As could be predicted by its title, Freak*on*ica has a more pronounced electronic sound than the hard- driving, bass- heavy rock people have come to associate with the band, due mostly to bassist/ keyboardist Eli Janney's discovery of the Roland 303 drum machine -- an instrument strongly linked to the electronic movement. "Eli sort of falls into favorite instruments of the moment," Fleisig explains. "With this record, he had a crush on the 303. He started messing around with the thing, and it has some really cool sounds on it. The low-end on the bass is lower than anything else we have."
So while there's no denying an industrial dance vibe on Freak*on*ica, it still maintains the GVSB signature. "On all of our records, we've tried to come up with an atmospheric melange of bizarre sounds," Fleisig continues. "The only difference was now we had all these weird dance sounds to play around with as well."
Another new spin of Freak*on*ica is that McCloud's vocals have evolved from a cigarettes- and- coffee sound akin to the Fall's Mark E. Smith to, at times, a more smoothed- out style reminiscent of the Psychedelic Furs' Richard Butler. "We approached this record in a more pre- planned manner," says McCloud. "We were looking at every piece of the puzzle, and I was trying out a lot of different things, even with my vocal delivery -- just experimenting."
Fleisig adds, "We're all big Pixies fans, and were amazed how Frank Black could sing in a completely different way on each song. Scott's always been interested in trying to go somewhere with his vocals. So yeah, there was a conscious effort to make it sound different."
But perhaps the most significant change they experienced with their major- label debut is the luxury of time. "With the other records," explains McCloud, "I'd be sitting in a room with tons of sheets of paper, marking things up, moving lyrics around, sometimes from song to song, and everyone would be fidgeting, wondering, 'When is he gonna come out of there already?' This time," he laughs, "I had the liberty of doing that for months."
Girls Against Boys are currently in Europe on the first leg of what is shaping up to be their most extensive world tour. Though they are playing a show in L.A. on June 16 and appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on June 26, the real kickoff of their U.S. tour will be July 6 at the famed Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey. Supporting acts on different stops of the Freak*on*ica tour will include Skeleton Key (in Europe) and Buffalo Daughter, Stanford Prison Experiment, Les Savy Fav, and Distortion Felix (in the U.S.).
Girls Against Boys U.S. tour dates, confirmed so far:
June 16, Los Angeles, Spaceland
July 6, Hoboken, New Jersey, Maxwell's
July 7, New York City, Bowery Ballroom
July 10, Washington, D.C., 9:30 Club
Aug. 11, Minneapolis, 1st Avenue
--Laura Weinstein