"The Boston Pop-sters Release New Record With A Little Help From Their Friends" by James Baumann (From march '99 issue of swizzlestick webzine)
Remember how your mom warned you about hanging out with the right crowd? The members of the Gigolo Aunts must have as they have made plenty of friends in high places -- high enough that the band has been able to survive tenuous times that might have upended a lesser-connected band.
Just check out the liner notes to their new record, Minor Chords and Major Themes. There is Jen Trynin, the Wallflowers, Velvet Crush, Redd Kross, Matthew Sweet, Jules Shear, Letters To Cleo, Juliana Hatfield, and more. Perhaps most importantly there is the name Counting Crows, whose Adam Duritz is part owner of the label, E Pluribus Unum Recordings, that has released their record.
In 1994 the Gigolo Aunts released their RCA debut Flippin’ Out followed by relative success and loads of touring. However, when it came time to record the follow-up, no one -- band or label -- was pleased with the results. So, rather than continue their momentum, the band became trapped in a legal briar patch.
Plus there were the personnel changes. Fred Eltringham became the new drummer and Jon Skibic took up the guitar, joining original members Steve Hurley (bass and vocals) and Dave Gibbs (rhythm guitar, lead vocals).
Through it all the band kept busy. There were day jobs at record stores, in the catering business, and taking personal ads over the phone. Mostly, though, they kept their instruments in hand. They released an EP, Learn To Play Guitar, and also demoed more than five dozen songs in between stints supporting their friends on various tours -- including opening for their heroes in Big Star. Also, their publishing deal got their songs placed on soundtracks for Dumb and Dumber, Swimming with Sharks, and That Thing You Do . The last one was released as a single in Spain and led to a European tour.
Still, the big break came when the band met up with Duritz in 1997. A few phone calls from him and his people, and the Gigolo Aunts’ problems with RCA disappeared. Finally free to record, the band celebrated with a bright new record that, in retrospect, probably benefited from the band’s business travails. In an interview with Swizzlestick, drummer Fred Eltringham said, “Someone recently said in a review of the record -- which I thought was really cool -- that it sounded like we would still be doing this even if we weren’t getting paid. Which is true.”
In the wake of all the record label mergers, I suppose you are pretty appreciative of being on a smaller label where you can get some personal attention?
Yeah, I think we’re in a better spot, especially having an A&R guy [Duritz] who’s a big rock star and who understands what it is all about. He’s a big fan of the band. We feel comfortable because we know everyone at the label is in love with the band and we love them too. We have a good team working for us now. We have new management. Things seem to be going in the right direction.
Other than the sheer amounts of money that can be put behind a band by one of the major labels, is there really any hindrances to being on a smaller label?
I don’t know. It’s hard to tell right now the way things are in the business right now.
I’m guessing you have a good enough distribution deal that people aren’t going to have trouble finding your record.
Yeah, it’s going to go through Interscope. So, I don’t think it will be a problem, and Universal will be the distributor. Actually, they were kind of worried -- which is a good worry to have -- that there weren’t enough records in the stores right now because the first single is starting to do so well.
Are the songs that made it on to Minor Chords and Major Themes, older songs that have been floating around, or did you write a whole new batch of songs specifically for this album?
No, we just kept writing, basically, the whole time. There’s like three songs on this record we’ve had the whole last five years. There’s “Simple Thing.” “Super Ultra Wicked...” we’ve had for about four years now. “Residue” we’ve had for awhile. And that’s about it. Those are some of the ones we recorded for the record that we scrapped, and which will never see daylight. Hopefully.
We had demoed just about everything. Dave and Steve had been going to Los Angeles and writing with people. Like Jane Wiedlen helped write “Everything Is Wrong” and David Basset helped write “The Big Lie,” which is the first single. But by the time we went to make the record, Mike [Denneen, the producer] had already come in and done preproduction with us for awhile because he’s a great guy and believed in the band. He would call us every once in awhile and say “let’s go work on some songs,” or whatever. Do some preproduction. So, when we went into the studio, we only recorded 13 songs. We knew exactly what we wanted on the record. Quick and fun. The right way.
How do the songs usually come together?
Dave and Steve pretty much write the songs and bring them in to me and John and we put them all together. Sometimes it will change in feel. But they come in with a basic idea of what they want them to sound like.
So there’s not a lot of room for you to stretch them out.
I mean, they’re open to whatever ideas we have. But, it’s not like brain surgery. They’re pop songs. They don’t really change too much.
I saw you play with Matthew Sweet a few years back and, after listening to the record, I thought I remembered your songs -- for lack of a better adjective -- rocking a bit more in your live set. Does that come into play with the type of songs that were written most recently, or just that the more subdued songs don’t make it into the live set?
Dave has been playing his acoustic more live, lately. So we’ve been playing “Half A Chance” and “Everything Is Wrong,” some of the more acoustic ones. “Everyone Can Fly.” But we do tend to rock a bit more live. Put some more energy into it. It’s hard when you’re playing a club to have those more delicate moments.
Do you have a preference?
I find benefits in both, but I always love rocking out. As the drummer, it’s your constitutional right. It is my right. But, I don’t know. We’re moving toward a different stage. It’s getting a little more professional maybe? I’m not sure how to phrase it really. Someone else said “mature and focused” but I don’t know about that. We like “dangerous and sexy.”
I understand that Dave has moved out to Los Angeles and the rest of you are considering doing the same. Why would you want to pack up and head west?
Well, people like us out there. (laughs) We have a lot of good shows out there. We have friends there now. And for work reasons, too. Dave and Steve, when they are out there, they just right songs. And Polygram is out there, so they get together with other Polygram writers.
I’ve done a lot of sessions and stuff out there. And John too. There’s not a lot of work like that available in Boston, or even in New York. We’ve made a lot of friends that are doing creative things and when you’re around them it makes you just get on he ball and start doing stuff. More things happen.
How did you guys all first meet in Boston?
Well, the original lineup all came from Potsdam, New York, right on the Canadian border. They all moved to Boston in 1986. After the tour for Flippin Out, Paul, the drummer, quit. He got married and is now a teacher in Maine. And Phil quit about a year and a half after that. He moved to Seattle and went on tour with Tracy Bonham. I joined right after Paul quit. I had been playing with a band in Boston called Jack Drag for a little while. So I joined and John joined later. I’m from Philadelphia and John’s from New Jersey.
So, were you in Boston for school?
Yeah, I’d been going to school there for awhile. Berkeley, even though I don’t like to admit it. Then I got into couple of pop bands and quit school because I was doing what I wanted to do.
What’s it like being in a city like Boston that has this big music scene. Do all the bands hang out together? Is it this incestuous circle like with Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield and all that?
Well, that scene has sort of disappeared. But bands certainly do hang out together. Letters to Cleo and us and a band called The Gravel Pit. But the scene seems to be a little slow right now. There doesn’t seem to be any one band that’s real huge like there was. It’s not the same atmosphere. A few years ago everyone was signed and all these bands had records out and were touring. Now, it’s more like everyone is just hanging out.
Why do so many pop bands seem to come out of Boston? Is there something about the winding streets that allow you to write these guitar hooks?
I don’t know. It’s just that there is a good history here of bands like the Pixies. You can even go further back to bands like Mission of Burma. All those great bands paved the way. Lots of bands just moved here when they heard about what was going on.
Is Mike Denneen (the producer for Flippin Out and Minor Chords and Major Themes as well as records from Letters To Cleo and Jen Trynin among others) from Boston too?
Yeah, he’s a Boston guy.
What did he do as a producer that you appreciated?
He really kept us focused. He was great at helping us hone the songs in, arrangement wise, and get the best take on everything. Getting really great sounds. He’s an amazing engineer. He was able to get us to be able to play the way we wanted it to be in the end. Created the right atmosphere. He’s a good friend so that made it quick and easy.
The way we did it, we recorded four songs a week. We would do the basic tracks the first couple of days and then finish those four songs that week. And we would put different songs together that you wouldn’t ordinarily group together on the record, you know what I mean? Give it a different take on things.
So, you didn’t necessarily do four slow songs all at the same time.
No, not ones that would maybe sound the same live or something. Rather than going in and just getting one drum sound and piling everything on top of it. So, songs might have the same drum sound, but those wouldn’t have been recorded together.
So, what is next for the band?
Well, we’re waiting for our tour. We have a big record release party here. We had some shows in LA where we did a residency out there for a month.
I was reading about you guys in LA. It seems like you’ve done everything but film a guest spot on Beverly Hills 90210 out there. They seem to have taken you in.
We played the Martini Lounge for three shows. And we played at the Viper Room and another one in San Francisco and then two in San Diego. Yeah, there were some stars out there. It was pretty funny. I guess the Martini Lounge is kind of one of those spots where they are always the hot spot to be. So Adam kind of hooked it up that we would play these places and he has lots of friends who are actors and whatnot.
You’re going to start appearing on the pages of People if you’re not careful. Being romantically linked to the cast of Friends or something.
That would be weird. It’s a different world out there. I mean you have to drive anywhere and Boston is a walking city. The clubs are different. The restaurants are different. Not always different in a bad way, though.