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Girl
talk

By Michael Huget
MUSICAL PROFICIENCY is a
fine thing to have, especially if
you want to play in a rock 'n roll band.
But sometimes, the talent isn't always
there, and, well, a band has to rely on
other attributes to carry it. Like sin-
cerity. Or passion. Most of all, com-
mitment, And it a band is lucky enough
to have all three ingredients, it could be
lucky enough to get good at it.
Such is the case with Let's Talk About
Girls, a Lansing-based quintet. "We are
a fine case of incompetence growing in-
to something that works," says Dave
Katz, bassist and original talent of the
band.
"We started out as a punk band in
that nobody could play except Dave,"
adds Bill Holdship, keyboardist and
spiritual leader. "Barry (Bill's younger

brother) couldn't sing two years ago,
and I hadn't touched the keyboards in
years.
The beginnings were humble, to say
the least. "We never expected it to get
out of Geno's (the ex-sax player) living
room," Barry comments. "It was only
when Dave joined that we decided to
get a gig."
Although the group's first perfor-
mances were not what you would call
artistic successes, they persevered.
With numerous rehearsals and gigs,
they redefined their sound and even-
tually developed a style of their own,
evidenced in the selection and treat-
ment of the many different covers they
perform, including the Standells' "Dir-
ty Water," Dion's "Run around Sue "
and Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane."
If nothing else, their approach to
cover sets them apart from most other
'60s bands. "After Bill picks a song for
us to do, we only listen to it once,"
Barry says, "and then we work on it,
playing off each other-". Dave adds:
"Once we start playing a song, we
eventually work it around to fit our
style." And because no one in the band
is very familiar with many of the songs
they do, they don't hesitate to change it
if necessary.
They especially detest bands that
strive for accurate replication in the
songs they cover, instead of attempting
to inject their own spirit and ingenuity
into a song.

"I heard a band not too long ago that
did Top 40 covers and played every lick.
just the way you would expect," Dave
says. "But so what? You can go home
and play the record and get the same
thing."
Lest you think Let's Talk About Girls
jumped on a fad with their penchant for
'60s songs, Bill says that "when we first
started, a lot of people hadn't heard of
the songs we do."
And, Dave notes, "we preceded the
'60s craze by about 6 months. d
Besides, to the band '50s and '60s
music isn't all that different from what
music should be like today. For Bill,
"rock 'n roll is basically ar-
chetypes-you build on what's come
before you. That's all the Beatles did."
But even with their reverence for the
past, Let's Talk About Girls relies in-
creasingly on original music for shows.
"If you only play covers, you'll play in
bars forever," Dave says.

Most of the originals are predictably
reflective of the covers they do, only
slightly modernized, if need be. From
ex-member Renaldo Migaldi's "Atom
Death Boogie" to Bill's "When the
Bomb Falls, Baby (I Want To Be With
You)," LTAG's songs cover the themes
they find universal and timeless-love,
sex, and death. Bill says: "You can
write a song about El Salvador, but in
five years the song will probably be
outdated."
The band is currently working on its
first EP in Pearl Sounds Studios here in
Ann Arbor. But, Barry claims, the pur-
pose of the EP is not to make them
"stars," rather for the members of the
band to "keep from getting bored and to
try and experience everything you can
with rock 'n roll."
If you missed Let's Talk About Girls
last night at Rick's, you can catch them
in the upcoming months at the same
locale or possibly at Joe's. W

EVERYTHING IN THE LIVELY ARTS
A Publication of The Michigan Daily


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16 Weekend, December 3, 1982