If you're the kind that slinks back to the fridge when the gaggle you're hanging with at a party is going off about Brit-pop, Gringo Star's for you. It's not that you don't appreciate the droll vocals and clever craft of a Kinks song. And you might even check out the Kooks if they come through town on the weekend. But Brit-pop bands are, after all, British. Tea, tube and monarchy references only go so far for you. This Atlanta, Georgia foursome add layers of rural lilt to their Brit-ish pop, garagey grit to others, while sneaking out slight-psych guitar blasts and gang yalps when least expected. If not the wheel rebooted, their self-titled full-length on My Anxious Mouth is stunningly seasoned for a debut. They're known to switch around instruments in their live set, but probably won't be donning ascots and Manchester United jerseys onstage... just yet.

The press release says you guys are somewhere between the Animals, Motown and the Kinks. Do press release writers still think people won't know who the Black Lips or Reigning Sound are? I mean, I'm guessing you guys formed while getting into more modern or even local bands?
Nicholas Furgiuele: To be honest, the reason our publicist lists those bands is we feel like we have more in common with bands from the 1950's and '60s than those current groups you mentioned. My brother and I grew up listening to Sam Cooke, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, and from there got into Arthur Alexander, the Kinks, Animals, Doors, Beatles, etc. I definitely feel we could care less about most contemporary bands, aside from maybe Nirvana and Sovus Radio, from Atlanta. Bands like the Black Lips used to just play straight-up punk. We've always liked older music and felt more of a connection there. But each member of the band takes turns writing and singing, so then there is the factor of what each of the other guys are into. It's a four-headed beast with us.

Not to belabor this, but considering this is your debut, it reminded me of when I heard the first Black Lips record years ago and thought that, for such young lads, you seem to have an innate sense of most classic rock 'n' roll moves. Did someone in the band have an older brother with an amazing record collection?
Peter Furiguele: Nah, we just grew up listening to our parent's record collection, which was everything from early rock 'n' roll like Otis Redding, the Falcons, the Platters, Del Shannon, British Invasion stuff, girl groups, Jimi Hendrix and on and on, and then never really got into anything that came out while we were kids. So when we started writing, what came out was just our natural tendencies to create songs that were more focused on melody, harmonies and good songs that had yet to be watered down by noise, decadence and trash from the '80s and on. I think we spend so much time working on our own music that we don't really get into too many other bands that are happening right now. But there are some for sure.

There are certainly a lot coming from the Atlanta scene. Is it as busy as they say? Or can you give us a different perspective?
Matt McCalvin: It's very much a vibrant scene with tons of local and national shows nightly. It is the hub of the south, and depending on your opinion on Florida, it's the last stop before going into that abyss (nothing personal, I'm just not a fan of Florida). It's got a variety of bands from all "genres" I suppose, and the people (or at least the people I know) are all my good friends, like the N.E.C., A Fight To The Death, Anna Kramer, Ominous Castle and All The Saints, to name a few.

There's been a belief that independent rock from the deep south often exhibits a weird streak that goes back to the 13th Floor Elevators, of bands that feel like outcasts in their region, so they hunker down in a basement with moonshine and acid and come up with original sounds to counteract being called "fags" for the first 13 years of their lives. But Atlanta has become like the fastest growing city in America.Athens has been a hip burg forever. And Austin, North Carolina, etc. are all well-established new rock wellsprings. So do you think there is still something about the South that feeds creativity in some intrinsic way?
NF: For us, we were born and grew up here. Our grandfather, who died before we were born (but I figure we inherited his love for music) was a DJ, "Dr. Jive," in the '50s and until his death. He was recently inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame for his contribution to breaking down the racial boundaries in music by championing the likes of Sam Cooke, James Brown, Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, Marvellettes, Otis Redding, etc, etc, and later moved into promoting shows around Columbus and Atlanta. So we grew up just being exposed to this music. I'm not even sure if I've heard more than a couple 13th Floor Elevator songs. But we did ultimately decide we would start this band, and at that point we were practicing in our basement for five hours a day, six to seven days a week for a year before we brought our noise upon Atlanta in 2002. Ever since, we've been practicing and playing and touring and writing. As far as Athens goes, I think it's a pretty tired place, still living in their '80s shadows, meets University of Georgia frat life. Atlanta, to me, is incredibly more diverse with all the bands coming out. You've got a huge rap scene, metal, punk, rock, country, pop and all sorts of in-between. It's far more exciting here than most places. Every time we come back from the UK or touring the US/Mexico, you notice even more how much more diverse Atlanta is than most places—in the gringo realm of the world, at least.

Because of the usual running around madness, I missed your CMJ Music Marathon sets. How'd it go for you?
PF: By far it was the best one we've had. We recently joined forces with Magnum PR to do publicity. Our publicist, Jo, who is amazing, got in the van with us the first morning we were in town, and we all just rode around to a bunch of interviews, had a great time, and then played some really fun shows. It seems like we generated some interest and have had a lot of really positive things come out of it. Now if we could just find a good booking agent and label to help push our music out there a little more.

You're leaving for a UK for a tour very soon. I think you've already received some good press over there, right?
MM: Yeah we're heading out for our fifth trip over. The shows are always amazing and are getting more and more packed the more we go back!! But for some reason we always pick winter to go over there! Luckily I like cold weather. It seems like the UK has less of an overload of pop culture, especially American pop culture where it's thrown at you 24/7. So it's much fresher to their ears, and they're way more receptive and stoked just to have American bands interested in coming over. It's also home to a lot of bands I like. It's hard to pick a favorite spot. Liverpool is really awesome; I like a few northern towns, and of course London. We had two sold out shows in Chelmsford and Brentwood and many more packed houses in Manchester and London. We've got loads of press nationally and locally. We had an interview with Teddy Robbins for the BBC and hung out with him. Going into the interview we heard he was Paul McCartney's cousin, and we felt too weird to just mention it. But afterwards he mentioned it and showed us a text from him, it was some joke about Tescos (English supermarket). He was a really great and funny guy. We've been played on BBC radio, in fact they're spinning the record as I write this!

Tracklist For All Y'all:

01. All Y'all
02. Ask Me Why
03. Up And Down
04. Come On Now
05. Trans Mission
06. All Day Long
07. Holding Onto Hate
08. Eve Of Your Expression
09. March Of The Gringo
10. Take A Walk
11. Don't Go
12. I Will Not Follow
13. Rebel Kind
14. Black Night

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