Tony Bennett's Sexy Offspring: G v.s. B

There's something inherently sexy about Girls Against Boys.

And I'm not quite sure what it is. Sure, the music lends itself to visions of some swanky, sleazy, smoke-filled bar dotted with martini-totin' post-Gen-X'ers. And the combination of the ever so slinky double bass' of Johnny Temple and Eli Janney (not to mention the occasional keyboard and backing vox of Mr. Janney), the way drummer Alex Fleisig slays the sticks (or are those the cute little swords you find in martini's?), and the way that vocalist Scott McCloud delivers his sharp-witted lyrics with a wink and smirk does not a thing to dispel this notion.

But it's not just the music. It's the way that whole post-apocalyptic lounge act thing seems to follow the band wherever they go. Like smoke in Casinos. If you were to thumb through their press kit, you'd find that not even one article about G vs. B fails to mention this uncanny sexiness. The thing about Girls Against Boys though, is that while most bands try to downplay the things critics use to pigeonhole them, G vs. B helps them out by giving their albums titles like Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby, or songs titles like Kill the Sexplayer and Sexy Sam. McCloud postulates, "All this stuff is kind of like semi-bullshit we spout...so it's very easy if I meet somebody that is of the mindset to listen to me go on and on about the V-Lux lifestyle, I've got lots of things to say about it. At the same time, the other side of your personality is like, 'the V-Lux lifestyle is a bunch of bullshit, we're a band'". What started simply as a "studio" project for these former members of D.C.'s Soulside (Heckler contributor Scott Torguson's favorite band -ever) has become one the biggest independent bands not only in the U.S., but in Europe as well. The single, (I) Don't Got A Place, released in support of Girls Against Boys' latest, Cruise Yourself, sold out in all of two days. Were they surprised? Well, not exactly. It seems because the pressing of the single was so limited, it was actually designed to sell out. What they didn't expect was for it to happen in two days. The video for the song also garnered them time on MTV's 120 Minutes and MTV Europe.

(I) Don't Got A Place is an archetype of sonic class driven by thumping toms and sinewy basses that breach the way for Scott McCloud's words of whatever; "I'd invite you all back for a drink at my place but I don't got a place...How can I feed the kitty, how can I get up a party, how can I stay in touch when I don't got a place?" And his explanation of the lyrics to I'm From France (from the Sexy Sam single released last summer) is a good indication of where he's coming from.

"I appreciate the French attitude, lyrically anyway, I appreciate how a lot of the French are pretty self-righteous. In a way it's just like, 'No, I don't say stupid things, I'm French' and that's cool. A lot of people get turned off, but I think it's cool to allow yourself the luxury of just spouting shit."

Lyrically, G vs. B may simply be "spouting shit". Musically, they are speaking the words of God. They've taken traditional rock instrumentation and tweaked it enough to make it interesting without making it sound weird. Using keyboards in rock music is hardly a fresh idea, but it's not necessarily what they do with them, it's how they do it that makes it so appealing. Take, for instance, the last track on Cruise Yourself, Glazed-Eye. Who would have thought of using a vibraphone? And while there are a few bands that have attempted to use two bass players, Girls Against Boys are the only ones who have gotten it right (for a bad example see Ned's Atomic Dustbin). But you wouldn't notice either of these things just by listening to their records, these are subtle, understated things. You don't hear them so much as you feel them. That's why it works. And I guess that's why you can't read anything about Girls Against Boys without hearing about their "infinite sexiness". It isn't what they say it's how they say it.

Comments bassist/keyboardist Janney, "It's kind of hard to play punk rock and call yourself sexy, but I think the album's pretty sensual (referring to Venus Luxure...). Actually a good half of it was recorded completely naked..." But then again, maybe it is what they say...

-Sean Schroeder