Viva Vivian Girls!
by Peter Spengler
photos by Joey “You Know Who” and Melody Parra
The girl group is back, with a vengeance.
Not the kind that Phil Spector obsessed over, but the kind that play fast and sound and look good while doing it.
A girl group like The Vivian Girls, a New York trio w/ some serious bite and love for reverb soaked harmonizing, who destroyed the Black Market with a take no prisoners performance last Wednesday night.
These ladies, who are, by the way, Cassie Ramone, Kickball Katy and Ali Koehler, know their way around many a power chord and sound like they have an encyclopedic knowledge of every punk smash and bash guitar trick in the book.
At times I heard tinges of Buddy Holly creeping out from a late 50’s rock nostalgia the girls must have. You could hear early B-52’s or some kind of surf rock w/ some Pixies and Sonic Youth influences. They sound twangy but fuzzy and fast enough in a way that they transcendingly blend shoe gaze w/ a straightforward rock and roll sound.
Their style makes for an interesting thing to watch and slowly get into. their songs are distinct from each other and as they went thru their set it was like they were peeling back the layers of their chops and musical instinct—- Once you think the Vivian Girls have hit a clever peak they toss out another riff or crazy drum roll. Its the kind of stuff that critics rave about and revives and gives a new hope for rock and roll.
The Vivian Girls waste no time in their performance and quickly launch into their next song with three click’s of the drummer’s sticks…
*click!click!click!* CRASH!
…which you don’t see much and is very reminiscent of the Ramones and any other band who loved to play fast and get the job done in militaristic fashion.
They know how to keep their performance interesting by switching instruments mid song without missing a beat, throwing themselves dramatically on the floor as they attack their strings and pickgaurds and pump their guitars full of effects like it’s the instrument’s meds w/ breakdowns to die for.
Yes, the Vivian Girls are amazing, no stunning, live. Their tunes are top notch and they are worthy of their buzz and the word of mouth around town before the show.
Despite the attention whores who fucked w/ the group’s mic wires and pedals, it was f-in fantastic.
check out their myspace:
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