Wait a minute. Can this be true? Is Glyn Styler actually happy? “Yes,” Styler admits. “Well, I mean he’s all right because he’s working and doing something and people care about it. But if that stops, he would go back to wanting to hang himself.”
The project that has Styler on the brink of not wanting to commit suicide is Estrus International, a new band that allows the cabaret vocalist to fulfill a longtime dream – fronting an authentic bossa nova band.
“This is what I’ve really always wanted to do, and now I’m doing it,” Styler says. “It’s going to be this band from now on.”
The band grew out of a concert last spring sponsored by Composers With Attitude. Styler met Dan Sumner, half of experimental duo Permagrin, and learned that Sumner shared his love of the Brazilian-born style that swept the world in 1962. The two soon decided to try to put together a band to play bossas. Sumner recruited his Permagrin partner Louis Romanus to play drums, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra’s Sean O’Neil to play violin, and the New World Funk Ensemble’s Loren Pickford to play flute. Styler called on Rene Coman of the Iguanas to supply bass.
Since first getting together early last summer, Estrus has expanded their repertoire to almost 20 songs, with a heavy focus on the compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim – such as “Wave,” “Corcavado” and “UselessLandscape” – as well as bossa nova arrangements of songs by Cole Potter, Michel Legrand and others.
“I learn so much every. time I sing those songs,” says Styler. “This is how I should feel when I’m singing one of my songs, but I don’t. What I want to do is back up a little bit and become a musician first and then start being a songwriter, rather than the other way around. This is all just self-exploration-trying to become a better singer, trying to make myself proud and not just get a bunch of idiots to clap.”
Estrus formally debuted at the Mermaid Lounge on Oct. 4 to an enthusiastic and an uncharacteristically respectful audience. Styler was pleasantly surprised. “I couldn’t believe people actually liked it,” Styler says of the show. “I was afraid that they would start screaming ‘You’ Killed My Love’ and try to incite me to curse at them. They didn’t;”
While Estrus is limiting itself to bossa nova covers for the time being, Styler says he hopes eventually to include some originals in the show as well. Will those songs bear Styler’s inexorably gloomy outlook? “Probably, “Styler says. “It’s funny. I tried to write some songs that weren’t like ‘You Killed My Love’ – something that didn’t have to do with pain, rejection vengeance and all that – but they still ended up being like that in the end.”
For the time being, Styler intends to cut back on his already rare solo performances to focus on Estrus and, more important to Styler, becoming a better singer.
“I’m a full-time musician,” he says. “We’re going to really try. We’re going to play whatever we can play. Casinos, hotels, patties-I’ll do it. But I don’t take requests, of course.”
“I see a lot of kids wearing punk T-shirts now,” says bassist Jeremy Stewart. ”A year ago they probably wouldn’t have known the band they’re wearing on their shirt now. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just out of touch with the kids.”
At 21, Stewart is only a few years older than the kids he’s out of touch with, if you’re talking chronologically. Musically, he’s got 30 years on them.
Stewart’s band, Frigg A-Go-Go, area ferocious garage punk ensemble hailing from Lafayette. They draw their sound not from punk or hardcore but from ’60s proto punk and garage rock-bands like the Sonics, Shadows of the Night and the 13th Floor Elevator.
“It’s just a big mixture of influences,” Stewart says of their stripped down approach. “Ronnie Ramada, our singer, is really into the Stooges. Chad Gordon, our drummer, used to play disco bands. Chris Del Shaz, our guitar player, is really into 50s rock and roll. Christian Miller, our keyboard player,listens to a lot of ’80s retro stuff. And I listen to anything from Rush to Stiff Little Fingers.”
Frigg A-Go-Go’s debut CD, The Penetrating Sounds of Frigg A Go-Go, was released in August by the Denver-based 360 Twist Records. “The label sent us money to record the album, but we just sort of saved it and bought a van,” Stewart explains. “We borrowed a friend’s 12-track and recorded the album at the Subway Sandwich Shop in downtown Lafayette.”
And where did the name come from?
“Ronnie and Chris were tossing around names, and they wanted something a-go-go,” Stewart says. “They were coming up with different a-go-gos. One of them had seen frigg in a porno mag. It’s slang for masturbation. They said, ‘Let’s .call”it Frigg A-Go-Go.‘ We were like, “Fine…”
