"...a world class rock n' roll band." Alternative Press
Since first emerging from New York's Lower East Side two years ago, NY Loose has sent audiences reeling with their sensationally messy punk-pop n' roll -- acres of attitude with the songs to back it up.
The group's ascent reflects the metamorphosis of guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Brijitte West, a shy kid who found her voice in a loud electric guitar, and tumbled headlong into rock n' roll's blast furnace. It's obviously where she belongs.
Thrashy, trashy, and hard as cracked asphalt, NY Loose's debut album Year Of The Rat asserts its faith in sheer adrenaline, from the opening chords of "Detonator" to the final reverb-drenched incantations of "Spit".
Dark, looming themes in "Dragonfly" and "Rip Me Up" contrast with the jagged pop stance of "Trash The Given Chance," "Song For Margot," and the exquisite "Broken". Elsewhere, "Kiss My Wheels" pummels home a statement of confidence and independence ("...I am purely self-sustained and I am surely self-contained") while "Pretty Suicide" exemplifies the group's rock n' roll alchemy.
"Pretty Suicide" was inspired by a famous Life magazine photo," says West. "A girl committed suicide by jumping off the Empire State Building and landed on the roof of a car. And she landed in the most angelic, graceful final pose. No blood or splatter -- just this beautiful state of relaxation. It seemed like the ultimate example of the collision between violence and tragedy and beauty. It's ironic," adds West with an acerbic smile, "because it was probably the best photo that this girl had ever taken."
The brazen "Spit" (to be featured in director Tim Pope's upcoming film The Crow: City Of Angels) testifies to West's ability to discover new angles in time-honored topics. "'Spit' is about sexuality and rock n' roll," she says, "that fantastic taboo quality they share."
Amid the album's new material is a bittersweet version of the Lou Reed/John Cale penned "Sunday Morning, " originally performed by the Velvet Underground. The song has long been a favorite of Brijitte's. "The lyrics describe that feeling when you've been up all night on Saturday and sun comes up you see people going to church as you're getting to crash-I love that moment." The song acknowledges the influence of NYL's esteemed Manhattan forebears -- Patti Smith, New York Dolls, and the Ramones -- as well as non-Gotham inspirations such as the Pretenders and Iggy Pop.
But ultimately NY Loose is firmly rooted in the here and now, and Year Of The Rat captures the manic chemistry between West, bassist Danny Nordahl, and guitarist Marc Diamond and drummer Pete Lloyd.
Explaining the album's title, West is characteristically blunt: "It turned the Year Of The Rat as we were making the record. It just seemed like the right name for the album -- kind of a New York thing," she laughs. "We've all had vermin infested apartments at one time or another."
Before immersing herself in Bowery real estate and loud rock n' roll, West spent her childhood ensconced in the chaotic and competitive home life of a large family. The 11th of 12 children, she admits being "really shy and quiet as a kid. That changed as soon as I picked up a guitar and plugged it into an amp. I felt powerful for the first time." Turned on to the Stooges and the Ramones by an older brother, she soon began writing songs "as a form of self-therapy."
Meanwhile, Washington, DC native Nordahl moved to New York City in this early teens. "I was looking for a safer place to live," he says with barely detectable irony. By age 16 he was a roadie for the Ramones, and later played bass with Stiv Bators for two years. Nordahl and West first met in 1988, and soon became friends. They finally decided to form a band together in 1994, named after the Stooges classic "Loose."
Through a series of indie-label 7" singles, the band quickly won an underground following in the UK, which prompted them to embark on a six-months British residency from January to June, 1995.
Typifying the warm reception the group received in England, NME stated" "NY Loose will suck you dry, leave you breathless, and remind you of why you originally decided to hitch that desperate ride on the rock n' roll rollercoaster."
It was on the first night of their UK residency that West and Nordahl met Lloyd, an Oxford native living in London at the time. When the group returned to America in summer 1995, Lloyd came along as their newest member. "We came back to the U.S. flat broke and homeless," laughs West, "but at least we had a drummer."
In late 1995, the group released Loosen Up!, a five-song EP on Flipside Records, that garnered raves from American critics, and soon thereafter inked a deal with Hollywood Records. Guitarist Diamond joined the rat-pack just as the band began tracking their major-label debut.
Fast and loose -- and steeped in the grand tradition of reckless abandon -- Year Of The Rat proves that Manhattan's decadent pavement is still a fertile spawning ground for provocative rock n' roll.
