It always seems to start in a small town — the rock n’ roll dream, that is.

Young dreamers growing up in the middle of a cornfield with nothing better to do than drink on the weekend, get to know the local law officials, and wonder what’s out beyond the county line.

Every small town in the Midwest has them, including North Manchester. A few dreamers there became punk/metal rock band Filth & Majesty.

Neighbors

“Well, Brandon Clark (the drummer) was my neighbor in North Manchester,” said singer/guitarist Jeff Iseton, whose brother Steve plays bass. “We became really close through drinking Miller High Life and Goldschlager.”

“I found out he (Brandon) played drums and loved Kiss as well as ’80s metal,” Iseton said. “That was all I needed to hear! I wanted nothing else in life than to play guitar and sing in a rock n’ roll band, so I was chomping at the bit to get into it. Steve was still in high school at the time and wasn’t all that interested in being in a band. Brandon and I started jamming together off and on with different buds, but we didn’t really get started until we got our friend Eddie Black to play guitar and convinced Steve to play bass in like 2015 or 2016.”

Filth & Majesty pull from a variety of influences. Mötley Crüe, Faster Pussycat, Kiss, and Ratt; to UFO, Guns N’ Roses, Social Distortion, The Ramones, and even Elvis helped to form the DNA of the band.

“We’re individually all somewhere on the rock n’ roll spectrum,” Iseton said. “We all have a major soft spot for ’80s metal/hair metal and horror movies.”

Weird Gigs

Playing in a rock/punk band is an invitation to weird gigs.

One at the Melody Inn in Indianapolis took the cake for Filthy & Majesty.

“They do a special show called WrastleMania, where it’s a pro-wrestling themed punk rock show,” Iseton said. “The buildup and promotion of the show included bands recording videos talking trash to each other. It was insane.

“The actual show was equally as crazy. People cosplayed, brought signs, and cheered and booed accordingly. We played our set to a rowdy crowd including a few people holding signs telling us we sucked.

“Before our last song, Steve threw down his bass grabbed a mic and went on an amazing extended trash-talking session, wearing down everyone in the bar, his own band, the city of Indy. It was incredible.”

Newest Album

The band released their newest album, Who Killed Friday Night, over the summer, recording at Berry Street Studios with Scott Rottler and Morrison Agen.

“We learned so much from those guys,” Iseton said. “For me, I learned a lot about actually trying to be a vocalist. I’m not necessarily a singer’s singer per se, so I was pretty much clueless on proper breathing and actual grown-up vocal techniques.

“I also learned how to execute proper vocal harmonies. Morrison would throw out so many vocal harmony ideas. He had Mark and me doing three- or four-part harmonies underneath this crazy solo thing, and yeah, we’re basically a straight-ahead punk rock band, but we love glam rock and are stoked to have another weapon in our war chest.”

The band also put together a music video for the track “Cigarettes and Kerosene.”

“Chris Kelsey and Ian Skeans did all the hard work as far as shooting and editing goes. Those guys are great,” Iseton said. “We drove out to my grandparents place out in the middle of nowhere, drank a few Coors Original, and shot it. Those dudes nailed it. I am so proud of what we accomplished.”

Playing the Brass Rail

On Nov. 6, Filth & Majesty will be hitting the Brass Rail stage, opening for The Lurking Corpses. It’s a gig the band is very much looking forward to.

“We’re playing our undead buds the Lurking Corpses’ 20th Anniversary show with Burial Party and Wenches,” Iseton said. “Von Ghoul is a close, albeit dead and rather evil, friend of the band. He actually guested on the intro for the physical release of Who Killed Friday Night. So it’s really cool to get to celebrate this milestone with them. We love playing the Brass Rail.”

What’s next?

More music, of course.

“We’re writing the next album, and we’re very excited about it,” he said. “It is so much fun writing for this band, dude. We’re tight and familiar with each other musically now. The guys are kicking in cool ideas. If it rocks and we enjoy playing it, it’s getting used. I feel like this is going to be the ultimate F&M record.”

Filth & Majesty’s Who Killed Friday Night is out now and available at Neat Neat Neat Records, Wooden Nickel Records, and Karma Records of Warsaw.