The Bitter Roots

The Bitter Roots a rock n roll band from Seattle are Jeff Stetson, Ben Koostra and Don Allen. The Bitter Roots began in 2008 when Ben Koostra moved to Seattle and reconnected with Jeff Stetson, having been friends long ago in their hometown of Missoula MT. Jeff had written a bunch of songs and was in the process of putting together a new band when Ben showed up and agreed to join. Two albums a self titled and Moral Hazard emerged in the first couple Read more on Last.fm …read full bio

The Bitter Roots a rock n roll band from Seattle are Jeff Stetson, Ben Koostra and Don Allen. The Bitter Roots began in 2008 when Ben Koostra moved to Seattle and reconnected with Jeff Stetson, having been friends long ago in their hometown of Missoula MT. Jeff had written a bunch of songs and was in the process of putting together a new band when Ben showed up and agreed to join. Two albums a self titled and Moral Hazard emerged in the first couple of years and the band began to garner some attention from college radio stations around the country and from the press. Chiaroscuro is the 3rd full length release for the band. It is a rich and full diverse Album. Chiaroscuro has to date reached as high as #26 on the iTunes New Rock Release chart and has been on the College Music Charts across the country for the Month of October 2012 and beyond. Jeff who is the creative force and primary songwriter for the band mainly writes about themes of an intensely personal nature, sometimes autobiographical, sometimes with an agitating left leaning political bent. The work is as authentic as it is original, there is real meaning here for those who take the time to understand the words. Each record is filled with songs of Love and Redemption as well as songs of Anger and Betrayal, and always a light hearted relief tune or two as well. All three TBRs albums to date have been recorded by Jeff in his Water Works Hill Studios in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. The latest album was mixed and mastered by Floyd Reitsma at Studio Litho in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Floyd is a veteran of the Seattle music scene and has recorded albums for Dave Mathews, AudioSlave and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam. The Bitter Roots' music can best be described as driven soulful rock, guitar oriented and diverse, with vocal harmony and tight rhythms. The band draws from Punk, Metal, Garage and diverse Melodic Rock sounds from the West Coast to the UK to create a unique sound that is truly original. You may here influences from the likes of The Cure, Janes Addiction, REM, Deftones, Nirvana and many others. What makes The Bitter Roots somewhat unique? All our music is recorded live to Analog Tape. We do not use Auto Tune. We do not use a Click Track. We do not use samples. If it took 54 takes, it took 54 takes. This we believe is the best way to make the Rock. Jeff is the former Guitar and Voice of manSaveman a Seattle rock outfit that put out 4 full length LPs between 2001 and 2006. Jeff also played for the bands Chiseler and Into the March in his home town of Missoula Montana in the early and mid '90s. Ben a talented multi instrumentalist who has played on many records over the years is also from Missoula and is the original drummer for Ein Heit and Silkworm. Don grew up in the South Sound and used to play bass for a band called Loser. Don joined the band in the fall of 2012 having answered an ad in the local paper. He immediately clicked with the band and has been a great addition to the live sound. The band looks forward to recording as a full 3 piece. Future plans for the band include shows around the Northwest as well as tours of the East Coast and UK. Jeff is always writing new material so you can be sure there will be even more albums released in the coming years. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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…shrink me down again