The Banana Cognacs in the Running for Hard Rock’s Battle of the Bands

We love supporting local talent—especially when they’re as awesome as The Banana Cognacs.

Composed of bassist Johnny Seikaly, guitarists Ghassan Khayyat and Ramzi Bashour, drummer Moustafa Khaled, crooner Hussein Sharafeddine (aka Double A), and Beirut.com’s very own alto bombshell, Angie Nassar, The Banana Cognacs present a chillax medley of funk, blues and the teeniest bit of Reggae, making up the distant cousin of Trevor Hall, Herbie Hancock and Pink Floyd’s lovechild.

Their single “Farmville” is currently entered in the Hard Rock Cafe’s Battle of the Band’s competition, which you can download and simultaneously vote for here.

Opening with a suave guitar riff and a light drum beat, “Farmville”, appropriately written during Facebook’s booming Farmville craze, is an exploration of the demands of consumer society through the eyes of the rebellious minority.

Beirut.com interviewed lead singer Double A via phone, who remarked that the single describes “how a person wants to stick it to the man… though the man knows it all.” He went on to explain that “Farmville” comments on the frustrations of ineffectualness, saying “we’re always being controlled and watched; we’re just farmers that are always farming.”

Besides the brilliant lyrics and trippy genre-hopping—”Farmville” jumps (albeit smoothly) from sweet jazzy tunes to an ubpeat Reggae rap—what’s special about The Banana Cognacs is their charming chemistry. “Its weird how people from different parts of the music spectrum got together to make a different sound,” enthused Double A, “but that’s what I love about our band.”

Totally worth your vote and your time, The Banana Cognacs are everything that’s right about music: intelligent lyrics, memorable rhythms, insane chemistry and just all around good fun. Bringing the talent back to the Lebanese music scene, The Banana Cognacs are no doubt one of the best bands around, and they effortlessly appeal to every kind of music lover. They’re already an amalgamation of half a dozen type of genres, so really, The Banana Cognacs will just increase your music appreciation in one easy listening.

And if anyone was wondering, Double A is—in fact—not Jamaican.