Dirty Guv'nahs take off the brakes

Photo by Adam Brimer

The Dirty Guv'nahs are, from left, Justin Hoskins, Cozmo Holloway, Aaron Hoskins, James Trimble, Chris Doody and Michael Jenkins.

Photo by Adam Brimer

The Dirty Guv'nahs are, from left, Justin Hoskins, Cozmo Holloway, Aaron Hoskins, James Trimble, Chris Doody and Michael Jenkins.

KNOXVILLE — Sitting around a table at the Bistro at the Bijou, the members of the Dirty Guv'nahs don't look particularly dirty and there's not a hint of a Cockney accent. In fact, the group of six men in their 20s, are Knoxville's next shot at rock 'n' roll stardom. The band members - James Trimble, Justin Hoskins, Aaron Hoskins, Chris Doody, Michael Jenkins and Cozmo Holloway - laugh easily, but are serious about their music. The group's just-released album "Youth Is In Our Blood" is currently gaining good reviews and taking off on Adult Album Alternative radio.

Yet the band was formed on a whim. When a group bowed out of a benefit concert in 2006, Justin Hoskins volunteered his group - a group that didn't actually exist.

"I hadn't really ever even discussed having a band," says Hoskins. "But I got a gig! The next step was to find people. I had three weeks to find who was going to be in the band, write songs and learn some covers."

Of course, Justin's roommate James Trimble would be in the group. Justin's brother Aaron was a drummer, so that was easy. And a friend, R.T. Baird, who went by the nickname Guv'nah, began enlisting musicians he was friends with for the gig.

"I had just bought an electric guitar the day before," says Jenkins, who had been playing an acoustic. "Then I get this call and (Baird) says, 'You need to join this band!'"

"Most of us had never met," says Trimble, who was elected singer "by default."

"He was the worst guitar player," says Doody.

When the group began practicing, the members all felt the magic, but no one at the table believes that that first performance was anything stellar.

"I don't remember the actual show," says Justin. "I just remember us very happy afterward and everyone saying we HAVE to do this again."

And they did. Over the next three years, the Guv'nahs became regional favorites. When the group released its first album, in April 2009, it was with a concert at the Bijou Theatre. The band members rented the theater themselves. Only 150 tickets were sold in advance. However, on the night of the performance 690 fans showed up, making the show just shy of a sell-out. That led to the band being booked at Bonnaroo, which led to an offer to record at Levon Helm's studio in Woodstock, N.Y., with producer Justin Guip.

Holloway, who was playing in Dishwater Blonde, joined the Guv'nahs in November 2009, after sitting in with the band several times and playing on the band's first album.

In December 2009, the band traveled to Woodstock, but after two days of recording, producer Guip told the band they might want to reconsider, because they just weren't tight enough. Dispirited, the group woke up the next morning to 10 inches of snow and the band's van had to be dug out to make it to the studio. Trimble was suffering from swine flu and, on the way to the studio, the van began smoking so badly that the group had to open the windows to breathe.

However, things quickly turned around. The van's only problem was that Doody had left the parking brake on and, in the studio, the group was so on-target that five rhythm tracks were completed in one day.

The finished product, "Youth Is In Our Blood," has already landed critical accolades and been picked up on adult album alternative radio. The group also just returned from playing for a cruise with the Zac Brown Band and is getting interest from record companies.

Trimble says the group is considering offers with caution:

"We don't want to be a flash in the pan."

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