Based on the evidence offered on their latest full-length, Suck My Shirt, the Coathangers take an all-killer, no-filler approach to rock ’n’ roll. The Atlanta, Georgia–based trio brings the awesome right from the top in the form of “Follow Me”, a whirlwind of staccato power chords, storm-queen drumming, and raw-throated but still tuneful singing. Things take a quirky turn on the lo-fi beach pop of “Merry Go Round”, which sounds like the B-52s recording for K Records. “Smother”, meanwhile, is an electrically charged rebel-girl rocker for a generation that wasn’t even born when Bikini Kill was fomenting revolution.

Released in March by Seattle-based Suicide Squeeze Records, Suck My Shirt sounds like the work of a band that takes its craft seriously, which bears mentioning because bassist Meredith Franco (aka Minnie Coathanger) says the Coathangers started out as, in her words, “a joke, kind of”.

Reached on tour in Long Beach, California, where she and her bandmates—guitarist Julia Kugel (Crook Kid Coathanger) and drummer Stephanie Luke (Rusty Coathanger)—are enjoying a few days off at a friend’s house, Franco tells the Straight that when the three got together (along with keyboardist Candice Jones, aka Bebe Coathanger, who is no longer a member), they had zero ambition. “None of us were in a band,” she recalls. “Julia played acoustic guitar. Stephanie had a drum kit, but she never really played it before—it was, I think, her ex-boyfriend’s or something. Candice used to play piano, so she had a keyboard. I had never played bass before. So we were kind of all just playing kiddingly, you know, just hanging out, jamming out. We never even thought we would play a show or anything.”

The novice musicians’ determination to put as little serious effort into the Coathangers as possible was thwarted by the encouragement of their musically inclined social circle.

“Our friends were like, ‘You should get a practice space,’ because we were practising in Julia and Candice’s living room,” Franco says. “So we were like, ‘Okay.’ We shared a practice space with a few of our other friends’ bands, and my brother was in a band. They were all, ‘You should play a show,’ and we were like, ‘What?’ We agreed to it, and then that night there ended up being a water-main break or something. We were all super nervous, and the show, we thought, was going to get cancelled, but it didn’t, so we ended up playing it. We were so scared.”

That was in 2006, and the Coathangers have played more than a few gigs since then. Those early jitters are long gone. (“Before, we were nervous and terrified,” Franco notes. “Now it’s more exciting.”) Judging by their YouTube videos, the group has progressed from being a notch or two above the Shaggs, transforming into a formidable and ass-kicking live unit. The band’s members have also logged plenty of hours in the studio, having released four albums and a smattering of singles. In that time the Coathangers have made a few high-profile supporters, including Brent Hinds of sludge-metal juggernaut Mastodon. In fact, Hinds and his bandmates appear in the video for “Follow Me”, miming the song in full drag.

“We didn’t want to be in the video, so we were coming up with ideas how not to be in the video,” Franco explains. “And we were like, ‘We should have somebody dress as us.’ I can’t even remember how we came up with Mastodon, but we’ve known Brent for a while. He was at our first record-release show. And Stephanie knows a few of the guys, so we just asked them. It almost didn’t happen that day, because they were busy writing their new record. And they ended up having, like, an hour off in between, so they just walked down to our practice space and each picked out a dress and put the wigs on. It took them 20 minutes. They ran through the song a few times. They were such good sports. It was so funny.”

Given the friendship between the two acts (they also rehearse in the same building), you might speculate that Mastodon albums get a lot of play in the Coathangers’ tour van. Franco reveals, however, that she and her colleagues have unexpectedly developed a taste for new-country radio hits, although this is rooted more in irony than in genuine appreciation for spit-polished Nashville productions.

“We learned the words to some of them,” she says. “I mean, that doesn’t necessarily mean we like it, but we know the words, which is kind of funny.”

So, can we expect this steady diet of torch-and-twang numbers to have a palpable impact on the next Coathangers LP?

“No, I don’t think so,” Franco says. “They’re catchy, though, so we might learn a thing or two.”

NOTE: The Coathangers will not play the Cobalt on Friday (August 15) as originally scheduled. Local band Phoenix Thunderbird will perform instead. Details here.