Guitarist and lead singer Robert Jason Vandygriff and bassist Jeffery Wayne Mosley grew up in a small town in Fannin County, TX, and in 2000 they decided to form a band. That band became the first edition of the Von Ehrics, who cut a four-song demo in 2001 that they soon self-released as an EP. In 2003, the Von Ehrics issued their first full-length album, Damn Fine Drunks, and began hitting the road, playing Dallas clubs and as many gigs through the Southwest as they could muster. Vandygriff and Mosley played with a rotating lineup of drummers during their first five years -- an exasperated Vandygriff once told a reporter, "We've gone through five drummers in the past six months" -- but they finally found a percussionist who could keep up with them when San Antonio native Gabe Aguilar joined the Von Ehrics in 2005. A year later, the independent label Rocket 13 Records released the Von Ehrics' second long-player, The Whiskey Sessions; the album earned enthusiastic local press and the Von Ehrics stepped up their touring schedule, roaring into the Midwest and East Coast as well as their usual haunts. The band played Wisconsin often enough to impress the proprietors of the indie Crustacean Records label; they signed the Von Ehrics and took them into the studio to cut their third album, Loaded, which was released in the spring of 2009. ~ Mark Deming