Andrew Olson (Reader Weekly)
http://www.thefountainheads.com
Minnesota is a harbinger of many great bands. Mixing all forms of
music we seem to adopt whatever suits our moods and styles. With
that transient musical sound different influences burrow into our minds
and lives.. After time the different tunnels lead to something
new, a light at the end?
Disc’s never fully understand a live show, they only let our ears idle
till they swell again with music. Great Girl Blouse’s new disc
147471 starts you up, while seeing the band live at Pizza Luce on
Saturday, March 26th will get you moving. The band consists of
husband and wife duo Amy (guitar, vocals) and Jason (bass)
Chorney and Brian Remme (drums). The band has been together for
eight years, inheriting it’s name from Liverpool, England. The
story goes that while studying abroad the local saying, "big girl’s
blouse", an insult meaning "sissy" stuck in their mind and was altered
into "great girl’s blouse".
Amy Chorney grew up in New York in a musical family playing violin,
jazz ensembles, and in Irish bands. When she met her future
husband Jason the daughter of a choral director and operatic voice
coach became a rock singer. This all added up to make Great Girls
Blouse is a juxtaposition of classic dirt and modern rock.
Dirt you say, that can’t sound good? Well reader, let me explain
a bit about dirt. When a press-kit contains a description of an
amplifier and has a description like, "pre-CBS 1965 Fender Bandmaster
head that was rebuilt by Wisconsin’s Flat Tube Amplifiers, with a
matching 4-ohm 2x12 cab" we know there is some dirt in there.
Dirt is what the Stones flew to America to try to capture in their
albums in the sixties. It is that little sound that only emanates
from true equipment of the era. Listen to an old Sun recording of
Elvis or blues records.. The dirt is what is hidden in songs, it
is comforting to hear and expensive to recreate. Rock ain’t about
being clean man!
Song one on their disk 147471 is titled "he played". It has a
Rolling Stones guitar surge in early and Weezer changes
throughout. Amy Chorney has a voice like Robert Plant tried to
emulate. It is that high pitched frontman sound of The Darkness,
but from a girl…. Where it should be coming from..
Basically she has the voice that every rock guy would die for. In
Great’s bio the sound is described as, "Pushing on your chest, crushing
the soft, fleshy tissue within.. Like a faulty roller coaster
safety bar."
The song, "all right" is alt/grunge with a resonating ska guitar.
The bass flows, and bubbles up in a libation of swirling rock.
Not often does hard rock sound so smooth, and when the song speeds up
the guitar gets even better. The dirt is there on "monster" and
echoes down a tunnel with the bass slithering like a snake
behind. Namesake, "147471" highlights a slight New York
influence.. The Strokes vocal effects were used with a
scary tone. The song is deep and says, "now what you carrying in
those thoughts of yours, do you know what commitment is for? And
it’s the last time I thought you’d go into the depths to try and doubt
your soul." Melanie once wrote the lyrics, "If you do me wrong,
I’ll put your first and last name, in my rock and roll song."
Hopefully the commitment part of this song was worked out?
"Guilt trip" is modern rock with quick singing like an Outkast
song. It grabs you when you hear the CD and sounds like new
things to come. The guitar on this song and "I will not come
down" is very Minneapolis. The interesting thing is that these
last few songs utilize a lyrical format that is becoming popular.
The words are fast, and almost compliment the piece musically.
You don’t catch all the words, but it sounds great.
To a generation captivated by never understanding the lyrics to rock,
but memorizing rap songs music has many facets. What did Nirvana
say lyrically? What did they say musically? How about Snoop
Dogg? Great Girl’s Blouse opens a new Pandora’s box of questions
about music today.. And they have a few answers too. Check them
out, the live show comes highly
recommended.
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