There is a light, dum dum, that never goes dum dum out

The Smiths. Say what you want, genuises. In the 80s they've delivered plenty a wonderful songs, wonderful guitar, wonderful voice (this took me a while to write, I'm not a modern Morrissey fan), wonderful words. If there's something a sensitive subject, it must be covering the Smiths. Placebo did a good job with 'Bigmouth strikes again', the title alone suits Brian Molko perfectly and they did a good job upgrading the walkman to a discman in this 90s remake. When Johnny Marr started out playing with The Cribs, they played 'Panic', a song that suited the attitude of the Cribs. Of course Ta-tu's 'How soon is now' never happened, the excistance of this version is denied. Unless you fancy an earbleed and a disturbance of a life time, you could try and look for it on youtube, I strongly suggest you keep on denying this version excists.

Now then. The Dum Dum Girls have a new EP. Yippee! On which they cover 'There's a light that never goes out'. Oh.
In case you are unaware, 'There's a light...' is highly regarded the Smiths' best and most sensitive work. The Dum Dum Girls are one of the many garage girl bands out there. One of the best though, let's that be said. But still. It doesn't exactly sound like a combination made in heaven and approved by the God of Rock and all that is holy.

When I got my hands on that cover I held my breath. I expected the worst. I was tensed when I clicked [play]. This had to be, with all my respect to Kirsten Dundred (Dee Dee Penny) who is a very talented woman, truly awful.

Well, it isn't. Far from it. 'There's a light' is fresh, it rocks and it's good. Really good. There's no reverberation in her voice (hallelujah for that), she sings this brilliantly and the backing vocals are subtle and nice. The song is heavier than the original. They didn't copy the song and yet it's very recognizable. It's also very much Dum Dum Girls. The Smiths and Dum Dum Girls a good combination? Well yes! But then the Dum Dum Girls have been regarded the result of The Cure and The Bangles having mated in 1982. It's a logic result. Don't fear the new Dum Dum Girls EP, it's pretty good!

Dum Dum Girls - He Get's Me High is out 01-03-2011 on Subpop.

Where Garage Girls come from

The raise of female fronted garage rock bands is great. Vivian Girls. Dum Dum Girls. Best Coast. Grass Widow. Girls at Dawn. Pens. Veronica Falls. Las Robertas. You may argue they kind of sound the same but if they would drop the reverberation imagine how great that would be. Sure, it might be exactly that what makes current garage rock (male voices are doing the same) garage rock but The Splinters don't use it and they sound genuine and absolutely great. What a band they are, the Splinters. Pure garage rock. But are the new generation garage rock bands, or lo-fi as they probably prefer, fronted by women something new and so 21st century? I'm sorry, but it's nothing new.

Because, for instance in 1980, there were the Bangs. Not to be confused by the 90s band The Bangs, though in sound you'd love both. The 80s Bangs were three LA girls who shared their passion for 60s music. Beatles, Mamas & the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel (they would later in their career have a hit single with a cover), The Seed, The Byrds, the Randalls, these girls loved harmonies and they loved 60s garage. They released a fairly (underground) successful single 'Gettin' out of hand/Call on me' and were the darling of the Paisley Underground. They then did something the now generation garage rock bands don't - they got themselves a bassist. They rocked, they had fantastic voices which sang in harmonies and yes, they looked sexy too. If the Dum Dum Girls had been living at that time, they'd probably look and sound like the Bangs.

As the Bangs got more known, another band with the same name got aware and threatened to sue the girls. They renamed themselves and recorded a self-titled EP: The Bangles were born. Their debut EP was filled with 5 garage rock pearls and the future looked bright for the four, but not before firing their bassist and hiring a new one. With their new bassist they recorded a long player which was released in 1984, 'All over the place'. It sounded raw and sweet. The Paisley Underground was proud of their very own Fab Four as they were dubbed. The girls enjoyed their sweaty gigs and were giving their new bassist her very own moment, the Seeds 'Pushin' too hard'. It was a highlight of their shows.

Then something happened which might be typical for that time and probably wouldn't happen anymore, mainly because record labels will not spend their time and money into turning small bands into mainstream chart toppers. Record labels are not interested in that anymore. The Bangles were signed to a Big Label and damn you Prince for having an interest in the Paisley Underground and the Bangles.He wrote them the power pop tune Manic Monday. Add a marketing campaign for Susanna Hoffs Big Brown Eyes and you have a more successful version of the Go-go's. The rest is history. The Bangles released 'Hazy shade of winter' an old-school Bangles version of the Simon and Garfunkel classic for the now cult movie 'Less than zero'. Also 'Everything', their 1988 album, featured heavier songs but also spawned their biggest hit 'Eternal Flame' which launched the band into a break up. The band had turned into a huge success but not the way the girls had wanted to, not to mention they agreed on.

But before all that, before it all was over, the Bangles were the pride and joy of the Paisley Underground, their jangle pop-folk-garage-rock with punkish hooks was a delight and it still is today. Whenever I hear the early Bangles stuff I sigh happily and wish reverberation was never invented. Sure, it gives a lo-fi 60s sound, but you can accomplish that without. Do it girls, I'm begging you!