Retro ready

The Push Kings; Ringo's Gigolo

Cellars by Starlight by Brett Milano

Nobody likes to be known as a retro band, especially bands that are kind of, well, retro. Case in point: the Push Kings, who last year released a likable debut album steeped in late-'60s pop hooks, harmonies, innocence, the works. But getting typecast as a throwback bubblegum outfit didn't sit will with the band, and they've gone out of their way to avoid such tags on the follow-up, Far Places, which is due next month from Sealed Fate, a local label owned by former Dambuilders guitarist Eric Masunaga, who also produced the CD. This time around the Push Kings' songwriting is a tad moodier, the production is less vintage, and the rhythms are more danceable and up front. So instead of a late-'60s pop album, the Push Kings have grown up and made . . . an early-'70s pop album.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Even with the '90s rhythm loops, the sound of Far Places is so faithful, it's downright radical. After all, most '60s-inspired bands aren't really '60s, they just combine a classic sense of songwriting with a modern guitar sound -- i.e., Teenage Fanclub don't actually sound like Big Star and Oasis don't actually sound like the Beatles.

But the Push Kings (not to be confused with local adult-contemporary rockers the Push Stars) actually do evoke a different time and feeling. It's there in the songwriting: "The Girl Who Only Loves Candy" could be one of Donovan's giddier moments; "3012" layers voices in the manner of 10cc's "I'm Not in Love"; "Lonely Times" harks back to Queen's piano ballads; "Love Takes Flight" has a string section echoing ELO; the bubbly and midtempo "Orange Glow" recalls Wings, replete with Linda-style electric piano. It's there in the production, which keeps the voices up front, uses keyboards for atmosphere, and doesn't emphasize the guitars at all. And it's there in the spirit. Even when dealing with lost love (the ultimate pop tragedy, of course), the Push Kings retain a wide-eyed giddiness that sounds very un-'90s. How many bands could put across a chorus like "I hear magic in the sea, waves below me/Singing in the trees, all the little birdies" with a straight face?

"If that's unfashionable, then let's stay out of style," bassist Matt Fishbeck shoots back when I talk with everybody at the Phoenix Landing, in Cambridge. The '70s associations, however, get a mixed reaction from the band: the Kings hate getting pigeonholed but can't deny they love that kind of music. "Well, you can't get away from Paul McCartney," notes singer/guitarist Finn Moore Gerety.

Singer/guitarist Carrick Moore Gerety (Finn's brother) adds, "To me, that was the first time that studio sophistication and rhythm innovation started building up in pop music. I was born in the early '70s, and I always give my mom a hard time because I can't imagine growing up in the '70s and not buying every Sweet record. But at least she knows the songs when they come on the radio."

The band do admit that they set out to make Far Places a drastic departure from their debut. "That's a bit of an obsession with us, how different it is," Finn notes. "I'd be lying if I said that some of the feedback on the first album didn't cause me to re-examine things, in terms of newer music. We toured with the Apples in Stereo last year and they liked us a lot. But there was a percussionist in their band who said we were good but we lacked danger. That soundbite definitely lingered."

One could ask whether there's anything inherently wrong with an old-fashioned sound. It's not that the Apples in Stereo are ultra-modern either. But the Push Kings took the criticisms to heart. "We've been called a bubblegum band," says Finn, "and my biggest dissatisfaction with that was that it made fetishists of us. It's not like we always had it in mind to use certain kinds of equipment or make certain sounds. But if you put in strong vocal melodies, it's still going to hark back to the '60s."

As the disc's producer, Masunaga was surprised when the band wanted to use tape loops. But even those were done in an old-fashioned way: loops of analog tape were wound through the reel-to-reel machine by hand, instead of being edited together on computer. "To my mind, we're putting together the '60s and '70s, which were the greatest time for melody, with the present, which is the greatest time for rhythm," is how drummer David Benjamin explains the mix of styles.

The band made an effort to escape their bubblegum image by putting some sadder lyrics on this album. Not that they've gotten much less bubbly, but there is a quirkiness on Far Places that makes it more inviting than the debut (an album that consistently managed to be in a better mood than I was). Nevertheless, the two Geretys say they prefer to write songs when they're in an upbeat frame of mind.

"I can't go writing some angry rock song; that just wouldn't be me," Carrick avows.

"And I was a little self-conscious about having some sadder ones on this record," Finn interjects. "But a lot of it comes down to the key -- you get a sadder sound by writing in the key that Portishead or Kurt Cobain would use, or you can write in a major key like Paul McCartney or Frankie Valli."

There are good reasons to like the Push Kings: their tunefulness, their sincerity. But most of all because they've just mentioned Kurt Cobain and Frankie Valli in the same sentence.

GIGOLO MEETS RINGO

The Gigolo Aunts are one band who have never hid their love for the Beatles, so you can imagine how singer/guitarist Dave Gibbs felt recently when he found himself singing with one. During a recent stay in Los Angeles Gibbs was drafted into the sessions for Ringo Starr's next album, doing back-up vocals on two songs, even sharing a mike with Ringo and Eagles member Timothy B. Schmidt. Gibbs was part of a guest cast that will range from Ozzy Osbourne to Aerosmith's Steven Tyler (on drums!) to Paul McCartney on an album slated for release next month.

Gibbs was in LA to write songs with ex-Go-Go's member Jane Wiedlin, a meeting that was set up by his publishing company. "I went out because I needed a vacation and that sounded like a good idea," he explains. A friend suggested that Gibbs meet up with producer Mark Hudson, a name Gibbs knew from the mid-'70s Hudson Brothers albums, which are much liked by pop cultists today. "It turned out he was producing the Ringo album. I'd never met the guy before I got to Village Recorders, and the first thing he says was, `Too bad you weren't here yesterday, because Ringo was here.' I was thinking, `Good -- I would have been so nervous that I would have shit my pants.' Then a half-hour later, Ringo walks in."

Were Gibbs's pants okay? "Yeah, but I was hyperventilating. I had to leave the room and run for the phone, calling anyone I knew to say, `You won't believe it: I'm in the studio with Ringo Starr!' "

Gibbs was eventually invited up to add some vocals to a track, and as he recalls, "I was thinking, great -- this will probably be the one time that my voice gives out. But it worked out fine. I didn't feel too confused, because one thing the Gigolo Aunts can definitely do is harmonies. The word that comes to mind about Ringo Starr is `gentleman.' He bought me lunch and everything. I showed him a picture of our band and the first thing he said was, `Your drummer looks like me.' "

The song he wrote with Wiedlin will be on the new, as-yet-untitled Gigolo Aunts album, which was recorded over the past two months with Mike Denneen at Q Division and is due for release in June on a Geffen-distributed imprint owned by the Counting Crows' Adam Duritz. Gibbs reports that the disc takes a new turn for the Gigolos, who have been going for an extra-loud big guitar sound in recent years. "A lot of people may be confused by its general tone of mellowness and sadness. I don't want to call it acoustic, but it's a lot darker than anything we've done before. There are a lot of new songs that we haven't played live yet."

Although the band have discarded a lot of the material they've been playing in recent sets, they've kept the obvious single, "Super Ultra Wicked Mega Love." But Gibbs says, "It's radically different now -- not the grunge-rock novelty version we've been doing. We used acoustic guitar and slide on it, and we tried to think of how someone like Lenny Kravitz might record it -- a '70s boogie kind of thing."

GOOD DEED OF THE WEEK

Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer stepped in recently to help out Dropkick Murphys drummer Matt Kelly, who was about to start a national tour with a seriously beat-up set of cymbals. Kramer gave the band a set of his own, so the Murphys' live set will now be fortified with a genuine set of Aerosmith cymbals.

When Aerosmith's publicist called to relate this story, I wondered how Aerosmith got word of the Murphys' plight. It turns out that Kramer is friends with a few guys in the band.

Other Aerosmith news: the band have just completed a tour of large venues in Japan and are about to begin the third American leg of the Nine Lives tour, which doesn't include a local date as of yet. They did tape their New Year's Eve show at the FleetCenter for possible video release. If it does come out, let's hope it includes the encore that they performed in Upper Crust outfits.

COMING UP

Tonight (Thursday), the Moors have their second CD-release party at the Middle East with Reflecting Skin, Sabot, and Mors Syphilitica. Slide and Bee Charmers are at the Attic, Huck, Permagrin, and Kenne Highland are at T.T. the Bear's Place, and January, Pistols, and Elixir are at Club Bohemia to celebrate the Hepcats Stole My Baby compilation . . . Tomorrow (Friday), two longtime faves, Charlie Chesterman & the Legendary Motorbikes and Eric Martin & the Illyrians, are at T.T.'s, Slughog have a CD-release gig with 8 Ball Shifter at the Middle East, the Mudhens have a release party at Mama Kin, the Strangemen are at the Phoenix Landing, CJ Chenier is at Johnny D's, the American Measles are at Bill's Bar, and Stu Kimball and Mark Cutler team up at the Lizard Lounge.

Back from the grave, the Damned are at the Middle East Saturday with the Peer Group opening. Also on Saturday, the Swinging Steaks and Darlings do country at the Lizard Lounge, New Orleans bluesman Walter Wolfman Washington is at Johnny D's, and Full Powered Halo are at T.T.'s . . . Former Simple Machines pop band Retsin come to Charlie's Tap Sunday . . . The Club d'Elf trance jam at the Lizard Lounge this Tuesday welcomes special guest John Medeski, who usually plays with Martin and Wood. Also on Tuesday, the JGB (Jerry Garcia Band without the big guy) begin two nights at the House of Blues . . . And on Wednesday, Machinery Hall are at the Irish Embassy, and A3 are the guests at Brother Cleve's "Swank" at Bill's Bar.