Girls Against Boys
Girls Against Boys is an American post-hardcore band, formed in Washington, D.C. in 1988 and currently based in New York City.
Career
The group began as a side project of bassist Eli Janney and Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty. Canty left the project by 1990 due to his commitments with Fugazi. Janney went on to recruit three former members of D.C. hardcore punk group Soulside to complete the lineup: singer/guitarist Scott McCloud, bassist Johnny Temple and drummer Alexis Fleisig.Girls Against Boys employs dual bass guitars, a rarity in rock music. However, Janney occasionally doubled on keyboards. Their second album, Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby, was a heavy yet nuanced entry into early 1990s post-hardcore. It was later performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series, and at the 25th anniversary concert for Touch and Go Records held in Chicago in September 2006.
They provided music for the soundtrack to the film . They have also contributed to soundtracks of the films Clerks, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Permanent Midnight, White Oleander, SubUrbia, Terror Firmer, Mallrats, the Psycho remake and Songs of the Witchblade. They covered the song "Boogie Wonderland" for the 1999 movie 200 Cigarettes; the band also appears in the film.
The band has toured extensively throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and the United States and Canada. They have performed in numerous festivals including Lollapalooza 1993, 1995 and 1996, All Tomorrow's Parties, Reading Festival, 1994 Phoenix Festival, Dour Festival, Primavera Festival, 1997 Fuji Rock Festival, Pukkelpop, Lowlands Festival, Les Transmusicales. They have appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Jon Stewart Show, Canal+ and MTV. Touring included stints with bands such as Jawbox, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Helmet, the Jesus Lizard, Garbage, Rage Against the Machine, Interpol, Fugazi, Brainiac, Pitchshifter, Atari Teenage Riot, Foo Fighters, Luscious Jackson, Tar, No Means No, Les Savy Fav, Magic Dirt, Big Chief, Edsel and others. Bands who supported them before going on to have mainstream success include the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, dEUS and Placebo.
In May 2013, Girls Against Boys resumed touring in support of a new EP. The first show of their reunion tour was performed at the Donaufestival in Krems, Austria, with David Yow of The Jesus Lizard providing additional vocals. In November 2013, the band played the final holiday camp edition of the world-famous All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Camber Sands, England.
Side projects/current projects
Scott McCloud and Johnny Temple also played together in a side-project called New Wet Kojak, releasing two records on Chicago's Touch and Go Records—New Wet Kojak and Nasty International. They followed with three more on Beggars Banquet—Do Things, No. 4 EP and This Is the Glamorous. The group featured Geoff Turner, Nick Pellicciotto and Charles Bennington.Alexis Fleisig performed with Moby for his album Animal Rights.
Scott McCloud, Johnny Temple and Alexis Fleisig toured with Gina Gershon in 2002 in support of her film Prey for Rock and Roll, a film focusing on the struggles of an all—female band based roughly on the life of Cheri Lovedog. The tour consisted of Gershon and three members of Girls Against Boys performing songs penned by Stephen Trask and Linda Perry. The tour resulted in the reality series/documentary Rocked with Gina Gershon.
Scott McCloud currently plays in Paramount Styles with Alexis Fleisig, who have released two records on Dutch Label Cycle/Konkurrent Records - Failure American Style and Heaven's Alright - and one on Silver Rocket, Distant Karma. The group has toured extensively in Europe and less extensively in the United States and Canada. The group features revolving guests including Richard Fortus , producer/bass player Geoff Sanoff, Julia Kent, Michael Hampton, John Schmersal, Simon Lenski, Chris Smets and Libor Palucha.
After Girls Against Boys became inactive in 2003, Eli Janney became a full-time producer for many musical acts, including Obits and James Blunt. Johnny Temple founded Akashic Books, an independent publisher, known for many books including Go the Fuck to Sleep, Hairstyles of the Damned and an extensive Noir Series.
Band members
Current members- Eli Janney – bass, back-up vocals, keyboards
- Scott McCloud – vocals, guitar
- Johnny Temple – bass
- Alexis Fleisig – drums
- Brendan Canty – drums, organ
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Discography
Studio albums
- Tropic of Scorpio
- Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby
- Cruise Yourself
- House of GVSB
- Freak*on*ica
- You Can't Fight What You Can't See
Extended plays
- Nineties vs. Eighties
- Sexy Sam
- B.P.C./Satin Down
- Super-fire
- Disco Six Six Six
- The Ghost List
Split releases
- Cheap Sweaty Fun & TJ's Xmas — Split 7" with Man or Astro-man?
- 8 Rounds — Split CD EP with Guided by Voices; benefit for the Washington Free Clinic
Music videos
- " Don't Got a Place"
- "Kill the Sexplayer"
- "She's Lost Control"
- "Super-Fire"
- "Park Avenue"
- "Basstation"
Appearances
- Chairman of the Board: Interpretations of Songs Made Famous by Frank Sinatra
- The Day We Killed Grunge
- Elements of Mammoth
- Jabberjaw: Good to the Last Drop
- Guinea Worm
- The Day We Exhumed Disco
- Life is Too Short for Boring Music
- PIAS s'Enrage
- '
- Introducing Vol. 4
- Kerrang! Welcome to Planet Rock
- Studio Brussels '96
- Fuji Rock Festival '97
- Everything Is Beautiful
- Vox Spring Collection
- Clerks
- Mallrats
- SubUrbia
- Love God
- Permanent Midnight
- Psycho
- 200 Cigarettes
- Blast
- Hedwig and the Angry Inch
- White Oleander