There's something inherently sexy about Girls Against Boys.
And I'm not quite sure what it is. Sure, the music lends itself to
visions of some swanky, sleazy, smoke-filled bar dotted with
martini-totin' post-Gen-X'ers. And the combination of the ever so slinky
double bass' of Johnny Temple and Eli Janney (not to mention the occasional
keyboard and backing vox of Mr. Janney), the way
drummer Alex Fleisig slays the sticks (or are those the cute little
swords you find in martini's?), and the way that vocalist Scott
McCloud delivers his sharp-witted lyrics with a wink and smirk
does not a thing to dispel this notion.
But it's not just the music. It's the way that whole post-apocalyptic
lounge act thing seems to follow the band wherever they go. Like
smoke in Casinos. If you were to thumb through their press kit, you'd
find that not even one article about G vs. B fails to mention this
uncanny sexiness. The thing about Girls Against Boys though, is that
while most bands try to downplay the things critics use to pigeonhole
them, G vs. B helps them out by giving their albums titles like Venus
Luxure No. 1 Baby, or songs titles like Kill the Sexplayer and
Sexy Sam.
McCloud postulates, "All this stuff is kind of like semi-bullshit we
spout...so it's very easy if I meet somebody that is of the mindset to
listen to me go on and on about the V-Lux lifestyle, I've got lots of
things to say about it. At the same time, the other side of your
personality is like, 'the V-Lux lifestyle is a bunch of bullshit, we're a
band'".
What started simply as a "studio" project for these former members
of D.C.'s Soulside (Heckler contributor Scott Torguson's favorite
band -ever) has become one the biggest independent bands not only
in the U.S., but in Europe as well. The single, (I) Don't Got A Place,
released in support of Girls Against Boys' latest, Cruise Yourself, sold
out in all of two days. Were they surprised? Well, not exactly. It
seems because the pressing of the single was so limited, it was
actually designed to sell out. What they didn't expect was for it to
happen in two days. The video for the song also garnered them time
on MTV's 120 Minutes and MTV Europe.
(I) Don't Got A Place is an archetype of sonic class driven by
thumping toms and sinewy basses that breach the way for Scott
McCloud's words of whatever; "I'd invite you all back for a drink at
my place but I don't got a place...How can I feed the kitty, how can I
get up a party, how can I stay in touch when I don't got a place?"
And his explanation of the lyrics to I'm From France (from the Sexy
Sam single released last summer) is a good indication of where he's
coming from.
"I appreciate the French attitude, lyrically anyway, I appreciate how
a lot of the French are pretty self-righteous. In a way it's just like,
'No, I don't say stupid things, I'm French' and that's cool. A lot of
people get turned off, but I think it's cool to allow yourself the
luxury of just spouting shit."
Lyrically, G vs. B may simply be "spouting shit". Musically, they are
speaking the words of God. They've taken traditional rock
instrumentation and tweaked it enough to make it interesting
without making it sound weird. Using keyboards in rock music is
hardly a fresh idea, but it's not necessarily what they do with them,
it's how they do it that makes it so appealing. Take, for instance, the
last track on Cruise Yourself, Glazed-Eye. Who would have thought of
using a vibraphone? And while there are a few bands that have
attempted to use two bass players, Girls Against Boys are the only
ones who have gotten it right (for a bad example see Ned's Atomic
Dustbin). But you wouldn't notice either of these things just by
listening to their records, these are subtle, understated things. You
don't hear them so much as you feel them. That's why it works.
And I guess that's why you can't read anything about Girls Against
Boys without hearing about their "infinite sexiness". It isn't what
they say it's how they say it.
Comments bassist/keyboardist Janney, "It's kind of hard to play
punk rock and call yourself sexy, but I think the album's pretty
sensual (referring to Venus Luxure...). Actually a good half of
it was recorded completely naked..."
But then again, maybe it is what they say...
-Sean Schroeder
To hear a 1:07 edit of Girls Against Boy's song
I Don't Got A Place:
