Girls
Album
Matador/True Panther Sounds
I first heard Girls via their single, “Hellhole Ratrace”. I loved it then. I still think it’s a great song. I barely ever have enough money to buy vinyl anymore. And for the record, I actually went out and bought the 10″ version, which features the seven-minute anthem of a title track, “Hellhole Ratrace”. And on the flip side, it’s more subtle (but still pretty good) B-side, “Solitude”. I was sold on Girls. The dude looked like a gay Kurt Cobain (during the Bleach era) with his combed over long blonde hair and fruity thrift store mismatched uniform. Who’s wearing jerseys and fingerless gloves? He is! Who’s wearing a suede shirt in their press photo? He is! Interesting, for sure. A character? Totally.
Sure, he sang kinda goofy but the song was undeniably good. The video was badass, too. Beyond badass. It had the kinda vibe corporations try to recreate all the time to sell to our generation. What a package! I was a fan.
“Hellhole Ratrace” video
Next came their single called “Lust For Life”. Oh boy, right? My first thought was: “They can’t steal the name of one of Iggy Pop’s biggest hits like that”. Chip told me the singer guy was a poser. Well, I put Chip’s thoughts outta mind cuz Jay Reatard is already gonna slug him in the face for his comments on that dude’s last record. After hearing the song my thoughts were, “God damn. They did it again! This song is great, too! And they get a pass on the name like The Replacements got a pass on ‘Let It Be’ (not that I’m putting them in a class with punk gods, The Replacements, I ain’t trippin’ that hard). I’m really a fan of Girls now! The video is great for this single, too! I wish I had a pizza and a bottle of wine as well, man!” I was really a fan.
“Lust For Life” video
And I wrote a post about the singles and videos, posted tour dates, ran my mouth and even posted some mp3s for everyone to check out, read them here.
Then I got their debut album (ironically called Album). I was really excited to hear what these guys had done for their debut full-length record. I couldn’t wait to hear more catchy, weird, fun, garagey pop songs. I couldn’t wait to be an even bigger fan. So, I did what any of you would do — I threw the fucker on my stereo.
I’m sorry to say that I was about as disappointed with the audio on this record as I was with the name Album. “Hellhole Ratrace” and “Lust For Life” are on here, and they’re still great songs (they better be, they’re the same versions – SHAM!). But the rest of the record feels very rushed, and that goofy voice doesn’t really work stretched across an entire record. I don’t know these guys at all, so I’m not sure if these dudes choked under pressure after all the good reviews of their singles or what happened, but it’s a bummer cuz I really wanted to like this album. After hearing the full length, I wasn’t really sure if I was a fan….
Ironically, the next night I was supposed to DJ their show at the El Rey opening for some band. I’d finally see what Girls was like live, which is always the best way to see exactly what a band is all about. Even though I’m not really a fan of the record, the songs translated a lot better live. There were definitely moments where the show lagged a bit with certain songs, but all in all, every song sounded better live than it did on record. Not surprisingly, “Hellhole Ratrace” and “Lust For Life” were the highlights of the show. As was a shout out to Darren from The Tyde who requested they play a song from their demos. Talk about being cool and a nerd at the same time. You nailed it Darren.
The new guitar player for Girls is amazing to watch. Dude dresses like Luke Skywalker, has nipple length clean shiny hair, and looks like he’s been on acid for the greater part of his life. Aside from my two favorite songs, the highlight of the set was when the guitar player’s pedals quit working and he had somewhat of a mini-meltdown. Shit was entertainment. I’m sure the dudes in the band will think I’m a dick for saying that, and I’m sure they don’t share my opinion but this is BUDDYHEAD. When the meltdown happened, I couldn’t help but laugh my ass off as the singer of Girls, while looking over at his guitar player squatting down and frantically fiddling with his pedals, said, “Well at least you can kind of get the idea what we sound like. Sorry for all the technical difficulties. Sometimes when shit fucks up you just gotta learn to hang loose.” I love me some band tension. That, my friends, paired with good songwriting, heart, soul and good vibes is Rock n’ Roll in a nutshell. Believe it.
So where do I stand now? I’m gonna say as of right now, Wednesday, September 9th 2009, I am a fan of Girls. I don’t think you need to buy this full length, Album, but I do think you should go see them play live (tell them Buddyhead sent you even though Chip thinks they’re posers), and I do think you should buy their two singles that I mentioned above. I think this band is gonna do some really cool things, hopefully they don’t get all butt-hurt that I think their new record sucks, cuz I think they’ve written two more amazing songs than most people will write in their whole lives. And that’s totally worth something somewhere. I promise.
