Vintage punk rock girls
Okay, so I know that it may seem like I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to these obscure bands that I'm writing about. I mean, who in the fuck really has the cash to drop on these artists when there's new releases by Bryan Adams and Metal Church (yes, this Metal Church) to save up for? The fall is always a hectic time for the record industry, as it readies for release some eight billion records. Flooding the market with lots of crappy albums before the Xmas shopping rush begins ensures that moms in all 50 states can raid the shelves of Target for that new Hilary Duff CD. Insert gratuitous snapshot of hot teenybopper craze here...
Mothers approve!
Anyway, here's to encouraging Security Moms to be a little more reckless when picking out a CD this Xmas for Johnny & Suzie. Try this one on for size: The Girls, Live at The Rathskeller, 5/17/79.
Okay, so they’re not girls. Nor are they as sexy as Hilary Duff. (Actually, nowadays they're probably all at least in their mid-40s.) Judging by the band photo that graces the inside of the booklet, back in 1979 they were going for that indie nerd look, completed by thick-rimmed glasses a la Elvis Costello and The Feelies.)
Regardless of whether they ever had "the look," The Girls never achieved cult status, settling instead for a footnote in the Mission of Burma-era Boston scene. The sad truth is that you can’t run out to the nearest online rare LP dealer and pick up a copy of their first album. They never had one. Matter of fact, The Girls’ studio output amounts to only a long-since-forgotten seven inch released in 1979 and a “reunion” twelve inch released in 1986.
Over the course of their relatively brief existence from 1977-79, they played approximately 40 concerts, mostly in and around Boston with bill-sharing bands like Pere Ubu, The Lyres (who they are opening for on this particular night), The Maps, and an infant Mission of Burma.
The Girls were the result of an experiment in an electronic music class, definitely not the kind of elective that one finds anywhere but a liberal college (the School of the Museum of Fine Arts). They were a collection of wildly-theatrical art school students—including Robin Amos, now of Cul de Sac—interested in pushing the punk envelope into new terrain. According to the liner notes, "they were probably the first interesting band from Boston who owed nothing to the Stooges." (That's debatable, and I'm guessing these guys would be up for the task.) The liner notes go on to describe The Girls thusly: “Their homemade costumes and aggressive interaction with the audience ... resulted in them being banned from most of Boston’s populist beer gardens.” If I had a scanner, I'd do the group justice by showing you a few of the photos in the packaging (sorry, nothing was available on the web.) You'll just have to trust me when I say they took pleasure in dressing the part of a wildly-theatrical art school student in a punk band.
As for their music, think a frenetic punk spinoff of Man or Astro-Man? informed by a healthy diet of noise rock and Pere Ubu. Ubu frontman David Thomas actually produced and released the band’s lone single. It’s obvious to see how the band influenced Boston peers like Mission of Burma in both sound and vision. It’s also easy to see how The Girls obnoxious art-punk was ultimately of little concern to anyone but a handful of fans. It's over-the-top and long on attitude, but ultimately short on tunefulness. These guys, er Girls, had no chance of breaking out of the underground.
At any rate, this adequately recorded concert is worth a listen if you, like me, are into dotting your historical i’s. But it's no Hilary Duff, so don't get your hopes up. See the label, Abaton Book Company, for ordering info.
Mothers approve!
Anyway, here's to encouraging Security Moms to be a little more reckless when picking out a CD this Xmas for Johnny & Suzie. Try this one on for size: The Girls, Live at The Rathskeller, 5/17/79.
Okay, so they’re not girls. Nor are they as sexy as Hilary Duff. (Actually, nowadays they're probably all at least in their mid-40s.) Judging by the band photo that graces the inside of the booklet, back in 1979 they were going for that indie nerd look, completed by thick-rimmed glasses a la Elvis Costello and The Feelies.)
Regardless of whether they ever had "the look," The Girls never achieved cult status, settling instead for a footnote in the Mission of Burma-era Boston scene. The sad truth is that you can’t run out to the nearest online rare LP dealer and pick up a copy of their first album. They never had one. Matter of fact, The Girls’ studio output amounts to only a long-since-forgotten seven inch released in 1979 and a “reunion” twelve inch released in 1986.
Over the course of their relatively brief existence from 1977-79, they played approximately 40 concerts, mostly in and around Boston with bill-sharing bands like Pere Ubu, The Lyres (who they are opening for on this particular night), The Maps, and an infant Mission of Burma.
The Girls were the result of an experiment in an electronic music class, definitely not the kind of elective that one finds anywhere but a liberal college (the School of the Museum of Fine Arts). They were a collection of wildly-theatrical art school students—including Robin Amos, now of Cul de Sac—interested in pushing the punk envelope into new terrain. According to the liner notes, "they were probably the first interesting band from Boston who owed nothing to the Stooges." (That's debatable, and I'm guessing these guys would be up for the task.) The liner notes go on to describe The Girls thusly: “Their homemade costumes and aggressive interaction with the audience ... resulted in them being banned from most of Boston’s populist beer gardens.” If I had a scanner, I'd do the group justice by showing you a few of the photos in the packaging (sorry, nothing was available on the web.) You'll just have to trust me when I say they took pleasure in dressing the part of a wildly-theatrical art school student in a punk band.
As for their music, think a frenetic punk spinoff of Man or Astro-Man? informed by a healthy diet of noise rock and Pere Ubu. Ubu frontman David Thomas actually produced and released the band’s lone single. It’s obvious to see how the band influenced Boston peers like Mission of Burma in both sound and vision. It’s also easy to see how The Girls obnoxious art-punk was ultimately of little concern to anyone but a handful of fans. It's over-the-top and long on attitude, but ultimately short on tunefulness. These guys, er Girls, had no chance of breaking out of the underground.
At any rate, this adequately recorded concert is worth a listen if you, like me, are into dotting your historical i’s. But it's no Hilary Duff, so don't get your hopes up. See the label, Abaton Book Company, for ordering info.
Great bllog post
By 
Harold Fisher, at 11:48 PM
11:48 PMGreat bllog post