Written By: Justin RandsView all our Girls photos here.
Guitarist, founder, headline-making Christopher Owens took Troubador's stage Friday night dressed in a ripped black ‘Rush’ t-shirt, red tights, and white orthopedic shoes. His hair was greasy, matted down and hanging in front of his face. J R White, bassist, founder, followed behind him, dressed in plaid, with a demeanor of complete comfort with where he was.
‘Girls’, and there definitely were a fair share of them in the crowd, have certainly ‘made it’. From 9.1 ratings on Pitchfork, best new music on blogs across the country, controversial videos involving men’s penis’s and San Francisco’s youthful underbelly, the boys have taken everything in stride and remain the front runner for one of the top Indie albums of 2009.
I, after living in San Francisco myself for seven years, still hadn’t gotten a chance to see them until tonight. Their album is definitely at the top of my list this year, and maybe one of the tops for the decade for me as well, and I looked forward to seeing if the album ‘Album’ would transmit well onstage.
The lights dimmed and the band began with ‘Ghost Mouth’, a slow methodical tune about being lost in life, confused, the type of song most people can connect with when they lose their path. “I’ve got nothing to do and nobody to see, no where to go and nobody to be” Owens, whined, with his eyes closed.
The album is packed full with heartbreak, as Owens has gone through a fair amount of it, dealing with breakups, breaking free from Children of God cults he was forced to be in during his youth, and the adjustment of living to a new city without a direction in sight. His stage presence isn’t demanding, and he stammers nervously when speaking between songs, something he claims ‘he still isn’t good at doing’ oddly enough, but because of these things you can’t help but feel that Owens is a unique talented individual.
They played their whole album, with people responding mostly to their top hits ‘Lust for Life’ and ‘Hellhole Ratrace’. The songs translated OK on stage, there’s no way that they could give the same feel of the album live, because there are far too many small nuances spread throughout that make the album what it is. At some points I couldn’t hear other guitarist or the brave guy who played tambourine throughout the whole show at all but they made it work.
The show was a success, offering us a small glimpse of what the real side of San Francisco is all about. I feel that out of all the bands coming out from the Bay Area that ‘Girls’ has really controlled their image well, creating a cohesive yet interesting portrait of the youth growing up in this society and some of the thoughts that consume them.
