Wrangler Brutes

Formed in 2003 in Los Angeles, California, USA, Wrangler Brutes released a cassette, a seven-inch record and one full-length LP before breaking up in December of 2004. Featuring Sam McPheeters, Andy Coronado, Cundo Si Murad, and Brooks Head

Formed in 2003 in Los Angeles, California, USA, Wrangler Brutes released a cassette, a seven-inch record and one full-length LP before breaking up in December of 2004. Featuring Sam McPheeters, Andy Coronado, Cundo Si Murad, and Brooks Headley, the band sold over 1,000 copies of their self-released, self-titled cassette in 9 months before recording their debut album Zulu in May of 2004 with Steve Albini, which featured Chris Thomson (of Monorchid and Circus Lupus fame), as well as Circle Jerks' Keith Morris on vocals. In Japan, at the end of a lengthy tour, McPheeters bowed out and was replaced for the band's last two shows by Dean Spunt of the band Wives.

The band was known for somewhat confrontational, hectic live performances which were heralded by their biggest fans as a return to the artsy yet entertaining briskness of early Los Angeles hardcore punk. McPheeters' sense of humor dominated their presence as a live act; his patter, alternately caustic and cryptic, was a major aspect of these shows. On their first tour, their set ended with noted history buff McPheeters donning a wig and reciting a dramatic monologue taken from the closing scene of act 1 of Shakespeare's Henry V.