Girls Against Boys
Girls Against Boys | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Washington, D.C. |
Genres |
Indie rock Post-hardcore |
Years active | 1988–present |
Labels |
Touch and Go Records Southern Records Geffen Records Jade Tree Records Koch Records Your Choice Records |
Associated acts | Soulside, New Wet Kojak, Paramount Styles, Bellini, Obits, Fugazi, Rain |
Members |
Eli Janney Scott McCloud Johnny Temple Alexis Fleisig |
Past members | Brendan Canty |
Notable instruments | |
2 basses |
Girls Against Boys are an indie rock/post-hardcore band, originally forming in Washington, D.C. in 1988 and currently based in New York City.
Career
The group began as a side project of Eli Janney and Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty. Canty left the project by 1990 due to his commitments with Fugazi. Janney went on to recruit three former members of D.C. hardcore punk group Soulside—Scott McCloud, Johnny Temple, and Alexis Fleisig—to complete the line-up.[1] Girls Against Boys are perhaps most notable for employing dual bass guitars, a rarity in rock music. Their second album, Venus Luxure No.1 Baby, was a heavy yet nuanced entry into early 1990s post-hardcore, and was performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series,[2] and at the 25th anniversary concert for Touch and Go Records held in Chicago in September 2006.[3]
They provided music for the soundtrack to the film Series 7: The Contenders, and one song for the soundtrack to the 1994 film Clerks. They also contributed the song "Freaks" to the soundtrack for the cult film Hedwig and the Angry Inch and covered the song "Boogie Wonderland" for the 1999 movie 200 Cigarettes. The band also appears in the film. The cover sounded almost exactly like their song "Let Me Come Back". They contributed to soundtracks of the films Permanent Midnight, White Oleander, SubUrbia, Terror Firmer, Mallrats, Psycho and Songs of the Witchblade.
The band has toured extensively throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and the United States and Canada. The last tour took place in 2009 in Poland and Russia. They have performed in numerous festivals including Lollapalooza 1993, 1995 and 1996,[4] All Tomorrow's Parties, Reading Festival,[5] 1994 Phoenix Festival, Dour Festival, Primavera Festival, 1997 Fuji Rock Festival, Pukkelpop, Lowlands Festival, Les Transmusicales. They have appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the Jon Stewart Show, Canal+ and MTv. Touring included stints with bands such as Jawbox, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Helmet, the Jesus Lizard, Garbage, Rage Against the Machine, Interpol, Fugazi, Brainiac, Pitchshifter, Atari Teenage Riot, Foo Fighters, Luscious Jackson, Tar, No Means No, Les Savy Fav, Magic Dirt, Big Chief, Edsel and others. Bands who supported them before going on to have mainstream success include the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, dEUS and Placebo.
In May 2013, Girls Against Boys resumed touring in support of a new EP. The first show of their reunion tour was performed at the Donaufestival in Krems, Austria, with David Yow of The Jesus Lizard providing additional vocals.[6][7] In November 2013, the band will play the final holiday camp edition of the world famous All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Camber Sands, England. [8]
Side Projects/Current Projects
Scott McCloud and Johnny Temple also played together in a side-project called New Wet Kojak, releasing 2 records on Chicago's Touch and Go Records - New Wet Kojak- 1995 and Nasty International - 1997. They followed with 3 more on Beggar's Banquet - Do Things (2000), No. 4 EP (2001), and This Is the Glamorous (2003). The group featured Geoff Turner (ex-Gray Matter), Nick Pellicciotto (Edsel), and Charles Bennington.[9]
Alexis Fleisig performed with Moby on his album Animal Rights.[10]
Scott McCloud, Johnny Temple and Alexis Fleisig toured with Gina Gershon in 2002 in support of her film Prey for Rock and Roll, a film focusing on the struggles of an all female band based roughly on the life of Cheri Lovedog.[11] The tour consisted of Gershon and 3 members of Girls Against Boys performing songs penned by Stephen Trask and Linda Perry. The tour resulted in the reality series/documentary Rocked with Gina Gershon.[12]
Scott McCloud currently plays in Paramount Styles with Alexis Fleisig and have released 2 records on Dutch Label Cycle/Konkurrent Records - Failure American Style (2008) and Heaven's Alright (2010). The group has toured extensively in Europe and less extensively in the United States and Canada. The group features revolving guests including Richard Fortus (Guns N' Roses, The Psychedelic Furs), producer/bass player Geoff Sanoff (Edsel), Julia Kent, Michael Hampton (The Faith S.O.A., One Last Wish, Manifesto), John Schmersal (Brainiac, Enon, Caribou), Simon Lenski (DAAU), Chris Smets and Libor Palucha.
After Girls Against Boys became inactive in 2003, Eli Janney became a full-time producer for many bands including Obits and James Blunt.[13] Johnny Temple[14] founded Akashic Books, an independent publisher, known for many books including Go the Fuck to Sleep,[15] Hairstyles of the Damned and an extensive Noir Series.
Band members
- Eli Janney – bass, back-up vocals, keyboards
- Scott McCloud – vocals, guitar
- Johnny Temple – bass
- Alexis Fleisig – drums
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"She's Lost Control (Joy Division cover)"
Sample of Girls Against Boys' cover of Joy Division's 1979 song "She's Lost Control", released on the Joy Division tribute album A Means to an End: The Music of Joy Division (1995)
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Discography
Studio albums
- Tropic of Scorpio (Adult Swim, 1992)
- Venus Luxure No.1 Baby (Touch and Go, 1993)
- Cruise Yourself (Touch and Go, 1994)
- House of GVSB (Touch and Go, 1996)
- Freak*on*ica (Geffen, 1998)
- You Can't Fight What You Can't See (Jade Tree, 2002)
Extended plays
- Nineties Vs. Eighties (Adult Swim, 1992)
- Sexy Sam (Touch and Go, 1994)
- B.P.C./Satin Down (Your Choice Records, 1994)
- Super-fire (Touch and Go, 1996)
- Disco Six Six Six (Touch and Go, 1996)
- The Ghost List (Epitonic, 2013)
Split releases
- Cheap Sweaty Fun & TJ's Xmas (1994) — Split 7" with Man or Astro-man?
- 8 Rounds (Radiopaque Recordings, 1995) — Split CD EP with Guided by Voices; benefit for the Washington Free Clinic.
Music Videos
- (I) Don't Got a Place (1994)
- Kill the Sexplayer (1994)
- She's Lost Control (1995)
- Super-Fire (1996)
- Basstation (2002)
Compilations
- Chairman of the Board: Interpretations of Songs Made Famous by Frank Sinatra (Grass Records, 1993)
- The Day We Killed Grunge (Caroline Records, 1994)
- Elements of Mammoth (Mammoth Records, 1994)
- Jabberjaw: Good to the Last Drop (Mammoth Records, 1994)
- Guinea Worm (S&M/TJ's Newport, 1994)
- The Day We Exhumed Disco (Caroline Records, 1995)
- Life is Too Short for Boring Music (EFA, 1995)
- PIAS s'Enrage (Rage, PIAS, 1995)
- A Means to An End (Virgin Records, 1995)
- Introducing Vol. 4 (Indigo, 1996)
- Kerrang! Welcome to Planet Rock (Roadrunner Records, 1996)
- Studio Brussels '96 (Double T Music, 1996)
- Fuji Rock Festival '97 (TGCS, 1997)
- Everything is Beautiful (Geffen Records, 1997)
- Vox Spring Collection (Vox, 1998)
Soundtracks
- Clerks (Kevin Smith, 1994)
- Mallrats (Kevin Smith, 1995)
- SubUrbia (Richard Linklater, 1996)
- Love God (Frank Grow,1997)
- Permanent Midnight (David Veloz, 1998)
- Psycho (Gus Van Sant, 1998)
- 200 Cigarettes (Risa Bramon Garcia, 1999)
- Blast (Martin Schenk, 2000)
- Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell, 2001)
- White Oleander (Peter Kosminsky, 2002)
- Series 7: the Contenders (Daniel Minahan, 2001)
- Rocked with Gina Gershon (Seth Jarrett, 2004)
External links
- Official band website
- Touch and Go Records, band mini-site
- Southern Records, band mini-site
- Kill the Sexplayers! by Travis Jeppesen
- Interview on Washington, DC's Dissonance / Radio CPR
- Interview with drummer Alexis Fleisig, Seymour Magazine
References
- ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/girls-against-boys-p39051
- ↑ http://www.dontlookbackconcerts.com/dlbarchive/dlb2007archive/gvsbny/
- ↑ http://www.touchandgorecords.com/links/tg25/photo/friday/index.html
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lollapalooza_lineups_by_year
- ↑ http://www.readingfestival.com/2011/history/1998
- ↑ Battan, Carrie (April 24, 2013). "Girls Against Boys Return With New Song "It's a Diamond Life"". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
- ↑ Schweitzer, Ally (April 24, 2013). "Girls Against Boys, “It’s a Diamond Life”". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
- ↑ http://www.atpfestival.com/events/endofanerapart2.php
- ↑ http://www.beggarsgroupusa.com/newwetkojak/
- ↑ http://www.moby.com/discography/animal_rights.html
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307351/
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407444/
- ↑ http://elijanney.com/Eli_Janney/Discography.html
- ↑ http://www.stopsmilingonline.com/story_detail.php?id=1169
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/weekinreview/22curse.html
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