LAST YEAR, the former frontman of Operation Ivy, Jesse Michaels, was looking for musicians to record some demos with. His sound engineer played him some songs by San Jose’s Hard Girls, suggesting they might be a good match.
When he heard their demos, Michaels said, “Do you think maybe these guys are too good for me?”
“We were nervous. We grew up listening to Operation Ivy,” says Hard Girls drummer Max Feshbach. But everything worked out well. The Hard Girls trio and Michaels hit it off, joining up for the band Classics of Love.
Since forming in late 2008, Hard Girls have earned themselves some other influential fans, as well, including Mike Park, owner of Asian Man records. “Hard Girls are one of the best bands in the world,” says Park. “Word of mouth goes a long way in underground punk and they’re already building a strong fan base all across the states. I am confident that in 10 years people will still be listening to their music the way they listen to a band like Jawbox and Jawbreaker.”
Actually, Hard Girls gets a lot of comparisons to Jawbreaker. Bassist and vocalist Morgan Herrell isn’t wild about it, but not because he dislikes the group. He just doesn’t want Hard Girls to be lumped in with all the other bands that claim to be so heavily influenced by just the legendary San Francisco punk band. Indeed, Hard Girls have a diverse pool of musical influences.
“I like a lot of anxiety and discomfort in music,” says guitarist and vocalist Mike Huegenor, explaining his particular interest in the guitar work of post-punk bands like Joy Division and Pavement.
“We’re into music that is complex without showing off. Most of our songs have a degree of structure and spontaneity to them,” says Herrell.
The hook-driven choruses and driving rhythm section Hard Girls are known for are quietly accented by a technical proficiency not often seen in punk. What’s also impressive are their elongated rock-out jams, reminiscent of the experimentation and raw energy of Television. Hard Girls blend it all together and manage to make punk sound fresh all over again.
Though the band has been around for just a year and a half, Herrell and Feshbach have been playing music together for the better part of a decade. Before Hard Girls, there was Shinobu (Huegenor’s band) and Pteradon (Herrell and Feshbach’s band). Calling themselves the Phat n Phunky crew, the two bands stuck closely together.
“It seemed like we played more shows together than not,” says Herrell.
The Phat n Phunky “phamily” would eventually encapsulate all of the other musical projects they and their friends were involved in. As fate would have it, both groups disbanded in 2008, within a few months of each other. Herrell and Feshbach were left without a guitar player. Huegenor was without a band. Hard Girls was the natural offspring.
With the two main singer/songwriters now in one band, things were a little different. “We started out by writing songs separately, but as we’ve gotten more comfortable, we’ve collaborated a lot more. It’s working out really well,” Herrell says.
Hard Girls still rehearse in the same practice space once shared by the two groups. It has an odd legacy going back to 2004, when the Phat n Phunky crew decided it would be a great place to throw a show. They called it the “Cuddle Show” due to the limited space. A bunch of friends showed up and squeezed in.
Twenty subsequent shows followed with such names as “Cuddlefest,” “Cuddlechella,” “Cuddle Lilith Fair,” and “Cuddle by Cuddlewest.” The most recent cuddle show was held at Nickel City in April.
The shows were more of an excuse to have their bands and their friends’ bands play, not to mention a whole bunch of joke bands. “It was a goofy idea that we committed to and probably did more than we should have,” Huegenor says.
“We all want this to be as big as it can be, but we have personal obligations. We’re not financially independent,” Herrell says. Both Hard Girls and Classics of Love went on tour last year, leaving the guys jobless. Each group has EPs out and plans to release full lengths before the end of the year with the hopes of continuing to play lots of music and not being completely broke.
Hard Girls
Tuesday, 7pm, Nickel City, San Jose
With Wayne Arms and Off With Their Heads
$8
