The Outfits
Tryin On The Outfits
self-released
The calling card of any punk band has to be its attitude. The Outfits, one of Portland’s newest punk groups, has attitude to spare. These three young women do not give a fuck. They’re gritty, self-deprecating, and obsessed with bodily functions. They play hard, fast songs made to invoke rapid head-nodding and jumping in place.
Their debut album, Tryin On The Outfits, opens with the sounds of studio chatter, a lighter, a bong rip and some feedback, then launches into “All I Wanna Do Is Drugs,” your classic three-chord punk song. It ends, with one of them laughing, at the 1:16 mark.
The Outfits bring to mind other female-fronted punk acts like Bikini Kill, but the fact that they have XX chromosomes doesn’t make them feministas or confine them to Riot Grrrl stereotypes. Their genders simply allow them to sing in a higher register and deliver songs like “On The Rag” with the benefit of experience.
These chicks are out to have fun, and it shows in the lyrics as well as the informal quality of the recording, which was done by Sullivan-Jones’ partner, RattleSnakes/Sunset Hearts drummer Mike Cunnane. In “On The Rag,” singer-guitarist Sierra Roberts cracks up during her line “All my farts smell like eggs,” but they leave this and various other giggles in the mix as a testament to who they are as a band. During their CD release show last month at Geno’s, every song was punctuated by laughs from Roberts and fellow front-woman Kate Sullivan-Jones, and self-deprecating remarks about who messed up the song and when.
Roberts’ vocals are suitably snarly. Her guitar is filtered with just enough fuzz to work in both the straightforward punk context and in some of the band’s more surf-rock inspired songs. Sullivan-Jones holds down the bass lines and contributes backing vocals. Her infectious laugh and snide stage banter are instruments unto themselves. On the album, Anna Flemke plays impeccable drums, but she has since left the band. Their new drummer, Todd Gardner, played the CD release gig and showed no signs of struggling with the breakneck tempos.
You need look no further for loud, raucous, dirty, and occasionally offensive local rock. I wanna party with The Outfits.
— Anders Nielsen
The full album can be heard and downloaded at theoutfits.bandcamp.com.
[music album=11589]
