared before entering the studio, and efficient and economical while there. All tracks for ‘Lemon Drop Hammer’ were in the can within three days, as was true of the debut record. Dixon’s knowing mindset and his occasional tape-splicing kept things moving. And Jeff explained that Dixon as producer would rather keep a mistake if it was consistent with the desired feel of the track, rather than having everything be robotically correct. I asked the group if any of the songs changed in the process of converting them from tunes they played around the house to formally laying them down for an album.

Ella: With ‘Things You Threw Away,’ which I partially wrote, I feel like the studio version is not necessarily a re-imagining of the song, but just a different way of presenting it. Live, I’ve never felt like it’s the best song for a three-piece band to play, because it needs more than that. And I wrote it on piano. It’s more ballad-y than we can make it sound live. With the way Don produced it, and with some things contributing musician Peter Holsapple did with his keyboard, it became more lush and orchestrated than how we can play it live as a trio.

The nine original songs on ‘Lemon Drop Hammer’ are gems that find a happy meeting place between a variety of feels like ‘60s psychedelic pop, ‘80s jangle, exuberant power pop, psychobilly, rustic Americana, Stones-y grit, etc. all with a consistent Southern twang in the mixture. And the one cover on the record – a workup of ‘Na Na Na Na,’ an ‘80s song originally done by Athens, GA’s Squalls – is played so well that it about made me jump off the sofa and dance around the living room the first time I heard the SMW version.

Jeff: The girls saw the Athens, GA Inside Out movie with me a few times. And I know that R.E.M. is there in the movie and lots of other exciting bands, but the song from the movie that always drew me in is that one. And it’s just a simple three-chord song I knew we could play, and I thought the girls’ voices were just right for it.

I asked how they feel they differ as a live band versus how they come off in the studio.

Jeff: On the first album I was going for a clean guitar sound. On that record I used an amp that’s like the one Jimmy Page used on the first Led Zeppelin album and with The Yardbirds. But with this record I used an amp that has more grit to it. And we’ve swung that way live, too. We’ve gravitated toward a dirtier sound live, like The Kinks and The Smithereens had. So I think that’s where we are as a band, getting a dirty Kinks or Smithereens sound, or maybe Tom Petty when he dirtied things up. And I think the new album sounds live. It’s just a good, tight band sounding live, with a great producer who helped us sound as good as we can.”

As mentioned above, both Secret Monkey Weekend albums have been produced by Don Dixon. Dixon is, of course, known for his illustrious history of studio work with acts such as R.E.M., The Smithereens, his wife Marti Jones, et al, in addition to crafting his own soulful, smart pop with the ‘70s critics’ favorite band Arrogance and as a solo act. Separate from my meeting with Secret Monkey Weekend, I had an enjoyable phone chat with Dixon about his work with the band. We discussed:

How he came to work with SMW:

“I’ve known Jefferson for years. He played with my old bandmate Robert Kirkland who played with me in Arrogance. Jeff brought his kids to meet me eventually and he kept me posted on what they were up to. When they asked me if I could help them make the first Secret Monkey Weekend album, I said sure.”

Whether he’s had other experiences producing bands that include kids as members:

“Not much much experience producing kids at all before SMW. On the first record, Jefferson and I had realistic expectations about what kids of their ages we’re gonna be able to do. The girls are older now and can do a lot more now. But Lila was always solid as a drummer and Ella took to the bass and writes great parts for bass. Basically, they stood out in the middle the studio and played without headphones on this new record.”

What’s been his role in helping the band make their records:

“I just tried to keep things going and keep the sounds interesting. “We need to double this guitar,” or “That take is good enough, don’t worry about it.” Mostly just keeping the attitude right and getting them what they needed. But no musician gets better if they feel like they’re under a microscope. And that goes for the most seasoned session players ever. There’s a lot of pressure in what I call the goldfish bowl of the recording studio. So I gave them room and just tried to help get them what they needed.”

What makes SMW stand out for him:

“The girls have had such a deep saturation of influences over the years, because of Jefferson and their biological dad. They love old pop stuff and so does Jefferson so you know, he exposed them to a lot of Kinks and Beatles and other stuff and then they spit out their own kind of young woman take on things. Jefferson writes a lot of the material, but the girls push him around pretty good!
The biggest differences between the two SMW records:

“Just a little more maturity this time. The songs on the first record are cute and fun, and I love that record. But for them to play songs like that now would seem coy. They’re still a fun pop band but they moved into a slightly more serious space this time. And I think the girls were more involved in the writing this time. But I think the biggest difference between the two records is just that many years of growing up for the girls.”

Brian Greene

Headline photo: Photo by Daniel Coston

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