INTERVIEW: Gigolo Aunts
- Al Muzer
A criminally-overlooked musical treasure destined for Big Star-like after-the-fact respect, recognition and reverence, the Gigolo Aunts deserve to be blasting from your speakers this very second.
Touring almost continuously since 1988's Everybody Happy but, thanks to a contractual dispute with RCA Records, not heard on a full-length disc since 1994's Flippin' Out; group co-founder / songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Dave Gibbs, bassist/vocalist/ songwriter / co-founder Steve Hurley, drummer Fred Eltringham and guitarist / vocalist / Jon Skibic (the latter two taking over, as of Flippin' Out, for Paul Brouwer and Phil Hurley, respectively) have bounced back with Minor Chords And Major Themes.
Audible fans of the Raspberries, Badfinger, the Beatles, Kiss, Velvet Crush (Gibbs was that group's touring guitarist in 1991), the Byrds, Teenage Fanclub and, of course, all things Cheap Trick; Minor Chords And Major Themes is a watershed collection of hook-laden, buoyantly-catchy, lyrically-moving potential hits that compares favorably to its jangly forbears while it challenges such contemporaries as Nada Surf, Marvelous 3, Figdish, Sloan, Fountains Of Wayne, The Vandalias and Baby Lemonade.
The first offering from Counting Crow frontman Adam Duritz's Universal-distributed E Pluribus Unum imprint, the charismatic young vocalist has been an ardent Gigolo Aunts fan since the grunge-heavy early days when their breezy, pop-based major label debuts were both being ignored by radio.
Not just any label chief, Duritz requested the 'Aunts as the opening act for portions of the Counting Crows' 1997 tour; sings backing vocals (with Fountains Of Wayne frontman Adam Schlesinger) on "The Big Lie"; and was frequently spotted in the audience during their January residency at Hollywood's ultra-trendy Martini Lounge.
In addition to the mega-star status of their dreadlocked label president, a year-old UK Top-30 hit and British TV theme song in "Where I Find My Heaven" and considerable chart success in Japan; the Gigolo Aunts have also received attention for the inclusion of "You'd Better Get Yourself Together, Baby" on a recent episode of Felicity.
Besides television, the 'Aunts have also made inroads into the lucrative world of movies and are featured on the soundtracks for Dumb and Dumber, The River Wild, That Thing You Do and Swimming With Sharks starring Kevin Spacey.
As the Mike (Aimee Mann, Letters To Cleo, Jennifer Trynin) Denneen-produced Minor Chords And Major Themes CD gathers momentum behind such FM-friendly songs as "Super Ultra Wicked Mega Love," "C'mon, C'mon," "For A Moment" and "Everyone Can Fly" - longtime fans have begun pinching themselves and asking anyone who'll stop long enough to listen, "will 1999 be remembered as 'The Year Of The Gigolo?' "
"Just wait 'til you hear our electronic side project!" Gibbs jokes when the various musical trends that've charted since his group's guitar-pop debut was released are mentioned. "We're also working on one of those rap-metal hybrid things, you know...one'a those bands."
"That'll be called 'Illy-Bar," offers Skibic.
"And then, John's got a band that's called 'Skibic'," laughs Gibbs. "It's an all instrumental thing...a lounge-core, heavy-metal, drums 'n' bass, rap-a'la-Limp Biskit-and-Korn kind'a thing..."
"I've also got a ska-Klezmere side project that I'm working on called 'Smock,' " adds Skibic.
"Smock!" Gibbs says as though he really likes the feel of the name. "And then, well, there's always 'The New Jersey Guitar Army.' " [Note: TNJGA is an actual Gigolo Aunts offshoot that performed most of Television's Marquee Moon at an East coast club recently. "We were thinking of doing a real long version of L.L. Cool J's 'Mama Said Knock You Out', " confides Skibic. "But decided to go with Television instead."]
"The New Jersey Guitar Army is, uhm..." Gibbs says with a searching pause, "it's a great release. We try to take things seriously when we're in the studio and on the road, you know? But the business aspect of this," he adds with the weary sigh of someone who has truly been there, "is such a fucking joke that, if you can't have a little fun you wind up getting...you get defeated because it seems so...so arbitrary as to who gets played on the radio, what records are in the stores and who gets all the press coverage. It really is something of a joke, so you've gotta try to have fun with it while you can."
"And, if it becomes something that's no fun anymore..." interjects Skibic.
"Sometimes I think, 'here's this thing that I love...this record,' " Gibbs continues in a torrent of words, " 'this record that is, like, a huge part of me and has been a part of my life...' I'm saying something that's really personal to me on this record...."
"And...," prompts Skibic, a man who has clearly been on the receiving end of previous, and similar, examinations of the way things work by Gibbs.
"And then you put it out there and you read some shitty review of it and you're like, 'Goddamn!' " Gibbs says sadly. "It almost makes you not want to do that [make music] again. That part, I dread."
"It's really hard predicting what's gonna appeal to radio," Skibic deadpans. "Which is why we try not to worry about it and play what we like."
"Which is why I'm happy every time I hear, like, a Barenaked Ladies song on the radio," Gibbs explains. "It may not be exactly like us, but it's at least got guitars, bass and drums on it."
"I'm predicting a brass band revival," jokes Skibic. "Like, big high school bands. Really fucking good high school bands...Sousa!"
"Sousa?" queries Gibbs. "Hey! Around the turn of the century ... the kids dig the Sousa! That's what I'm seeing as the next big thing. Sousa with big, phat break beats behind it! Everything always comes back to Sousa."
