Forgotten Fridays: Gigolo Aunts - Flippin' Out

Forgotten Fridays is an occasional feature here at If It’s Too Loud... where we go back and find the lost records of our glory days. We played these on our college radio shows, put them on countless mix tapes, and then forgot they existed. Once a week we go back and remind you, and help decide if they were any good.

Gigolo Aunts are such a Boston band to me that I always forget that they started out in New York. In 1981. The band was formed by four middle school students under the name Sniper. In 1986 they changed their name to Gigolo Aunts, and in 1987 moved to Boston. Having some of the standard indie band issues (labels folding, self-releasing singles, etc), Gigolo Aunts released Flippin' Out on RCA in 1993.

Unlike many albums I listened to incessantly in college, Flippin' Out remains an absolute masterpiece. The opening track, "Cope," is roughly 1000 times noisier than I remember Gigolo Aunts ever being recorded. The album is a perfect snapshot of the indie rock/power pop hybrid that dominated bands in Boston in the mid 90's. This was the era where grunge was on its 3rd wave of watered down bands and a much of the indie scene was mixing catchy hooks and crunchy guitars. "Bloom" is the song that everyone in Boston will forever associate with the band, but if you're outside of the area you'll most likely recognize "Where I Find My Heaven" from the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack.

In 2000, Dave Gibbs and Phil Hurley moved out to Los Angeles and started writing music for films and television. 2004 saw the release of Pacific Ocean Blues, which is currently the final Gigolo Aunts album. Gibbs has contributed music to Josie and the Pussycats, Alias, and That Thing You Do! He has played bass for the recent Tom Morello projects Street Sweeper Social Club and The Nightwatchman. Hurley did music for Weeds, and has played with Tracy Bonham, Lisa Loeb, and Fountains of Wayne. Recently he's been a member of the South Austin Moonlighters and Jimmy LaFavre's touring band.