In 2001 Mike Mariconda (Raunch Hands, Devil Dogs) decided after an 8 year absence from playing music that enough was enough. He joined with Sean “Sonny” Morales, Pat Pestorius, Jeff Linton, and Matt Smith to be The Stepbrothers. There was no conceptualizing any "theme" or "genre"--it would come to be that this band would be able to take on soul, surf, garage, country--but more importantly all of these styles simultaneously---SOMETHING ONCE CALLED ROCK AND ROLL. There would be no need for side projects as this would be a no-holds-barred combo, with an emphasis on quality songs, skillful musicianship and exciting, savage performances.

The Stepbrothers full length "Baby It's Over", recorded at Sweatbox Studios, and produced by Mike Mariconda, is rock and roll incarnate.  Time to Rock and Roll says "The Stepbrothers are making sounds that coulda been out of the Groovies session for Teenage Head"... too true.  GET ME THAT!!

Their first 5 song CD EP still available...  collect them all!  There is an unreleased track on this EP that you won't find on the LP- a true rare and precious gem!!  This limited release of 100 CDs has a custom hand-printed cover by Billy Bishop of Obsolete, Inc.

 

Discography
"Baby It's Over" CD (Licorice Tree Records)
"The Stepbrothers" CDEP (Licorice Tree Records)
"Shakin In My Boots: A Texas Rock n Roll Compilation" CD
(Licorice Tree Records)

**check out this new action**
         Stepbrothers Site!

 

Reviews!!

Whoopsy Magazine
THE STEPBROTHERS : Baby, It's Over : Licorice Tree, 2004

"You want some BIDNESS? Step up, Brother!"

I've never been one for the phrase 'ass-kicking", but this album will kick your ever-lovin' one. It's made by and for top-block ass-kickers and name takers who will stop at nothing to assault you with their rock-shaken soul. By soul, I mean the real deal, baby. It's over. Stax met the Stones in Sweatbox Studios somewhere in 2004. Their resultant Furies-vs.-Warriors rumble has created a newer, more powerful street gang featuring Mike Mariconda (Raunch Hands/Devil Dogs), Pat Pestorius (Stingers), Sonny Morales (Titz), Jeff Linton (Damn Times), and Matt Smith (White Heat). These reckonable forces of streetwise souls are ready to 'Come out and plaaaaaayyyyy" with a holsterful of songs I wish to hell I'd written before they did. With "I'll Have Another," deceptively simple lyrics create a sense of frustrated agony: "Can't stop smokin'/Can't stop drinkin'/Can't stop thinkin' o' you!" is screeched out like a super-market tantrum, complete with stomping foot. "Shut It Down" and "Very Last Time" are more snarling rock-and-soul winners, while songs like "Straight Up" and "All Over Town" glide effortlessly through the swagger of some cheap-ass R&B-loving pimp walking the back streets of a town not quite cool enough to be New York City. The only song that falls flat is "It Ain't Gonna Last," but it’s redeemed when followed up by the title track. Distribution by Licorice Tree Records alone shows this album's ass-kickin'osity. Licorice Tree, though fairly new, has built a catalog whose motto should be "We release it. You buy it." Get it now before the girl lurking inside the front cover shoots you in the face. - Caroline Gnagy

Under the Volcano
The Stepbrothers "Baby It's Over" (Licorice Tree, POB 92783, Austin, TX 78709) . The Stepbrothers have tackled Rock 'n' Roll, taken it into their arms, swooned it, seduced it, and made sweet, passionate love to it. The resulting aftershock of such a wild, torrid affair is Baby It's Over . Sounding like a Memphis-bred Spencer Davis Group crossed with Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Stepbrothers boogie to the beat of swaggering Stax Soul, virile Bo Diddley rhythms, boozed-up '60s Garage Rock of the British variety, and that special unspeakable something which causes innocent young girls to uncontrollably wet their panties. It's a groovin' Rock 'n' Roll extravaganza that'll lead you into temptation, give you your very first taste of sex, and make your sweat glands work overtime. Hot! (CD)- Moser

Ear Candy
The Stepbrothers, “Baby It's Over” (Licorice Tree Records)
5 TCB's
This thang is just dripping with soul. I mean, it's got the whole garage rock vibe but there's a damn lot more to be found here. Everything on this disc, from the funky Stax / Volt rhythms down to the “Get Off My Cloud” ripoff of “Baby, It's Over”, will have your ass moving. And the vocals, hell, they're just as electrifying as the music. I'm not sure if it's Pat Pestorius or Sean Morales since both are credited with vocals but whichever one it is singing lead on “All Over Town” can do a better Paul Stanley than Paul Stanley. There are no bad songs on “Baby It's Over”. Take “Straight Up” for example, it's as much a classic as one of my all time favorites “Ball Of Confusion”. So, what it really boils down to is, five white guys that know how to lay the shit down have done just that and if you don't get your copy it's gonna be your loss.
-Rev. Cooterfinger

Uptown Magazine
The Stepbrothers are a new quintet of hardened garage rawk greaseballs delivered straight from the good hearts at the new Austin indie Screaming Peach Media. The only known quantity in the group is former-Raunch Hand guitarist Mike Miraconda but the gang of uglies he's thrown in with deliver the kind of dumb, rollicking rockin' ruin that makes you want re-learn the Frug. Baby It's Over is one of those fashionably under-produced gems that beg the volume knob gets really turned over as the record progresses. Miraconda's rich twangulations come through effervescently on a few tracks but wisely shy away from falling over the cliff into the pure roots-rock ravine. There may be dozens of combos out there grazing on the bountiful green grass of the garage rock revival but only a few, like the Stepbrothers, know when to leave the field and head to the barn to kick out the jams. File under quite good.  ---Jeff Monk

Columbus Alive
Stepbrothers Baby It's Over
Of related interest: Raunch Hands, Lazy Cowgirls
  These bros are a pile of fallout from the uranium burn that was the mid-'90s Austin garage-rock scene. Former members of trash-rock stalwarts Titz, Damn Times and the Stingers get together like pals bashing out a basement party session.  
  The proceedings never go much past good-timey, though there's an expert ringer in Mike Mariconda. The former guitarist for foundling neo-garage heroes the Raunch Hands and Devil Dogs and sometime producer for like-minded roots-robbers, his guitar playing and unhinged recording skills pull the band through every tune like pops taking the kids through a funhouse. He swipes little bits of anything from Rose Tattoo to Serge Gainsbourg tunes to spice up the general bar-hop rocking.
  The band divvies up the singing duties, with ex-Titz frontman Sean Morales' snotty drawl winning out. Groovy rockers (“Catch This Teardrop,” “Brand New Dance”), scraggly AC/DC (“All Over Town,” “I'll Have Another”) and hip-shake shots like “Straight Up” sound like, well, a stepbrother to the big brother antics of the masters of this R&B&R'n'R style, the Dirtbombs. This is one of the first releases from Licorice Tree, another decent Austin indie that proves maybe there's some garage rock radiation left down there.   —Eric Davidson