When the second night of the Rock For Love benefit kicks off at the Hi-Tone Café this evening, three of the five bands on the bill will have something in common: Joining instrumentalists Glorie and indie-rockers Arma Secreta are three acts — rapper Cities Aviv and punks Pezz and Angel Sluts — representing the youngish local label Fat Sandwich Records. (We featured Cities Aviv in this week’s Flyer.)
Fat Sandwich is the province of Dan Drinkard, a 26-year-old Memphian who started the label in late 2009 as a vehicle to release a single from his then-band, Panther Piss.
“Panther Piss had a song that didn’t have lyrics, but we sang the melody with lyrics that went ‘Buy me a fat sandwich that I can hold with both my hands,'” Drinkard explains. “It was just one of those names to put on the back of a record.”
A year and a half later, that name has developed into a full-fledged label, with more than 10 releases straddling the punk and hip-hop genres, including several releases by non-Memphis artists.
Local artists include the now-defunct Panther Piss, the three acts at Rock for Love tonight, and emerging local rapper Royal’T — a constantly evolving teen talent whom Drinkard met through Cities Aviv. Non-local items on the Fat Sandwich catalogue include a reissue of the Florida “Christian indie band” Two Thirty Eight and releases from Birmingham’s Dollarhyde and Nashville’s Cannomen (“surf-y garage-punk,” per Drinkard) and Cove (“heavier, more hardcore”).
