Interview by Lexi Kahn From The Noise (February 1999)

The Gigolo Aunts are ringing in 1999 with a new full-length record, Minor Chords and Major Themes. For adoring fans that have had to remain content with just a teaser of an EP to hold them over since the full-length debut way back in 1994, it’s about damn time.
"Everything we’ve ever done has led up to this record," said lead singer/guitarist Dave Gibbs in a pre-Christmas interview. Everything? That’s a whole bunch o’ stuff, some of it not for the faint of heart.

Founded by Gibbs, brothers Steve and Phil Hurley, and Paul Brower in an upstate NY elementary school in 1979, the Gigolo Aunts arrived in Boston in the mid-eighties to lukewarm reviews and dismissive comparisons to REM and other jangly-type bands. The band told The Noise several years ago (issue #169) that the first review they ever got was Brett Milano saying "this band would be pretty good if they just practiced a lot." So, why did a bunch of friendly, gangly kids from Bumpkinville want to start a rock band in the first place? And why Boston?
"At first, we just wanted to have fun and meet girls," says Dave Gibbs. "It was only later that we decided to try our hand at writing songs and getting a bit more serious."
They chose Boston because they liked the city, and because of the many places to play. Hoping to follow in the footsteps of the then-blooming local acts like Miracle Legion, Dumptruck, Misson of Burma, and Throwing Muses, the Aunts settled in for the long haul.
The band is quick to talk up the lessons learned over the long haul, and charmingly modest about the results of their hard work. If you haven’t done the math, 1979-1999 is a full twenty years of hauling. The secret to staying focused for so long and from such a young age seems to be that there was never a fevered rush to success. These were just four guys writing great songs, playing as much as possible, making friends, and having fun. "We were doing just fine, developing at our own pace," says Gibbs. "I guess we’re like the little engine that could. Or maybe the tortoise instead of the hare."

A label out of Hoboken released the then-green & wide-eyed Gigolo Aunts humble first effort. By the mid-90s the band had secured a dedicated fan base and had attracted major label interest.
RCA released Flippin’ Out to popular acclaim. The success of that record landed the Gigolo Aunts in some exceedingly un-bumpkin-like circles. These days, Dave is singing on Ringo’s last album (yes, THAT Ringo). Adam Duritz (Counting Crows), friend and long-time fan of the band, has not only released the latest Aunts album on his own E Pluribus Unum label, but sings on one of the tracks. Jane Weidlin (ex-Go-Gos) co-wrote one of the songs on the new disc, and Gigolo Aunts’ singles stand out as highlights on gold soundtracks That Thing You Do and Dumb and Dumber.
As good as all that sounds, a number of fiascoes figure prominently in the long Aunts career, some of which would have had less stalwart folk crying "uncle" back in the days of the Bush administration.
"We’ve suffered through a bunch of ridiculously boring legal crap," summarizes Dave Gibbs in a been-there-done-that manner. "Now we’re settled in with a new label, a new manager, and as dopey as it sounds, sort of a new lease on life."
The lowest point in the bunch of "crap" endured by this little-band-that-could was the wasted fifteen months, eighteen songs, and 150K that went into the never-released follow-up to Flippin’ Out. Getting signed to a major label, the apocryphal golden apple for unsigned bands, led to a breakdown in communication within the Aunts. The dreaded "creative differences," added to lack of label support that led to the subsequent failure of the RCA record deal, was tough enough, and scrapping the record was the last straw for Phil Hurley. The original Aunt left the band on good terms in 1996, moving to Seattle to play guitar for Tracey Bonham.
Phil, who was in town over the holidays hanging out with Dave at Mystery Train on Newbury Street, still believes in the Gigolo Aunts. "You’ve just got to hear the new record," he says. One of the songs intended for the scrapped record, "Super Ultra Wicked Mega Love," is featured on Minor Chords and Major Themes.

A three-year break from recording followed the scrapped record. Retrospect, the great educator, shows that one of the significant problems was the Aunts inability to make the record the way they wanted it to sound. With Jon Skibic (ex-6L6) replacing Phil Hurley, and Fred Eltringham (ex-Jack Drag) taking over drums for Paul Brower (now living a quieter married life in Maine), the new lineup nursed the wounds by returning to their less glamorous roots. They released the Learn To Play Guitar six-song EP on hometown label Wicked Disc, and it was a sigh of relief for the band and fans alike. The new songs, done on eight-track and including a couple of terrific fuck-you ballads and some truly yummy radio-ready pop singles, showcased a new energy featuring the revitalizing power pop chords of Jon Skibic.
With Fred and Jon on board, Steve and Dave tossed around the idea of changing the band name. Not that they regret picking the name, but, "we’re pretty sick of being asked about it," explains Gibbs. "Little did we know how many people can’t spell gigolo, and how many times we’ve had to say ‘it’s Aunts with an A.’" The band has never met Syd Barrett, but David Gilmore came to one of their NY shows and entertained the guys with some pretty cool Syd stories.

Touring worldwide with the likes of Big Star, Matthew Sweet, Fountains of Wayne, The Wallflowers, and Counting Crows is a labor of love. A sold-out tour of Japan can be tough on the old sleep schedule, even for a bunch of energetic retro-poppers like these guys. So far, the two fondest road memories in the Gigolo Aunts scrapbook are the week in Barton, VT doing the demos for Flippin’ Out and this spring’s tour of Spain.
"Especially Majorca and the drive back from Yecla to Madrid," recalls Dave. "Total rock and roll excess: fun and educational."

While touring in other cities, do the band members ever feel a mantle of responsibility to represent the Boston music scene? It can be a tricky subject, putting the idea of strength in numbers on one side of the coin (hey man do you know Aerosmith?) and the desire to stand out as unique on the other. The Gigolo Aunts are logical about the issue.
"We all love and support loads of local bands, but the minute you start talking about scenes you start to imply cliques and exclusiveness which is one of the WORST things that can happen to bands." Burrowing in the un-risky scene is something the Gigolo Aunts have gone out of their way to avoid, and the formula seems to have worked.
The evolution from humble beginnings as jangly, competent rawk youth to mature and refined retro-pop deities has led to Minor Chords and Major Themes, and the band is very proud of the record.
"I can honestly say that we’ve been able to make exactly the kind of record we’ve always wanted to," says Dave Gibbs. "The way we play and sing and write and arrange and record just sort of all came together really perfectly on this record, and we’re all quite happy. I know every band in the world always says ‘this is the record we’ve dreamed of making,’ but in our case its really true."

So what’s next for the Gigolo Aunts? Well, this month they’re the resident darlings at Hollywood’s legendary Martini Lounge, and Minor Chords will hit the streets in February. Dave’s already quit his day job and moved to LA. "As long as we continue to have fun and are able to make the kind of music we want to, I guess we’ll just keep plugging away. We’re obviously a lot older, here’s HOPING we’re a bit wiser. Personally, I think 1999 is going to be a great year for a lot of people, maybe even the Gigolo Aunts. Cross your fingers for us!"