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Animator-turned-rocker April March plays T.T.'s, Black Moustache rocks the Middle East, and more
BY CARLY CARIOLI
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You’d never know it from her records as April March, but back in the early ’90s, the then Elinor Blake was known to garage-punk fans as the leader of LA trash-rock faves the Shitbirds, and to fans of Ren & Stimpy as both an animator of the series and the writer and performer of a couple of songs on the twisted cartoon’s albums. All of which disguised the yearnings of a sophisticated Francophile — one who has over the past five years made a name for herself on both sides of the Atlantic as the rare American whose yé-yé gets yeah-yeah-yeahs from the French themselves. The latest April March disc, Triggers (PIAS America), was produced by the French nouvelle vague svengali Bertrand Burgalat and draws on inspiration from Birkin to Balzac. The former Brooklynite (now relocated to Cleveland with her hubby, former Del Fuego Warren Zanes, who’s been hired to oversee the education division of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) plays and parlays on Saturday at Club Metronome (802-865-4563) in Burlington, Vermont, and on Sunday at T.T. the Bear’s Place (617-492-BEAR) in Cambridge. Brooklyn’s Ambulance Ltd. are supposed to be the next Interpol or something, but our advice is to show up early at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on Friday to catch the ridiculous opening band Black Moustache, a cheese-sandwich electro/glam/punk act who cover "Surfin’ Bird" and Electric Six’s "Gay Bar" with equal impunity — a novelty act, then, with a sense of history and a nose for the moment. Which shouldn’t be surprising, since frontman Spencer Product, a protégé of Electroclash svengali Larry Tee, formerly recorded as the faux Prince superstarlet Prance. The band’s debut is out on Lakeshore Records, the label that brought you Queens of the Stone Age’s debut. Unfortunately, Black Moustache won’t be on hand when Ambulance Ltd. continue on to Nectars (802-658-4771) in Burlington on Saturday and to the Bar (203-495-8924) in New Haven on Sunday. Former Company Flow mastermind Mr. Len and former Masterminds MC Kimani Rogers teamed up last year under the name Roosevelt Franklin and christened Len’s new Smacks Records label with a song devoted to "Muppet Love." Their full-length, Something’s Gotta Give, featured cameos from fellow underground heroes Slug, Jean Grae, and Murs; now Len and Rogers are taking to the road as part of a Smacks package tour that hits the Call (401-751-2255) in Providence on Friday; T.T.’s on Saturday; and Station 58 (860-443-5858) in New London, Connecticut, on Sunday. Who had the most-played song at radio in 2003? Did we hear 50 Cent? Did we hear Avril Lavigne? Would you believe 3 Doors Down’s "When I’m Gone"? We’re not saying it’s payola, but we hope they got their money’s worth. On tour with Tantric — the guys who got fired from Days of the New — 3 Doors Down are at the Orpheum (617-931-2000) in Boston on Tuesday and the Verizon Wireless Arena (603-644-5000) in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Wednesday.
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