Tunesday: Cheap Girls

Cheap Girls are from Lansing, Michigan.  I've never been there, but it seems like a place where they make good music since Cheap Girls make good music.  How do you like that for logic?  Actually that's not good logic at all.

Cheap Girls have come up on my radar a few different times.  I had seen them once live at the Redwood in downtown L.A. when they opened for Drag the River and Mike Watt.  Trippy lineup, right?  I remember being impressed with the way they played live, clean and powerful.

I think I had seen their name a few times again after that and maybe a few tunes appeared on some of the podcasts I listen to.  The the blessed Spotify came down from the heavens and I was able to listen to all the albums from the bands I had been meaning to look into.  I played through the Cheap Girls discography quite a few times and then I sprung for it and bought all their records.  A purchase I was quite pleased with.

Recently Cheap Girls played the Satellite in Silverlake and they did not disappoint.  Alison dug them and I had their tunes echoing in my mind.  Since then Alison requests Cheap Girls albums when we are sitting on the porch enjoying the view and a brew.

It's hard to put a finger on what Cheap Girls sound like, but I would guess it's somewhere mixed in with Dinosaur Jr. and Gin Blossoms.  Don't quote me on that because it's always so subjective when trying to compare bands to each other in order to show some form of relative sound.  They have a driving drum and bass section with pretty varied and technical guitar melodies.  The whole while the vocals stay back and refrain from overpowering.  That's probably the most you'll get out of me on listening notes.

Here's a few videos from the boys in Cheap Girls, take a gander then listen over and over because their tunes will get stuck in your head.

Reactionaries

Time for a little shameless promotion... although that's what writing blogs is all about, right?

I recently partnered up with a few friends to start a record label that showcases musicians from my hometown of San Pedro. We just finished our first record, which is a re-release (first release) of a practice tape The Reactionaries (Minutemen before they were the Minutemen) and a b-side of a bunch of pedro musicians doing their versions of the songs by the aforementioned band. It's a pretty cool concept and was a lot of fun to make. You can check out site out at Water Under The Bridge Records. We even have another blog that chronicles the whole process of making the record.

It was a pretty damn cool experience. Chuck Dukowski of Black Flag played on it as well as Jack Brewer and Joe Baiza of Saccharine Trust and even Mike Watt, Todd Congelliere. So get down!

We are having a release party for the record at Harold's Place in San Pedro, Saturday Feb. 20th with a bunch of bands and good times. Check / click on the flyer below for info!