Just Hanging With the GIRLS!

I'm going to the annual Sasquatch! Festival this Sunday, and I'm getting pretty excited. I'll be seeing a plethora of good, live bands including Pavement, The xx, Public Enemy, Dirty Projectors, Tegan & Sara and San Francisco's Girls. I wrote a little "preview" of sorts for Seattle's righteously awesome online music mag, Nada Mucho. Unfortunately I completely spaced the fact that another contributor was also writing a preview of Girls, so mine didn't "make the cut." Girls are a great band with a great story, so I've decided to share this with you, my loving blog reading friends.

Just Hanging With the Girls: Sasquatch Preview 2010
By Ben Allen



Rock and roll is full of legends, myths and elaborate tales. Sometimes you become more familiar with a band’s back story than you do with their music. Such was my experience with Girls. Before listening to a note of their music, I had become intrigued with the band, solely based on their background. Lead singer/songwriter Christopher Owens grew up all over the world as member of the sexually perverse, apocalyptic Children of God cult. At times, his mother turned to prostitution to help the cult survive. During his childhood, Owens had very little exposure to modern music, as rock and roll was strictly forbidden. After leaving the cult, he ended up working as a personal assistant to the eccentrtic Texas millionaire Stanley Marsh III. Then about two years ago he stopped “hustling” (selling substances) and started a band with his San Francisco buddy Chet White.

Perhaps because of the lack of exposure to rock growing up, Owens’s music with Girls has an air of innocence that also comes off as refreshingly original. You can hear a slight influence of jangly 60’s pop on their debut, simply titled “Album,” but it doesn’t come off as derivative. If anything, Owens creates songs so full of sincerity it’s almost embarrassing. Most people wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing these sentiments with their therapist, but Owens makes the details of his personal life available for whoever wants to listen. On their first single, “Lust for Life,” he sings “I wish I had a father/Maybe then I would've turned out right/But now I'm just crazy/ I'm totally mad/Yeah I'm just crazy/I'm fucked in the head.” The song continues in this confessional manner with classic, sloppy garage pop propelling it along. Another stand out was “Hellhole Ratrace,” a slow burning confessional ballad where Owens contemplates a more complete, happy life. “I don’t wanna cry my whole life through/I wanna do some laughing too/So come on and laugh with me,” he sings in a heart-wrenching voice full of sorrow. Chet White, the only other permanent member of the band, produced the album. While at times heavily textured, the record also perfectly captured the rawness in the band’s sound.

Owens’s honesty translates directly into his live performance. Girls are a competent, solid group of players, but don’t expect any wanky, over-the-top virtuosity or cheeseball theatrics. Basically, what you see is what you get. If the band is hungover, they’re not as energetic. If Owens is feeling depressed, he doesn’t act animated. If recent shows are any indication, the band will play most of 2009’s “Album,” some newer material, and possibly a cover thrown in just for fun. Constant touring over the last couple of years have worked in the band’s favor. Awkward, amateurish live beginnings have flourished into more solid performances now featuring keys, vocal harmonies and a tight rythym section.

Due to such a chaotic, troubling upbringing Owens never had the luxury of being “ironically distant” or “hip.” He never had any formal type of education, and didn’t even use money or have a job until he was seventeen. In a recent interview he described how most people are in bands “because they’re trying to get chicks or act cool.” “It's not about that for me.” He continued, “It's about finding a reason to be alive."

Catch Girls live at Sasquatch! on Sunday, May 31st 7:00 PM