Friday, May 2, 2014

Gloo Girls - Attention Shoppers (1993)

Time for a change of pace - a little punk pop, and a rarity at that.  Everything you need to know about Gloo Girls you can find on their Facebook page.  The edited version is as follows:  The band was formed in 1991 in New York City's East Village by Beatrice “Patty Gloo” Giovaniello and Karen “Sage LeWho?” LeSage.  Patty owned a clothing store called Gloo People and Sage, a clothing designer, collaborated with her on fashion.  They were dubbed Gloo Girls and soon moved towards music.  Patty played bass and Karen played guitar, but she soon learned to play drums instead, and they recruited Georgia "Miss Georgia Peach" Connelly to play guitar.  In 1992 they released the single "Yo Blondie / Barbie U.S.A." on an indie punk label out of California.  Soon after, Georgia split and the ever-ambitious Patty and Sage moved their business to Soho, where they also began selling vintage furniture and running an all-female moving company, Amazon Movers.  The moving company, along with their glamorous 50s/60s inspired look, got them media attention (they were even featured in the National Enquirer and on American Journal).  They became a sensation in New York and finally recorded and released an album in 1993 on pioneering label Celluloid.  After going through a slew of guitar players, all christened "Guitara", they found one that stuck, Nicole "Guitara Seven" Kennedy, and they toured the US for some time before eventually calling it quits.  Since they split, Beatrice has worked as an interior designer in New York, Karen is an artist in Connecticut, and Nicole teaches and records music in Estonia(!!).  Though they were influenced by other punky pop groups like Lunachicks and Redd Kross, their sound was uniquely their own, very 60s girl group meets surfer rock, with an edge.  The sound would be revived in the late 90s/early 00s by groups like Chicks On Speed and Le Tigre, though with a more electronic flavour.  In fact, it was my love for those groups that made me seek out Gloo Girls, and I'm glad that I found them.  I think you will be too.  

Video for Barbie U.S.A.

Live performance at the Lions Den, NYC 

Download Attention Shoppers

1 Witch Is Witch
2 X-Con
3 On The Avenue
4 Meow
5 Hi Ya
6 Do The Gloo
7 Damn Hippies
8 Yo Blondie
9 Barbie U.S.A.
10 Don't Eat My Planet

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