Glam rock laced with obscure super hero
references and sapphic celebration, anyone?
Yes, please. But don't get too hung
up on the sci-fi sex trappings. At the
radioactive core of Atomic Swindlers
is a solid rock band that doesn't require
gimmicks.
by Dave Brecheisen
"We really wanted to capture that
glam sound, that T. Rex, Flo & Eddie-type
thing; it’s such a cool sound that
I think it’s timeless,” says
Atomic Swindlers platinum blonde
vocalist April Laragy. And capture
the glam sound she and her band have. Captured
it, cradled it, and released it in a
tightly knit, highly stylized package. Their
debut, Coming Out Electric,
is very much steeped in the music and
imagery that defined Ziggy-era David
Bowie—complete
with guitar-bent, futuristic lyrics
and flamboyant androgyny.
Melding musical genres that include
psychedelic, garage, glam, and pop,
Atomic Swindlers have carved a niche
that transcends all of these—even if the band’s
beginnings were somewhat incidental. Atomic
Swindlers began as a recording project
in Rochester, New York, and has since
blossomed into a multimedia production. “[At
first] we wanted to do just a recording
thing, so we got Chris (Yockel, guitar),” says
Laragy, “Then it started to sound
really good, so we figured if we’re
going to have to do this live, we’re
going to need more guitar players, so
we got Scott (Ostrowski).” Ostrowski
and Yockel come from very different musical
schools—Ostrowski is from the traditional
school of guitar, while Yockel is “everything
but,” in Laragy’s words. The
dynamic between the blues-based and
jagged, ambient guitars creates tension
in the music that gives Coming Out Electric much
of its edge.
In addition to more-than-capable musicianship,
Atomic Swindlers have in their arsenal
three talented songwriters—Roy
Stein (drums), Gary Trainer (bass), and
April Laragy, all of whom contribute
equally to the album. The first
four songs written and recorded for the
album were “Sex66”, “Stars
in My Pocket”, “Jupiter’s
Falling”, and “Empty Girl”.
It was at that point that the trio realized
that they were headed somewhere, even
if their destination was somewhat unclear. They
decided to approach the album as though
it were a comic book, set at the borders
of space, time, gender, and sexuality.
With three very different songwriters
in the band, approaching the writing
process as though they were constructing
a comic helped provide the writers
with some focus and give the album
continuity. “We’re
all a little different,” laughs
Laragy. “Gary’s lyrics are
a little… uh, out of this world. So
sometimes it’s hard. I have
to say, [whispering] ‘Gary, I don’t
know what you’re talking about.’ A
couple of things I have changed without
knowing it… sometimes he’s
like, ‘What are you singing there?’ after
the song is already recorded and done… [I
have to say] ‘I don’t know,
you wrote it.’”
From this collaborative effort, a
sort of concept record emerged. There
is no narrative per se, but rather a
string of twelve songs that tie together
thematically and aesthetically—more Dark
Side of the Moon than Operation:
Mindcrime.
The album opener and first single, “Float
(My Electric Stargirl)”, is awash
in ambient keyboards and anchored by
a rhythmic groove. “I wanted to
shine like the Silver Surfer, cosmic
queen of the stars / I’m a killer
on a waveless sea, weightless and free
/ Your voice is all that’s left
of me”, sings Laragy, channeling
Bowie’s stellar lyrics and Lou
Reed’s cool delivery.
The accompanying video by Joel Trussell,
featuring Laragy in animated form
as a love-struck mercenary battling
intergalactic biker bandits and tyrannical
robots to rescue her sapphic queen,
has garnered significant praise at
animated film festivals in both the
United States and Europe.
The following track, “Wonderlove”,
builds on the dreamy atmosphere and sexual
androgyny of the opener, while “Space
Bandit” eschews ambience for noisy
guitars, reminiscent of Bowie’s, “Let’s
Spend the Night Together”. Throughout
the album, Atomic Swindlers move seamlessly
between the two modes, sandwiching melodic
tunes like “Underground Love” between
rollicking numbers like “Diamond
Dreamer” and “Intergalactic
Lesbian Love Song”.
Recently, Atomic Swindlers released
a 2 song demo featuring the songs, “Into
the Strange” and “Susan Jolie”.
These two new tracks pick up where Coming
Out Electric, leaves off. The
former is a glam-pop gem, the latter
a fragile and forlorn ballad. Perhaps
even more so than on Coming Out Electric,
the demo finds Atomic Swindlers sounding
as comfortable writing delicate melodies
as they do writing catchy guitar hooks.
Whether delicate or driving, all of the songs on Coming Out Electric and
the demo are laced with sci-fi imagery and blur the lines of gender and sex,
but like the best science fiction, it both entertains and informs the human
experience. The isolation of space and the sexual identity of the songs’ characters
serve not just as a provocative fodder, but as metaphors for the uncertainties
of everyday life. These are songs about overcoming fears and navigating
a perilous world. Fortunately, the Atomic Swindlers’ future is
a utopian one where the good thrive in happiness and love conquers all.
Unfortunately, the band’s gender-bending
and overt sexuality has kept them primarily
on the fringes of the music community. The
original album title for their debut
was Intergalactic Lesbian Love Songs,
but they decided against it “because
[Coming out Electric ] has a
lot of meaning to it. Besides, we didn’t
want to be too in-your-face,” jokes
Laragy, whose onstage persona lacks only
the intense amounts of blush to rival
that of Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust.
Though they are starting to make their
presence known outside the GLBT community,
Atomic Swindlers aren’t exactly
being welcomed with open arms to many
venues. Their shows, though generally
well received, are rare, partly because
of the technical requirements to stage
their elaborate, multimedia show, but
primarily because there are a limited
number of club owners willing to take
a chance on them. And while they
haven’t experienced overt bigotry,
they aren’t sure they’re
ready to knock on the doors of conservative
America. Says Laragy: “We
haven’t purposely gone out to clubs
where they have a built-in crowd… I
mean, we haven’t exactly been invited
to the Kennedy Center… [But] It’s
hard for us [to care too much] about
that because we’re all so much
a part of that scene… you kind
of get used to yourself and forget
there other people out there.”
It’s easy to talk about Atomic
Swindlers in the contexts of their image
or sexuality, but what many overlook
is the songwriting and musicianship. Though
Atomic Swindlers have planted themselves
firmly in the aesthetics of glam, Coming
Out Electric is more than the glitter
and androgyny. Without the songs,
androgyny is a gimmick, glitter is passé. Atomic
Swindlers have the songs.
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