Girlfriends and Boyfriends

VANCOUVER — Girlfriends and Boyfriends put their texting tendencies aside and set the stage for communication etiquette with the premiere of their new video single “When You Call.”

Deeply rooted in post punk and steeped in new wave tendencies, this fourth visual offering from the trio’s crisp and highly notable LP, Our Garden, was shot by their friend Wayne Moreheart, who has worked with the band on other videos including “Forgiven Lust” since the album’s release in late 2015 on Pop Era Records.

“We both love retro horror and ‘80s pop culture, and Wayne works really well with the band,” frontman and bassist Grant Minor tells BeatRoute. “For this video, we went for a simple narrative and tried to create a sense of anxiety around the source of a mysterious phone call.”

The song itself is about unrequited love and the pursuit of someone who is already in a relationship. This narrative is played out by local music personalities Max Sample of The Ballantynes — playing the part of a “peculiar retro-office-man” trying desperately to find out who is on the other end of the line — and Sarah Graves of High Wasted with a quick cameo as the star-crossed caller.

“Sometimes you meet a special person and you have undeniable chemistry, but the stars aren’t aligned and you can’t be together,” Minor says. “I’m sure it happens all the time. Maybe this person keeps the iron in the fire, even if they shouldn’t. Maybe they call. Also, I picked ‘call’ as the form of communication because ‘When You Snapchat’ just didn’t have the same ring to it.”

From the first notes of Minor’s dark and brooding bass line that buzzes everything in to fruition, Girlfriends and Boyfriends have provided the perfect antidote to Drake’s infectious “Hotline Bling,” keeping things fresh and relevant for their upcoming Western Canadian jaunt out to the prairies and back. The tour will see the band supporting Calgary’s Ultrviolence for a couple shows in Alberta with additional dates in Kelowna and Nelson.

May 19 – Kelowna @ Fernando’s Pub w/ The Dragstrip Devils
May 20 – Calgary @ Broken City w/ Ultrviolence (album release) and Smoke Eaters
May 21 – Edmonton @ The Sewing Machine Factory w/ Ultrviolence
May 22 – Nelson @ The Royal w/ Meter Bridge and Rainboard

For more from Girlfriends and Boyfriends visit https://girlfriendsandboyfriends.bandcamp.com/ - BeatRoute

Plumping for that ringing, vaulting strain of post-punk that draws from the Simple Minds/Echo end of the spectrum, Girlfriends and Boyfriends have only recently come to our attention (thanks to Shadowhouse’s Shane McCauley) via their excellent Our Garden album, released last year on Pop Era. Quite wisely, we think, the band have chosen an approach wherein chiming guitars span nimbly over ominous basslines and a clarion, declarative vocal, a formula that nearly always produces an irresistible euphoria and, indeed, it’s no different here. - Stereo Embers Magazine

You can’t judge a record by its cover, of course, but you can get some clues from it. The artwork for Girlfriends and Boyfriends’ Our Garden features a Shannon Hemmett photo of a chopped-up red rose lying on what looks like a jet-black satin bedsheet. In colour scheme and subject matter it bears a resemblance to the covers of Ministry’s With Sympathy and Depeche Mode’s Violator. Our Garden doesn’t really sound like either of those LPs, but it does come across like a document from the decade that spawned them.

To be specific, it sounds a lot like a vintage new-wave/postpunk record. Proceedings kick off with “A Flower”, driven by Grant Francis Minor’s Peter Hook–indebted bass-playing. Pete Pano­vic’s effects-drenched guitar shards, as heard on “Forgiven Lust”, could have been lifted from a Killing Joke or Chameleons record, and drummer Adam Fink’s rolling toms on “Hearts Undone” and elsewhere suggest he has a Cure record or two in his collection.

Notice that I said Our Garden sounds a lot like an old new-wave-era record. It doesn’t sound exactly like one. No one back then used reverb to quite this extent, which is one of the sonic signatures of producer Felix Fung, who recorded Our Garden at his Little Red Sounds studio. (Fung, it should be noted, was a founding member of the like-minded Mode Moderne.) That alone gives the album an “indie rock circa now” sound, and the band’s impressive chops and solid songwriting ought to be enough to earn your attention, even if you weren’t around when The Head on the Door came out. - The Georgia Straight

VANCOUVER — The ‘post’ prefix is getting a lot of mileage in music journalism these days. Post-pop, post-punk, post-rock, seemingly, a band has to be post something in order to be anything at all. But to be in the ‘post’ camp surely means that you simply draw on techniques of a bygone era to inform to a certain style and sound. And who doesn’t really? Appropriation is, after all, the mother of originality.

Grant Minor of Vancouver post-punk/pop band Boyfriends and Girlfriends explains the way ‘post’ bands fit into the mosaic of modern musical genres, arguing that the difference is in the accessibility of a band. “We take the aesthetics and artistry of punk, and then create something more artful, more melodic and more assessable than just banging away at chords. I think that’s the idea. Post punk can still be aggressive but it’s a freer sound,” says Minor.

Listening to G&B’s debut full-length LP Our Garden, there can be no doubt that the band’s style draws on a range of eras. There are the unmistakably Morrisey-esque vocals of Minor, interwoven with synth hooks that reminisce of a time when Robert Smith danced around in a black suit and smudged makeup. Guitarist Peter Panovic lays down thick rock licks that give the otherwise upbeat album more grungy undertones. There’s urgency to Our Garden, driven by fast drums, complex bass and chanting lyrics that really do feel like the head-nodding punk anthems that would’ve been bashed out in some basement in the ’80s.

Minor is right though, there’s more to Our Garden than chord crunching riffs. Tracks like ‘Hope was in the Way’ and ‘Heart’s Undone’ take the record in a more melodic and wistful direction that wouldn’t be out of place on a pre-millennial U2 catalogue. It’s an aesthetic reflected by the visual style of G&B, whose deadpan, black and white leather-clad look complements this ‘performance’ of a different decade. “We want to be a bit entertaining, and give people a little bit of that fantasy in the way that we carry ourselves. And so I think we’re all wearing a bit of a character when we perform.”

This emphasis on throwback aesthetics is a strong element of Our Garden, which was released on a standard 12-inch vinyl. “We tried to make it a jacket and record similar to one you would go bin diving for 80 cents,” says Minor. “We wanted the person picking up the record to wonder exactly what era it was from.” Our Garden is a face-paced, pastiche of numerous musical genres and influences. It could indeed be era-less, but maybe that’s exactly what ‘post’ is all about.

Our Garden will be available as a 12” and digital download via POP Era Records. Girlfriends and Boyfriends launch the album at the Astoria on November 20th, supported by Shadowhouse and Wire Spine. - BeatRoute

VANCOUVER — Leather-clad hitchhikers break hearts and burn highways in the latest video from ’80s-inspired Vancouver post-punk band Girlfriends and Boyfriends. “Forgiven Lust” is from the trio’s upcoming full-length LP, Our Garden, which is to be released November 20th.

The clip is a dramatic pastiche of love and lust, cast against the backdrop of a brooding Vancouver landscape. Created by Wayne Moreheart and Corey MacGregor, the punk-rock melodrama is inherently tied to the band‘s heavily ’80s-influenced style. “Wayne and I really like a lot of the same cheesy ’80s movies like River’s Edge,” says lead vocalist Grant Minor. “We were really inspired by that kind of aesthetic but also wanted to create something that was a little tongue-in-cheek so we could still laugh about it.”

As punk lovers cling to each other in the moonlight, there can be no doubt that the video achieves this over-the-top style, but it carries in the band’s tradition of creating atmospheric post-punk tracks that are both energetic and melodic. Minor’s Morrissey-esque vocals interweave with rock and roll riffs and the haunting ’80s sound of strung-out synthesizers.

Check out the video now and catch Girlfriends and Boyfriends at their LP release party on November 20th at the Astoria, supported by Shadowhouse and Wire Spine. - BeatRoute

Check out rekindled passions and dramatic cinematography from Wayne Moreheart and Corey MacGregor for Vancouver’s Girlfriends and Boyfriends video for “Forgiven Lust”. Desire runs on overdrive with memories that consume and new romantic synth and 80s guitar pop pomp saturates the scene with a stern and serious pop goth aesthetic that embraces life’s breaks that feel tragic and worse. - Impose (Brooklyn)

In an ‘80s retro mood? Look no further because Girlfriends and Boyfriends have come up with the lost soundtrack to every John Hughes movie. The opening drum and bass line lead you to believe we are heading into Joy Division territory, but “A Flower” soon breaks out into what this album is all about – energetic synth-pop. Although at times they do sound like Duran Duran (“Our Garden” and “Cost of Living”) this is not god-awful radio drivel. Post-punk sensibilities are in play, and the music has that “reaching for the future” feel, even though it is a future as envisioned from a Thatcher’s Britain perspective. It’s as if early U2 used synths rather than rock guitar or The Smiths aimed their street poetry at the club crowd. - Ride The Tempo

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
M7. THE SOFT MOON / Black
M6. THE YOUNG EVILS / Renegades
M5. CITY & COLOUR / Nowhere, Texas
M4. BONNIE PRINCE BILLY / Whipped
M3. K-OS / Turn Me Loose
M2. GIRLFRIENDS & BOYFRIENDS / Without Me
M1. WU-TANG CLAN / Better Tomorrow

http://gfsandbfs.tumblr.com/post/105240179549/thanks-to-thestromboshow-for-the-twitter

http://music.cbc.ca/#!/The-Strombo-Show/blogs/2015/8/Best-of-The-Strombo-Show-Lowell-and-London-Calling-anniversary - CBC - The Strombo Show

by Grady Mitchell | Vancouver trio Girlfriends And Boyfriends have released a new, long-awaited single called A Flower. It’s a dark and plaintive track that embodies modern New Wave, complete with splashy drums, reverbed guitar, and grim, sonorous vocals.

Although they’ve developed that signature New Wave style, the band began very differently. When guitarist Pete Panovic founded it, everything was straight Brit Pop. “All the songs ended up sounding like Oasis,” he says. Bassist Grant Minor joined in 2007 in response to a Craigslist ad, and most recently Adam Fink joined after the original drummer left the band. With the lineup now solidified, they’ve dived headlong into New Wave and post punk.

They’re not the first band to revitalize a past genre, although they’re among the best to do so. Bands like The Smiths and The Cure played on the radio when they were kids, and now, decades later, they’re emulating the New Wave heroes that shaped their early tastes in music. It’s not the first time New Wave in particular has boomeranged back around, the band says, citing the slew of covers done by nu metal bands in the late 90s.

So why won’t New Wave just quit? Simple, the band says: it’s just great music. They also consider the New Wave era the golden age of producing. It hit the perfect balance point when technology allowed for a cleaner sound without completely erasing the human element, before songs were programmed to a beat and polished to death. “There was still a realness to production in that kind of music,” Grant says. To recreate that realness they linked with Vancouver producer Felix Fung, who specializes in just that.

Felix, the band’s “fourth member,” was critical to the darkness and longing of A Flower. “It’s a personal song,” Grant says, “it’s about a failed relationship. Nine out of the ten songs on our record are about failed relationships.” So what’s the tenth about? The band starts to laugh. “Social media!”

The new record is finished, though we most likely won’t hear it until early 2015. In the meantime, however, they say we can expect another single soon. To support Girlfriends And Boyfriends and explore their sound, visit their Bandcamp. - Scout Magazine

Girlfriends & Boyfriends

First band I got to see was Girlfriends & Boyfriends. They are tentatively a New Wave band, from British Columbia. Their genre was quite apparent when I was having flashbacks of the 80s while listening to them. If I could have gone 30 years back, I would have sworn it was Robert Smith of The Cure up on stage, in the spotlight. The vocals are similar, but the differences are how the lead singer carries himself through some really upbeat tempo. When I was listening to the band, I was hearing New Wave, and there were elements of punk thrown in. They had a good stage presence, and I was kept engaged throughout their entire setlist. My only regret of their show, was that this was one of those times where I was standing next to a merchandise booth, and didn’t pick up one of their albums. Ugh, yeah… total regret. - Halifax Bloggers / HAFILAX

We last heard from '80s-inspired Vancouver pop rockers Girlfriends and Boyfriends when they delivered the video for "A Flower" back in the summer. Now the group have returned with a brand new clip for "Without Me."

The track is the band's latest single for Manimal Vinyl and keeps in line with their self-description as a band that "shamelessly take elements from early U2, Tears for Fears and douse it with a slice of Arcade Fire heaven to create a new and innovative 'no hold barred' sound."The new tune is a jangly, unabashed throwback to new wave and gets paired with some black and white shots for the video. It features the black-clad three-piece dragging their instruments around town, playing in front of a church, in a cemetery and on the city's shoreline.

Girlfriends and Boyfriends will be playing a show in support of the new material on tonight (December 5) at Vancouver's Hindenburg. They're joined on the bill by Actors, Jody Glenham and Ultraviolence. For now, though, give the video for "Without Me" a watch below. - Exclaim!

The rising Canadian indie-poppers — who cite Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, and Rick James as influences, but probably owe more to '80s post-punk acts like Echo & The Bunnymen, Psych Furs, and the Jesus & Mary Chain — are about to release their debut album on Manimal Vinyl. And that disc's lead video "A Flower," premiering right here on Yahoo Music, is a real keeper.

Girlfriends & Boyfriends have been tooling around since 2009, releasing 7-inch singles and delighting Canadian crowds with their nervy new wave originals as well their Police and Gang of Four covers. The trio's first full-length effort, produced by Shimmering Stars' Felix Fung at Little Red Sounds in Vancouver, promises to be packed with hooky darkwave and Manchester jangle, and indie fans will surely be smitten with Girlfriends & Boyfriends. Discover them here first! - YAHOO! Music

Girlfriends and Boyfriends have been toiling away in the dark depths of the Vancouver music scene for the past few years now, emerging occasionally for the odd North American tour and single. Now, with their first-ever full-length planned for release later this year through Manimal Vinyl, the '80s-geared band are sharing their video for leadoff single "A Flower."

The clip is interspersed with shots of the three-piece walking through a series of rainy-day Vancouver streets while simultaneously telling the tale of a young and creative post-punk couple's inability to stay together. Carrying on in the band's tradition of crafting shameless '80s pop rock, expect to hear a lot of synthesizers, palm-muted riffing and Peter Hook-esque bass interplay throughout the video's three-minute runtime.

Watch the video now in the player below, and lookout for news about the band's upcoming album in the near future. - Exclaim!

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