Turbo Fruits

“I got an e-mail from this guy who sets up a festival in Nashville, where I’m from, and I guess he knows Landon Pigg’s Manager,” explained a bored sounding Jonas Stein to me a few weeks ago while on his way to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest. “Landon played this guy in a movie who was, like, the heartthrob guy in the band. So, anyhow, I get this nondescript e-mail from this guy telling me about this movie that these people are working on. I had no idea what he was talking about, but told him that I’d be interested in whatever. Getting involved.” 

Stein, the 21-year-old frontman of Turbo Fruits, speaks like no one else. He sounds forever laidback, speaking in an accidentally articulate manner, both choppy and mumbly. At my prompting, he tells me about his recent involvement with the film Whip It, where he and his bandmates acted as the backing band for Pigg’s character in a pivotal scene.

“I didn’t think we’d get it because there were a lot of other big bands up for it,” he lazily explains. “A few days later I get a call from my manager telling me everyone who is involved with the movie, telling me that we’d been selected. A few days after that we were filming in Detroit, seeing all these people we’d only ever seen on TV.”

And while that may read as excited or braggy, nothing could be further from the truth. Stein, who first hit the national spotlight as the guitarist for Be Your Own Pet (a fact he could brag about, but doesn’t), is a true rock n’ roll throwback, excited by life and music, not movies and celebrities. He tours the country with what he describes as “rambunctious dudes,” his rhythm section, Dave McCowen and Matt Hearn.

A day after I spoke with Stein he and the other fruits arrived in Austin; the day after that began their three-day, 20-show run at South by Southwest, Stein’s sixth year playing the festival. Do that math: 21 minus six. Yes, Stein first hit the nation scene at age 15, a member of the explosive Be Your Own Pet, arguably the most authentically punk teenage band since … well … Mick and Keef.

But, again, Stein doesn’t talk much about BYOP, a band signed by the legendary Thurston Moore himself. A band that was too rebellious and wild to ever make it as big as they were “supposed to.”

“Be Your Own Pet comes up in 95 out of 100 conversations,” he tells me. “I have no problem with that. I have no problem talking about that history. But I just prefer being the frontman. It’s easier for me in some ways and definitely a lot more fun. There is also a lot more responsibility, but I prefer it to just being a guitarist for sure.”

Promoter R. Mike Horan, known for booking Jay Reatard, Dark Meat and now the Fruits, has been following Stein for years, dating back to the guitarist’s BYOP days.

“I’d describe them as a high energy power-garage trio raised on very early Who and Creedence,” Horan told me. “I saw them open for the Black Lips in Nashville last fall. I hate to admit it, being a huge Lips fan, but the Fruits were a better band on that night.”

Critic Heather Phares describes the band as rambunctious Southern-fried stoners playing garage punk, comparing the band’s records to The Black Keys, Redd Kross, MC5, the Black Lips and even Devo.

Sounds interesting. Sounds … beautiful.

Dig around online and you’ll find wild photos of the band (especially on their blog, which I’d highly recommend visiting), including one of Stein hanging from a ceiling above a stage, playing guitar in front of a crowd. Looking perfectly comfortable.

Stein, who didn’t seem too interested in talking about hanging from ceilings, blowing the Black Lips off stage or all the acclaim his band is suddenly seeing, wanted to be sure that he was coming off right. For example, he didn’t want people to think that Turbo Fruits is the Stein Show.

“The reason Turbo Fruits comes off as a solo thing is that we had a few line-up changes, including one right before we shot the photo for the new record cover” he explains. “The plan was to have the whole band on the cover, but that wasn’t going to work. Anyhow, Matt and Dave joined last July and we’ve been playing shows ever since.”

Since BYOP broke up in 2008 (on good terms, claims Stein), Turbo Fruits have become less of a side project, their second album, the still-recent Echo Kid, sounding tighter - and thus less like a side project - than their eponymous debut.

“When I decided to do Turbo Fruits full-time I sent demos to several labels. Fat Possum was the one that had the strongest reply,” Stein explained when asked about how he came to leave Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label for Echo Kid. “So I started communicating with them, then recorded the record, funding it myself. Then, through a tiny one-page contract, we ended up signing with them.”

The rest is history. Echo Kid saw much fan support and glowing reviews. Better reviews, even, than what BYOP’s much loved records saw. Now Stein and his mates are conquering the road, playing everywhere. Eating good food as often as possible, sleeping on floors, getting trashed, touring with bands like Surfer Blood, playing loud and, most importantly, leaving big impressions everywhere.

“We’ll make a night of it for sure,” he snarls at me before hanging up, sounding confident, not cocky.

Written by G. William Locke