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GIRLS LIKE CIGARETTES
New York-based, Baltimore transplants, Girls Like Cigarettes boast not only the type of infectiously catchy alt-rock one might've heard on 120 Minutes circa 1990 -- thus channeling groups like Husker Du, Catherine Wheel, Teenage Fanclub, and the Pixies, all of whom loom large in the band's output -- but have the impressive ability to be supremely populist yet to truly sound like nobody else on the scene today.
Sonically, the group pulls few punches, both in their songwriting and their incendiary live performance. Joe Black writes songs so timeless in their subject matter and delivery that they transcend what’s “hot” or “not” in the music industry. These songs, dealing with issues of loss, love, hope, redemption, and hoping your ex gets sucked into the propeller of an airplane, are then wrapped in a shiny pop sheen, not unlike taking your napalm with a spoonful of sugar. The end product could’ve been released in the 80's, 90's, today, tomorrow, 20 years from now? Possibly this is the reason for the persistent comparisons to legendary and timeless bands like The Cure, R.E.M. and early-era U2.
Also bolstering the comparisons, Guitarist Pat Fisher's guitar tone matches the sonic lushness and experimentation of guitarists like Johnny Marr, The Edge, Joey Santiago, and Johnny Greenwood, and is a welcome break from the current crop of metal-influenced music. One listen to the solo in “Beautiful Death Machines” shows Fisher emulating the cascading sounds of machine guns, if bullets were musical notes -- earning him recognition from Guitar Player Magazine editors, who hailed his tone and "Edge"-like performance. In “Everything Must Break,” he sounds eerily like Head on the Door-era Robert Smith, funneling his guitar through multiple effects, yet creating a perfectly hummable melody line that lingers under the vocals sticks to you like glue. Drummer Jeff Reed, who approaches his job like a seasoned studio vet -- and in fact has done session work with major label artists like Evan Taubenfeld -- produces a massive drum sound and meticulous rhythm. Of course on top of this are Joe Black's emotive vocals and sly lyrics, which reviewers have drawn comparisons to Peter Gabriel and Michael Stipe in both vocal tone and lyrical content.
In Summer 2007, the group recorded three songs at Baltimore's WRIGHTWAY STUDIOS with up-and-coming producer/engineer Stephen Wright (SR71, Jimmies Chicken Shack, Lake Trout, Evan Taubenfeld of the Avril Lavigne band, Dru Hill, 2 Live Crew). Not surprisingly, after posting the songs on MYSPACE MUSIC, the band quickly exploded on the MYSPACE TOP ARTIST CHARTS, lingering in the TOP 100 NATIONAL CHARTS in the Indie, Alternative, and Powerpop categories while crashing the TOP TEN for NYC POWERPOP, TOP 20 INDIE/ALTERNATIVE. Their 7500+ friends and 180,000+ plays highlights the band’s growing legion of fans, a dedicated core of whom have pasted the mini-hit “COMBUSTIBLE YOU” on their own players all across the world. Not a day goes by when someone new doesn't discover the group and connect with the message they’re sending. As a result, in December 2007, the group signed with FOLEY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP, whose owner/president, Eugene Foley, has worked with various record labels (EMI, Sony, Interscope, Atlantic, Geffen, Elektra), and whose clients have earned nearly 40 Gold & Platinum Records & 3 Grammy® Awards for their overall career accomplishments.
Although only having played live for just under one year, the group has played such notable venues as RAMS HEAD LIVE (Baltimore), SONAR (Baltimore), THE ANNEX (NYC), DON HILLS (NYC), ASYLUM (DC), THE RED & THE BLACK (DC), VELVET LOUNGE (DC), MERCURY LOUNGE (NYC), and would appear to be setting themselves up for bigger and better things, reaching a wider and wider audience. They have also prominently been featured on WDBK REAL 91.5, INSOMNIA RADIO, XM RADIO, TLP RADIO, 98 ROCK WIYY, UNSUNG HERO, WHFS 105.7, WFMU JERSEY CITY, and WTMD RADIO BALTIMORE. Rounding things out, the band has garnered national press attention with inclusion in the March 2008 edition of CMJ NEW MUSIC MONTHLY, to include a slot on the accompanying companion CD, and coverage in international music magazines like SKOPE (April 2008).
In sum, I’ll leave you with this: Bands this good come around only once in a long, long while so you have to embrace them when they're here...because tomorrow they could be gone.
Where has this band been hiding, and why are they not world famous?
FOR BUSINESS, PRESS, INDUSTRY ENQUIRIES:
Eugene Foley
Foley Entertainment Group
Phone: 908.684.9400
www.FoleyEntertainment.com
FOR BOOKINGS:
GIRLSLIKECIGARETTES@HOTMAIL.COM
PRESS:
“‘Combustible You’ is a masterpiece of genius lyric writing and melody. Everything about the song is perfect. The sweet groove and smooth feel are such magnificently sublime counterparts to the bitter, vengeful lyric. Where has this band been hiding and why are they not world-famous?” - Garageband.com
“Girls Like Cigarettes is already being compared to REM, The Cure, and Early-U2...not bad company if you ask me...” - WDBK 91.1 “REAL 91" - The Starting Five Showcase / TOP 30 Charting Artist
“Girls Like Cigarettes are no joke...” – DJ MOJO, BREAKTHRU RADIO DJ, writer for SPIN MAGAZINE, and former member of legendary NYC band SWANS
"Girls Like Cigarettes is one of the best 3-piece bands around today. Smart, catchy, loud....very rarely does a band pull off all three so well." --Tim Poggioli, DJ Insomnia Radio Baltimore
“I don’t know if girls like cigarettes...but they’re going to LOVE Girls Like Cigarettes...” - Tim Qualls, Host of the Tim Qualls Show, Comcast 28, Philadelphia/NJ/Delaware
“I received the new Girls Like Cigarettes CD today and, if their mission was to blow my mind, they have valiantly succeeded. Wonder how many spins in my car's cd player it'll take to melt this f*cker...” - Smoke Ring Productions Online Blog
“Some of the most beautiful, depressing, sarcastic, elegiac, yet infectiously catchy pop music I’ve heard since David Bowie hooked up with Mick Ronson and Radiohead learned how to play guitar...” – Underground Online Music Blog
"Girls Like Cigarettes have GREAT guitar tones..." -Guitar Player Magazine Editor Matt Blackett
"What's that I hear? Happy Days-era Catherine Wheel? Maybe some Doolittle-era Pixies? Mix that with some of the band's bombastic early-U2 inspired arena-ready choruses, and you've got one winning fuckin formula..." -- old school .alt online blog
RADIO/TV/PRESS:
CMJ COLLEGE MUSIC JOURNAL;
SKOPE MAGAZINE;
TIME OUT NEW YORK;
VILLAGE VOICE;
BALTIMORE CITY PAPER;
WFMU 91.1 New York, NY;
WIYY 98 Rock Baltimore, MD;
WDBK 91.1 Camden, NJ;
WHFS 99.1 Baltimore, MD;
WVUA 90.7 University of Alabama;
WTMD 89.7 Towson, MD;
WVUM 90.5 University of Miami;
WMUC 88.1 College Park, MD;
WLOY Baltimore, MD;
WBMB 89.7 New York, NY;
WMBC Baltimore, MD;
Breakthru Radio;
Warp.com.mx Radio (Spanish Language);
The Tim Qualls Show: DE/PA/NJ;
Insomnia Internet Radio BALTIMORE & NEW YORK;
TLP Internet Radio;
Tim Duncan Show - WFMU NYC;
XM RADIO;
Technorati;
Large Hearted Boy;
Pop Tarts Suck Toasted;
Brooklyn Vegan;
The Capstone Connection
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