Boston in '99

Gigolo Aunts, Fuzzy, and more

by Brett Milano

Gigolo Aunts singer Dave Gibbs is currently pondering his options for New Year's Eve: he can either see his friends' bands in the Boston clubs or go to Hollywood and party with supermodels. Such is the double-life of this band, who remain a well-liked fixture on the local scene. But when they play Los Angeles, the Gigolo Aunts are in with the in-crowd.

The band's overdue album, Minor Chords & Major Themes, is now set for a mid-February release. But first, they've got some work to do. During January, they're playing a Tuesday-night residency at the Hollywood hot spot, the Martini Lounge. There will likely be famous guests on-stage and celebrities in the audience.

"For some reason we've been accepted by that crowd; I have no idea why," the ever-modest Gibbs said last week. "I just got two celebrity invites for New Year's Eve, which to me is ridiculous. Hollywood is fun, it's surreal; you just get caught up in it. The great thing about doing the Martini Lounge is that it's automatically packed. They have the goofy Hollywood velvet-rope scene happening. The best you can do is to look at it as a joke -- `We're here to meet some real celebrities and see how the world works for real rock stars.' Because that certainly isn't what we are."

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If you catch the Gigolo Aunts in Hollywood, you'll likely notice a dreadlocked guy up front singing along with all the tunes. That would be Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz, who's been one of the band's biggest fans for years (The Aunts' album is the inaugural release for his own Universal-distributed label, E Pluribus Unum). The bands' friendship goes back to 1993, when the Aunts and the Crows released their major-label debuts at about the same time. "At the time he was flat broke, just like us," notes Gibbs. "He was a Big Star fanatic and heard about us because we'd done some Big Star covers. Adam's got a big mouth, so he made sure to tell everybody about us."

Duritz also brought them along to open some recent tour dates. And he sings backup on the Aunts' single "The Big Lie." And yes, he tends to learn all his favorite bands' songs. "He's one of those guys with a great memory and a genius IQ. That's his party trick, that he can remember so many words at once."

No surprise that Gibbs recently gave up his Boston apartment and is planning to live in LA full time. The rest of the band -- guitarist John Skibic, drummer Fred Etchingham, and bassist Steve Hurley -- may soon follow suit. Meanwhile, life goes on as usual: the Aunts still play local shows whenever possible, including a recent one at The Noise's anniversary party at T.T. the Bear's Place -- as the New Jersey Guitar Army, they played a half hour's worth of Television's "Marquee Moon." The choice, they say, was between that and L.L. Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out." And Gibbs maintains a day job at that musician's hotbed, Mystery Train Records on Newbury Street. "Our rent is paid by the band right now, but I'd rather be working than not -- especially since I get paid half in records. This way I can look forward to getting out and rehearsing at night."

So at the moment the Gigolo Aunts are still local guys who've had a glimpse of the good life. But it's possible that the new album will put them there full time.

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If any other Boston record causes a national sensation next year, it could well be the Capitol debut by the electronic-pop trio Splashdown (due for release in early spring). They're making the album in Los Angeles with producer Glen Ballard, best known as the co-writer and musical director behind Alanis Morissette. Ballard's been taking a hands-on approach to the album, applying some of the programming and co-writing muscle he brings to Morissette's discs. And if Splashdown's album achieves the right mix of the band's songwriting, singer Melissa Kaplan's charisma, and Ballard's commercial know-how, the results could be massive.

Back from their castles in Versailles are the Upper Crust, who've been powdering their wigs and freshening their beauty spots for their third album, Once More into the Breeches (out in February on Emperor Norton). If you've seen these gentlemen before, you know the deal: fun-lovin' arena rock with an aristocratic bent. Last year's departure of Ted "Lord Rockingham" Widmer (whose speechwriting efforts as a White House employee evidently weren't enough to keep President Clinton out of hot water) hasn't slowed the flow of Crust tunes. Last month at the Middle East they unveiled a surefire classic, "We're Finished with Finishing School."

It's been a good year for delays in the music biz, and a handful of the new year's leading local releases are carryovers from last year. Tracy Bonham's second album (tentatively called Trail of a Dust Devil) was originally set for release last September, but it's now in limbo while her label, Island, reshuffles and decides which artists to dump from its roster in the wake of a giant Universal/PolyGram merger (see Matt Ashare's national pop forecast for more on that deal). Turns out the Gravel Pit were only being optimistic a year ago when they swore that their album, The Silver Gorilla , would be out last February on Q Division. They took their time in the studio, threw out a few songs and wrote a few new ones, and the results sound promising on the recent teaser EP, Favorite. Look for fuller production and more horns and keyboards added to their pop/garage base. Like the Gigolo Aunts album, this effort was produced by Mike Denneen at Q Division.

Nineteen-ninety-eight has to be the first year in memory when nothing was heard from Lou Barlow in any of his bands or guises -- perhaps his move from Boston to Los Angeles preempted any solo or Folk Implosion projects. Or maybe he just wanted to put all his energy into The Sebadoh, due from Sire in mid-January. It's a big-sounding rock album with production by ex-Dambuilder Eric Masunaga and hooks everywhere. Meanwhile, Masunaga's former bandmate, Dave Derby, is preparing a second album by his solo alter-ego Brilliantine, this time with less of a low-fi indie-pop sound and more of a band approach.

Nothing's been delayed longer than the third Fuzzy album, Hurray for Everybody -- parts of which were demo'd soon after the release of their last album, Electric Juices (Atlantic) in early '96. They've changed labels, scored a play (the local production of Marvin's Room), and played zillions of gigs in the meantime. But the album's finally been pressed and is ready to go, and Catapult swears it will be available in mid-February. The enterprising pop label is putting all its energy behind the album, with no other releases scheduled until the as-yet-unrecorded sophomore albums by Ultrabreakfast and Star Ghost Dog appear late in the year. Meanwhile, Fuzzy's already writing songs for their next album -- which may even be a country record, if recent shows around town are any indication.

Never mind the bollocks, here's the Big Bad Bollocks -- the local Celtic rowdies who are about to release their first proper album after years of gigging. Their only previous release was a homemade EP that included the local hit "Whiskey in Me Tea." The Monolyth label has signed the band, who are now recording with producer Johnny Cunningham, the acclaimed Irish fiddler and sometimes Boston resident.

"The initial stuff is brilliant," says label owner Jeff Marshall. "It's pretty up-tempo, we're calling it a jog-a-billy record. It will show what they're capable of as songwriters." Accordingly, they'll concentrate on new material instead of live chestnuts.

It hasn't been a great month for Curve of the Earth, since two of its flagship bands, Vegago-go and Eight Ball Shifter, broke up just after releasing new CDs. Verago-go may be back if they can replace drummer John Lakian, who's moving to LA. Undaunted, the label's about to launch one of its more ambitious projects: Artists Who Rock, a compilation of visually inclined bands including Betwixt and the Ghost of Tony Gold. The CD will be packaged with elaborate cover art.

"It's our tip of the hat to the Castle von Buhler people," says co-owner Alvan Long, referring to CBV's Soon/Anon series of music/art compilations. Also coming from Curve is the debut from Honeyglazed, the inventive pop/dub/metal band featuring two female singers and Roadsaw bassist Tim Catz. The album's called Love Is a Battlefield and fortunately does not include the Pat Benatar song of that name. Meanwhile, Roadsaw have signed with the New York punk/metal label MIA. Look for MIA to re-release Roadsaw's second Curve album, Nationwide.