The Ettes

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The Ettes are a three-piece rock-and-roll band from Los Angeles, CA. Their genre is categorized by the term "beat-punk", which references their interest in '60s beat music and '70s punk rock. Members are Coco Hames (vocals, guitar), Poni Silver (drums) and Jem Cohen (bass). Despite their matching names, Jem Cohen from the Ettes is not the same person as filmmaker/Fugazi-member Jem Cohen. The Ettes are known for their powerful live shows and are notable for being a mostly-female rock-and-roll band that plays straight-forward rock-and-roll.

The Ettes record mostly live on 8- or 4-track tape with Liam Watson at his Toerag Studios in London, England. Toerag Studios is famous for its all-analogue production and its collection of vintage musical instruments and equipment. Besides their cultural and musical similarities, this connects the Ettes with fellow artists the White Stripes, Billy Childish, Holly Golightly, Fabienne Delsol and the Kills, all Toerag recording alumni.

The Ettes' debut album Shake the Dust was released on Sympathy for the Record Industry in September 2006, with two vinyl 45 singles: Dead and Gone/Get Out and the split Greg Cartwright (Oblivions, Reigning Sound, Compulsive Gamblers) cover 45 with Detroit rockers the Fondas.

The Ettes returned to Toerag Studios in late summer of 2007 to record Look At Life Again Soon, their second full-length LP. For the 2008 South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX the Ettes released Look At Life Again Soon (also called LALAS, for short) on limited edition yellow vinyl, a plus for collectors. They played several shows at the festival, most notably the NME Showcase, where they scored style points for Jem's destruction of his bass after breaking a string.

The Ettes no longer live in Los Angeles, CA but spend time touring the United States and Europe, spending a good deal of their time in London, Paris, Madrid and Berlin. They are rumored to be returning to their native New York in 2008. Currently, the Ettes are on tour, as they often seem to be, and are set to release Look At Life Again Soon digitally and on compact disc in late summer/early fall 2008.