Low-end groove rockers Girls Against Boys return to record stores this week with the aptly-titled "Freak*On*Ica," a dance-rock cocktail that is already drawing rave reviews from critics and peers alike.
In fact, when MTV News sat down with Garbage recently, just as Butch Vig was lamenting that "There's not a lot of great guitar bands around right now," [300k QuickTime] his bandmate Shirley Manson jumped in, noting, "There's Girls Against Boys. They made a great... I mean, the guitars sound incredible on that record. And seeing them live, when you watch the audience watching them live the way they're all lit up, you know, they're just totally into it" [1MB QuickTime].
While GVSB has been fusing the worlds of rock and techno for years, the band turned the electronic factor up a few notches on its major label debut, largely with the help of Killing Joke and Public Image Limited producer Nick Launay.
"We talked to him a lot about integrating a lot of the sounds from techno or breakbeat or whatever you want to call it, bringing those sounds into what we do," Girls Against Boys keyboardist/bassist Eli Janney told MTV News of teaming with Launay. "We sent him all of our records, and he listened to them all, and he thought it was a cool idea to bring all of these elements in [1MB QuickTime], all these sounds, and mix them together. He was excited about it. He was one of the few producers that we met with, I think, that understood what we were trying to do."
Others seem to understand too, as the band's album earned an "A" from "Entertainment Weekly," and the first single, "Park Avenue," is picking up steam on radio playlists. The group is putting the finishing touches on a video for the song with the help of director Nick Gordon, the man who helmed the time-scratching video for Roni Size's "Brown Paper Bag."
Girls Against Boys are currently supporting the release of "Freak*On*Ica" with a European tour, and plan to visit the U.S. this summer.
