Cudzoo & the Faggettes

“I always forget how ridiculous we look,” says Mamrie “Mame-Town” Hart. She and co-lead singers Erin “E-Bomb” McCarson and Jess “J-Train” Bartley are filling balloons with glitter and arranging big confetti poppers for their show at the Trash Bar in Williamsburg. “On stage, I’m like, of course we’re doing this!” she continues, “But 30 minutes before we go on, and people don’t know us…I’m like, why are we doing this?”

It’s true, Cudzoo is quite a sight, decked out in sparkly red flapper dresses amidst the Trash Bar’s hipsters. And as one new fan points out, this crowd seems like they’re expecting punk rock. But when the ladies of Cudzoo hit the stage with their backing band, the Faggettes, all bets are off. They are easily the most likeable band in the Western Hemisphere. Equal parts Andrews Sisters and B-52s, the band delivers hilariously filthy, fiercely catchy songs about abortions and fucking a faithless boyfriend’s brothers.

“My boyfriend got a boyfriend/They said that I could watch but not participate/My boyfriend got a boyfriend/If only I liked to anal penetrate,” they sing on “My Boyfriend Got a Boyfriend.” It’s no wonder Cudzoo’s debut CD is called The Prettiest Girls with the Filthiest Mouths.

“We’re really inspired by a lot of bands like The Ronettes and The Pipettes and The Shirelles,” J-Train explains, “So when we started putting all the songs together, they lent themselves well to this dirty doo-wop kinda thing. “And it gives us an excuse to wear matching outfits!” adds Mame-Town.

But E-Bomb is quick to point out that Cudzoo isn’t so easily pegged as a doo-wop novelty act. “We don’t really have a genre. We try not to fit too well into a box.” Their sound ranges from girl-group heartbreak ballads (“You Beat the Shit Out of My Heart”) to ’60s surf rock (“French Braid”), all with tongues firmly planted in cheeks. “Nipple on a Train,” one of two new songs they debut at Trash, even has a twangy, hillbilly rock kind of thing going on.

Cudzoo have spent the past few months performing all over the city to promote The Prettiest Girls…, and this summer they plan on touring the East Coast, playing shows at women’s colleges. There are videos in the works—some are already up on the band’s website—as well as a cabaret show at Ars Nova. They’re even heading back into the studio to record what may be a new album this month. But what gets the girls most giddy is the merchandise they have planned: Cudzoo Kisses, a whiskey flavored lip-gloss. Cudzoozies for your beer cans. Eventually their own brewery. It’s all in the pipeline.

Like the vine they’re named after—purposely misspelled—these ladies are creeping up and taking over! - NEXT magazine