April 11 - 18, 1 9 9 6

Rocking punk

Girls Against Boys rattle convention's cage

by Matt Ashare

In a year that will bring us the unexpected return of the Sex Pistols and Kiss in make-up, it's easy to wonder whether there ever was much of a difference between Johnny Rotten spewing vitriol about the British monarchy and Gene Simmons spitting fire and blood. In other words, is there anything sacred or profound about punk's revered legacy, or was it all just one big joke that's been taken way too seriously by desperately bored kids searching for something, anything, honest and important enough to care about in the world?

A band of true-believers like Rancid, who jumped around in their best imitation of the Clash for two nights at Avalon last month, or the reformed Pistols may offer one answer to that question. Girls Against Boys, a foursome from NYC who wouldn't exist if it weren't for the fervently idealistic DC punk scene in the early '80s, provide a different, more promising one on their new House of GVSB (Touch & Go). Their tour in support of the album arrives at Avalon Wednesday for the Phoenix/WFNX Best Music Poll party.

Fronted by guitarist and nicotine-stained singer Scott McCloud, anchored by the twin basses of Eli Janney and Johnny Temple, and driven by the kinetic beats of drummer Alexis Fleisig, Girls Against Boys have, like many of their contemporaries, wrestled with the paradoxes of punk. McCloud, Temple, and Fleisig were once the earnest force behind Soul Side, a late-'80 post-hardcore collective that coalesced as part of DC's Fugazi-led anti-corporate groundswell -- a movement that dealt as openly and articulately as anyone in rock ever has with the contradictions inherent in creating a consumer product (pop music) that rejects consumerism. But it wasn't until the trio moved to New York and hooked up with Janney, a talented technician who brought his considerable engineering/production skills as well as some white-noise bass and synth/keys into the mix, that a solution emerged. Its form was an aesthetic that literally grooves on blissful negation, funneling everything from dub and fuzz bass to space-age exotica and gritty realism, serrated guitars and haunting psychedelic drones, into a velvety sonic vortex.

What began for Girls Against Boys as a barrage of rumbling low end and churning guitar on 1992's Tropic of Scorpio (Adult Swim) has, over the course of three releases on Touch & Go, been honed into a sophisticated arsenal of stealthy bass lines, staccato chords, and unwavering beats. House of GVSB, the band's sharpest and most penetrating disc so far, bears only the faintest traces of Girls Against Boys' punk past. Its touchstones are the postmodern pastiches and circular progressions of the Fall, the aggro-industrial irony of Big Black, and the bass-heavy textural (and textual) deconstructions of Public Image Limited. There's even some of what today's kids would mistake for "industrial" in the techno-bleeps that haunt "Vera Cruz" and the grainy distortion that permeates the dark churn of "AnotherDroneInMyHead."

But McCloud doesn't revel in what Conrad's Kurtz called "the Horror" or settle for the comic-book gothic gloom of Trent Reznor and his acolytes. His deadpan "What you get is what you want/What you get is what you need" ("Disco Six Six Six") is ominous enough to mesh with the song's discordant guitars, yet it's delivered with too much confidence to be mistaken for an admission of defeat or resignation.

McCloud's voice functions as a commentary not just on the world but on the music that surrounds him: "Click click/song song/I love it when they turn the flame on" ("Click Click") might be a comment on the rock song as product or just McCloud's spontaneous reaction to the sparks that are flying all around him. And when he looks out at his sinister surroundings in "Cash Machine," it's from a bemused yet not wholly detached distance where everyday ATM transactions blur into a surreal encounters, where the invisible hand of Adam Smith reaches out obscenely to grope "clothes that fit like a glove." This is about as much as you could ask for from a song that also rocks with abandon. And that's why House of GVSB is likely to be the best thing that happens to punk all year.

The BMP party

Girls Against Boys play Lansdowne Street as part of the Phoenix/WFNX Best Music Poll Celebration Wednesday, April 17. Other bands scheduled to play at Avalon, Mama Kin, and Axis are Everclear, Salt, Gravity Kills, Scarce, Papas Fritas, The Elevator Drops, Polara, and Mercury Rev. In addition, there will be a WFNX Spin Cycle room at the Mama Kin Music Hall with the Crystal Method, Progression (with Micro and Vicious Vic), and DJs Frankie Bones, Michael Dog, and Liquid Todd. This is a 21-plus event; tix are $15, available at the door night of show only. Doors open at 8. At the Orpheum Theatre, the Best Music Poll will host an all-ages concert with Black Grape, Letters to Cleo, Garbage, and G. Love & Special Sauce. It's a 7:30 p.m. show, and tickets are $18, available at the Orpheum box office or by calling 423-NEXT. Twenty-one-plus ticketholders from the Orpheum can use their ticket stubs for admission to the Lansdowne Street event, club capacity permitting.

The BMP panels

This Wednesday, April 17, the Phoenix and WFNX celebrate the conclusion of this year's Best Music Poll with a big gig at the Orpheum and a party with bands and DJs that will take over all the clubs on Lansdowne Street. Winners will be announced, drinks will be drunk, and fun will be had. But before all that, we'll be presenting two days of panel discussion and workshops that will tackle some of the tough issues in the biz, explore the future of alternative rock, and give unknown bands a chance to have their music heard and evaluated by the kind of people who help make and break bands.

The panel discussions, all of which are being held at Jake Ivory's on Lansdowne Street, kick off on Tuesday at 11 a.m. with "The Power of Music," a round table devoted to exploring the ways in which rock and roll is used to promote social and political agendas. Cynthia and Adam Von Buhler of Castle Von Buhler records (a local label that's released two AIDS Action Committee benefit CDs), Letters to Cleo frontwoman Kay Hanley (who helped found the Friends of Shannon fund in the wake of the Brookline abortion-clinic murders last year), and Villa Villakula Records founder/Kill Rock Stars co-founder Tinuviel will all participate. Then at 1 p.m., 'FNX DJ Julie Kramer will moderate a panel of pros, including Susie Tennant of Sub Pop, Karen Glauber of Hits magazine, Gary Smith of Fort Apache, Lorraine Caruso from A&M, Morphine manager Deb Klein, singer/songwriter Jen Trynin, and manager/A&R consultant Janet Billig. They'll be discussing the nuts and bolts of what bands need to know to be in the business. And at 3 p.m., Phoenix associate arts editor Ted Drozdowski will lead a team of trained ears in the first of two sessions in which A&R scouts, producers, performers, and radio program directors will critique a selection of demo tapes.

Wednesday begins with "A&R Today," a round table featuring representatives of CherryDisc, RCA, MCA, and Geffen subsidiary Almo, at 11:30 a.m. "New Technologies" will be discussed by Billig, Escargo editor Kathleen Billus, producer Lance Vardis, and others at 1:30 p.m. And the day will conclude with another Demo Derby, this one moderated by Diane Snyder of ASCAP, and featuring 'FNX music director Laurie Gail, Phoenix music editor Jon Garelick, former Spin Doctors guitarist Eric Schenkmen, and Jeff Marshall of the local label Monolyth.

Admission to the panels is $5 per day; call 859-3364.