THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 7, 1994 TAG: 9407070098
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUE SMALLWOOD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
THE FACT THAT the Gigolo Aunts are currently being touted as alternative rock's freshest faces really cracks up guitarist Phil Hurley.
After all, the Boston-based foursome has been at it as the Aunts, blending a passion for pretty pop with staunch rock guitars, since 1986. And Hurley, his brother bassist Steve Hurley, drummer Paul Brouwer and lead vocalist Dave Gibbs, have been making music together since grade school.
``It's funny, but I guess as far as most of the world knows, we are a new band,'' the affable Hurley said. ``Flippin' Out,'' the group's U.S. major-label debut, should change all that. Before they began their serious conquest for American listeners, though, the Gigolo Aunts made a strategic, and clearly productive, detour through England.
``We had learned from the examples of other Boston bands - Buffalo Tom, the Pixies, Throwing Muses - bands that signed a deal in England first and were able to go over there and play, establish a fan base and a good press kit of positive reviews,'' Hurley said. Following suit, the Gigolo Aunts sent their self-released single ``Cope,'' to British label Fire which immediately snatched up the band.
Fire's re-release of the rapturous ``Cope'' and its equally splendid flip ``Bloom'' took off, with the tastemaking music magazine NME naming it the Top Indie single of 1992, ahead of tracks from groups like Suede and the Auteurs.
``So we're quite a few steps further along in England,'' Hurley explained. ``But it's such a smaller country that it's a lot easier to get a buzz going.''
The music media have dubbed the Gigolo Aunts' sweet-and-stolid sonics ``grunge pop,'' hype that causes Hurley to chuckle again.
``The connotation of `grunge' is so funny at this point,'' he said. ``My idea of what grunge came from is that it grew out of places that are cold. Bands from Minneapolis and Seattle and Boston all wore layers and layers of flannel shirts because we were cold.''
Hurley describes his band's sound as ``more of a meeting of traditional American rock music with tastier aspects of British pop. The harmonies, the vocals and the strong sense of melody all come from the fact that we're Beatles' fanatics. But also, in our first bands, when we weren't good enough, we just had to play things like Ted Nugent.''
The wedded bliss of pop and rock heard in ``Flippin' Out'' has been the aim of the Gigolo Aunts since the band's inception. The group was named for a song by Pink Floyd.
``We've had a vision and a sound in the back of our heads that we wanted our band to sound like,'' Hurley said. ``Only in the last couple of years have we been able to pull it out of ourselves, technically and physically. We're still striving for it, but I think we're getting closer it
``It's always been trying to do the same thing, we've just gotten better.'' ILLUSTRATION: The Gigolo Aunts have been together since grade school.
CONCERT FACTS
Who: The Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, Gigolo Aunts and Dillon Fence
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Boathouse, Norfolk
How much: $12.50 in advance through Ticketmaster; to order, call
671-8100
Tell me more: 622-6395.
by CNB