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Cheap Girls
Giant Orange
In lieu of a traditional bio, here are 15 things you should know about Cheap Girls:
1. They are from Lansing, MI.
2. There are three band members: Drummer Ben Graham, bassist/vocalist Ian Graham and guitarist Adam Aymor. Ben and Ian have the same last name because they are brothers.
3. The trio was formed in 2007, the result of three musicians who’d grown up playing in bands around their hometown getting together to make music. “We just wanted to start a simple rock band and just play all the time,” Ian says. “This was fun right off the bat. It was a simple format. I’d write songs, we’d learn them the next day and we’d move on. That’s still what we do.”
4. The band’s first album was recorded quickly and cheaply and initially self-released in 2008. It is called Find Me A Drink Home.
5. Their second album, My Roaring 20s, followed in 2009 via Florida label Paper + Plastick, which also reissued Find Me A Drink Home.
6. Cheap Girls have toured with Against Me!, Lemuria, Laura Stevenson and the Cans and The Menzingers, and performed at Chicago’s Riot Fest and Gainesville’s The Fest. But basically they just want to play with anyone who makes “loud rock.”
7. The first time the band played with Against Me! was at a one-off show in Lansing in 2010. This led to a full U.S. tour together in February of 2011. Against Me! singer Tom Gabel’s reasoning? “Ian ended up getting completely trashed and creating his own party on our bus,” Tom says. “We had to make him leave at the end of the night. I knew then that I was not only a big fan of the band but a big fan of Ian.”
8. One night on that tour in February Ian got drunk again and asked Tom to produce Cheap Girls’ third album. Although Ian doesn’t remember asking, Tom texted him the next day saying yes.
9. Cheap Girls’ third album, which will be out February 21, is called Giant Orange. It has ten songs. It is a “loud rock” album.
10. The album will be released by Rise Records, who signed Cheap Girls in August 2011.
11. Giant Orange was recorded at Tom’s brand new studio, Total Treble Studio, a converted post office in Elkton, Florida. Tom actually had to finish building the studio in time for the band to record in October 2011.
12. Tom is the first producer Cheap Girls have worked with and Cheap Girls is the first band Tom has produced. This ended up working out for everyone. “Tom was more like a fourth idea on everything,” Ian says. “It was casual, but we were all really serious about making a good record.”
13. Except for some tambourine, Giant Orange is solely composed of guitar, bass, drums and vocals. All of the tracks have been road-tested, something the band had never done before. “These are the most lived in songs we’ve ever gone in to record,” Ian says. “We’d done a lot of touring throughout the writing of it so we’d played every song live before we recorded it.” This makes sense as Cheap Girls played nearly 150 shows in 2011.
14. The band will play anywhere that remotely makes sense and they always fill their off-days on tour with more shows. The weirdest venue they’ve played was a glow-in-the-dark arcade/miniature golf course serving a vegan potluck. “We’ve been able to play in a lot of places that aren’t typical,” Ian says. “It’s fulfilling for us but it’s great for fans who don’t get a lot of shows in their cities. We’d rather play than sit around.”
15. It’s hard to compare Cheap Girls to other bands, but Tom thinks they sound like some pretty damn good acts. “With Cheap Girls you not only have an authentic Midwestern rock band in the vein of the Replacements, Soul Asylum, Sugar and early Smoking Popes but you also have an incredibly talented lyricist and songwriter in Ian Graham,” Tom says. “I’m lucky to have gotten the chance to work with them.”
CHEAP GIRLS ANNOUNCE SPRING HEADLINE TOUR
NEW ALBUM, GIANT ORANGE, PRODUCED BY TOM GABEL OF AGAINST ME!
FIRST SINGLE, “RUBY,” NOW AVAILABLE ON iTUNES, STREAMING ONLINE
GIANT ORANGE AVAILABLE IN STORES AND ONLINE VIA RISE RECORDS ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21
LISTEN: “RUBY” FROM GIANT ORANGE
Lansing, MI’s Cheap Girls are excited to announce their upcoming Spring headline tour of the U.S. Beginning on Thursday, March 1 in Cleveland, OH, at the Grog Shop, the tour, which will also feature The Sidekicks on the entire run, will take in nights at notable venues across certain regions of the U.S. such as The Middle East (upstairs) in Boston, MA, on Saturday, March 3, Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, NJ, on Sunday, March 4 and The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, NY, on Tuesday, March 6. The tour will also include a stop at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX, during March and culminate in a performance at The Replay Room in Lawrence, KS, on Tuesday, March 20. Prior to the headline tour, the band will be performing shows with Smoking Popes on Friday, February 3 in Toledo, OH, and Saturday, February 4 in Columbus, OH.
Produced by Tom Gabel of Against Me! at the newly built Total Treble Studio just outside of St. Augustine, FL, Giant Orange, the Lansing, Michigan-based rock trio’s new offering, will be available in stores and online on Tuesday, February 21. As the band’s third full-length release, Giant Orange marks the follow-up to the band’s highly regarded 2009 LP, My Roaring 20s, and is another showcase of the band’s endearing guitar-rock that gloriously drips in ’90s nostalgia. The album’s first single, “Ruby,” is now available for purchase via iTunes here.
“The band worked hard on this album and should be proud of the final document,” producer Tom Gabel said. “With Cheap Girls you not only have an authentic Midwestern Punk/Rock band in the vein of the Replacements, Soul Asylum, Sugar and early Smoking Popes, but you also have an incredibly talented lyricist and songwriter in Ian Graham. I’m lucky to have gotten the chance to work with them.”
Cheap Girls, the rock trio consisting of Ian Graham (vocals/bass), Adam Aymor (guitar) and Ben Graham (drums) came together in early 2007 as a casual hobby between friends but has now transformed itself into an outfit that’s been favorably blending elements of Alt-Rock, Country and Punk over the course of their five years together. Recorded at an old post office just outside of St. Augustine, FL, that was recently converted into a recording studio by Tom Gabel, Giant Orange represents Gabel’s foray into production and was a bit of a departure for the band itself in regards to songwriting and their normal recording practices.
From the album’s crunchy, melodic first single, “Ruby,” and lyrically introspective “Pacer” to the punchy power-pop of “If You Can’t Swim,” Giant Orange illustrates a type of musical progression and range frontman Ian Graham is truly proud of. “In the end, I think we’ve created something that is the most honest and true-to-form record we have ever and could ever make at this point.”
Cheap Girls will be making the following appearances with Smoking Popes and The Sidekicks throughout February and March.
FEBRUARY
03 – Columbus, OH – The Basement *
04 – Toledo, OH – Frankie’s *
17 – Lansing, MI – Mac’s Bar (Giant Orange release party)
MARCH
01 – Cleveland, OH – The Grog Shop #
02 – Buffalo, NY – The Mohawk Place #
03 – Boston, MA – The Middle East (upstairs) #
04 – Asbury Park, NJ – Asbury Lanes #
06 – Brooklyn, NY – The Knitting Factory #
07 – Oneonta, NY – The American Legion #
08 – New Haven, CT – Lily’s Pad #
09 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fire #
10 – Richmond, VA – The Camel #
11 – Louisville, KY – Cahoots #
12 – St. Louis, MO – The Firebird #
16 – Austin, TX – SXSW
17 – Austin, TX – SXSW
18 – Shreveport, LA – The Media Star Entertainment Hall #
20 – Lawrence, KS – The Replay Lounge #
* = w/ Smoking Popes
# = w/ The Sidekicks
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Giant Orange - Album Art
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Ryan Russell
L to R: Ben Graham, Adam Aymor, Ian Graham
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Ryan Russell
L to R: Adam Aymor, Ben Graham, Ian Graham
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Ryan Russell
L to R: Ben Graham, Ian Graham, Adam Aymor
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Ryan Russell
L to R: Ben Graham, Adam Aymor, Ian Graham
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Ryan Russell
L to R: Ben Graham, Adam Aymor, Ian Graham