Girls Against Boys

Career

The group began as a side project of 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—Scott McCloud, Johnny Temple and Alexis Fleisig—to complete the line-up.

Girls Against Boys are perhaps most notable for employing dual bass guitars, a rarity in rock music. 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 Series 7: The Contenders (2001) and one song for the soundtrack to the 1994 film Clerks. They also contributed the song "Freaks" to the soundtrack for the cult film Hedwig and the Angry Inch and covered the song "Boogie Wonderland" for the 1999 movie 200 Cigarettes; the band also appears in the film. The cover sounds highly similar to their song "Let Me Come Back". They have also contributed to soundtracks of the films Permanent Midnight, White Oleander, SubUrbia, Terror Firmer, Mallrats, the Psycho remake and Songs of the Witchblade.

The band has toured extensively throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and the United States and Canada. The last tour took place in 2009 in Poland and Russia. 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 (1995) and Nasty International (1997). They followed with three more on Beggars Banquet—Do Things (2000), No. 4 EP (2001) and This Is the Glamorous (2003). The group featured Geoff Turner (ex-Gray Matter), Nick Pellicciotto (Edsel) 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 (2008) and Heaven's Alright (2010). The group has toured extensively in Europe and less extensively in the United States and Canada. The group features revolving guests including Richard Fortus (Guns N' Roses, The Psychedelic Furs), producer/bass player Geoff Sanoff (Edsel), Julia Kent, Michael Hampton (The Faith, S.O.A., One Last Wish, Manifesto), John Schmersal (Brainiac, Enon, Caribou), Simon Lenski (DAAU), 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

Discography