The Stolen Minks

Like a glorious amalgamation of Go Sailor! and Maow imbued with the
spirit of Gene Vincent and the saccharine sweetness of Rick Nelson,
The Stolen Minks manage to follow up their first self-titled EP, released independently, with eight songs of dance floor coups and back alley bruising. Songs like "Fight!" and "Rip It Up" are solid garage anthems that keep this mini-album from straying too far into the land of novelty. Don't get me wrong, The Stolen Minks are no joke, but they are far better served, and ultimately sound more commanding, when they're playing songs with lyrics like, "I don't really care if you love me true / As long as right now it's just me and you," than they are with songs about the sex appeal of Batman - not that there's
anything wrong with that. Most importantly, to someone who has little to no attention span, The Stolen Minks don't waste time, only one
track coming in over three-minutes. "Stop Talking" is the clear standout on this album, full of swagger and bravado; if there's a single, forget about the Ginuwine cover, because this is it!

- Skyscraper / Mark Black

Disc Review

THE STOLEN MINKS
High Kicks (New Romance for Kids)
By Jordan Bimm
On High Kicks, this Halifax four-piece unleashes a brash assault of bluesy garage rock. Elements of surf and rockabilly also surface on this seven-song EP that’s cleverly disguised as a full-length offering, thanks to the addition of a handful of micro-songs that each clock in at under a minute.

A Stooges-worthy buzz-saw guitar line keeps Reflexes catchy, while opener Bring It benefits from vocals that start in a deep soulful register but quickly hit Le Tigre heights in both pitch and punch. Considering that the production on High Kicks often sounds like a live recording, the Stolen Minks are probably better on stage. - Now Magazine

Stolen Minks @ L'Esco, 20 Juin
Posted by Ralph in Music

20090625-stolenminks.jpg Grâce aux prometteuses jouvencelles de Stolen Minks, j'ai véritablement chéri la fois où un groupe de noise-rock très connu à Montréal m'a parlé de leur vision de la musique indépendante au Canada et de la façon si « oh comme la vie est jolie, on a des pulls de laine et l'on fait des cup cakes » qu'ont les groupes canadiens de promouvoir leur «spiel».

Avec un line up aussi massif qu'éclectique, la dernière chose qu'on souhaitait endurer était un anti-climax fastidieux . Souhait réalisé, la soirée fut impeccable de A à Z, et laissez-moi vous dire, on a probablement compté toutes les lettres entre A et Z avant d'arriver à la fin, mais même si c'est aussi rare que de la merde de pape, le bill au grand complet avait de la substance à offrir, que ce soit le gracile shock-casio-rocker-Atom-and-His-Package-rencontre-GG-Allen-et-Homer-Simpson B.A. Johnston, les noise-rockers à la Hot Snakes de Desert Owls, les bourreaux de travail The Stolen Minks ou les punk rockers à la sauce The Kids de The Confusers.

À moins que ma risible mémoire des évènements ne fasse défaut, c'était mon quatrième (ou cinquième) concert des Stolen Minks. En fait, ce fut mon préféré car elles semblent avoir perdu un peu de naïveté infantile au profit d'une expérience sur la route -elles ont tourné cinq mois au total l'an dernier- et d'un jeu beaucoup plus habile et droit qu'auparavant.

Les poneys de l'écurie New Romance for Kids ont subséquemment fourni une friande pondération de rock n roll primitif au public de l'Escogriffe, qui comportait une députation dense en ex-résidents des Maritimes (Insérez la blague de votre choix sur Moncton ICI). - Midnight Poutine

If you're looking for a good dose of estrogen-fueled garage punk, I have just the remedy: Stolen Minks. This three-piece from Halifax, Nova Scotia delivers the kind of fiery, no-bullshit sound that's become all but extinct in today's garage punk circuits.

A hometown favorite since their formation in 2003, Stolen Minks have been generating one distortion-packed super hit after another, with their most recent full length, High Kicks, charting for several consecutive weeks in Canada.

While the Minks are largely classified as a "girl band," I don't think it's safe to put them under the same musical umbrella as, say, The Pussycat Dolls. In fact, the Minks would eat the Pussycat Dolls for lunch. Instead, the Minks' sound conjures up similarities to Riot Grrrl pioneers Bikini Kill or Bratmobile while combining playful rockabilly riffs and old school punk distortion. The Minks categorize themselves simply as "garage punk."

"I heard a great line from a musician in Halifax," says guitarist Stephanie Johns. "The difference between garage punk and punk is that garage punks don't know how to play."

Whatever it's called, people like it. The Stolen Minks have landed gigs all over the US and Canada, playing Go Bar in Athens and a house party in Decatur this past week, traveling to Pittsburgh early next week and eventually heading back to Halifax before playing another leg of shows later this spring. Even with all of their border-crossing journeys, the girls have refined their on-road needs to just three necessities: air mattresses, moisturizer, and sour gummy dinosaurs - the latter being a favorite during the past tour.

And just like any other traveling band, the Minks have encountered their fair share of dangerous escapades. While en route to Baltimore, their van was hit by a possible drunk driver. While the band members made it out safely, their vehicle has more than a few battle scars.

"It looks like Jaws tried to have a Minks snack," Johns says.

Luckily, their trip to the South has been relatively accident-free and we can only hope they'll be returning soon. If you happen to catch a show, which I would highly recommend, make sure to stick around and say hello.

"We just want to be pals with everyone who comes to our show," Johns says. "Let's be friends forever!" - The Athens Exchange

“The last time we played these songs, I couldn’t grow facial hair,” bassist Jared Swilley joked as PBR cans flew over the heads of the packed house at the Earl, where he and his Black Lips bandmates reconvened as The Renegades for a somewhat-secret show last Thursday night.

In the late 90s, those songs rang out from the few venues willing to accept The Renegades, the moniker of Swilley and his pals in their pre-flower-punk high school days. (It's also the name of the band the Black Lips guys play in the as-yet-unreleased indie film Let It Be.) In the interceding decade, the Black Lips have perfected their mustaches and honed their songwriting craft, but as the Earl's packed house proved Thursday, sometimes nothing gets the blood flowing like good old-fashioned three-chord punk.

Though the night's openers didn't benefit from a crowd the size an advertised Black Lips gig would have brought, all three put on pretty good shows. The Stolen Minks, an all-female garage rock trio from Nova Scotia, got the then-sparse crowd into the groove by covering local punk heroes The Carbonas. The next two provided a study in contrasts: The catchy, workman-like The Goodnight Loving were followed by France’s bombastic, quasi-psychedelic Jack of Heart, whose vocalist, Piero Ilov, worked the growing crowd into a frenzy.

And that frenzy only grew as the Renegades (with Die Slaughterhaus Records head honcho Mark Nauman joining the regular Black Lips lineup) took the stage, playing the entirety of their rough and tumble repertoire, including garage rock staple “Louie Louie.” It was a brief, intense rush that left the crowd hungry for more, and the band obliged by returning to the stage as the Black Lips to play a batch of new songs that boasted a rough edge reminiscent of Let it Bloom, the band's third album, and incited the crowd into multiple fist-fights. The rowdy atmosphere was fitting for a show that erased any notions that the Black Lips had “sold out” when they signed to Vice Records in 2006, a real treat for Atlanta’s faithful. - Paste Magazine

STOLEN MINKS:
High Kicks: CD
More than serviceable music from a band that takes their cues from early ‘80s punk rock and the later trash rock scene. Nothing really all that groundbreaking is being offered up here, but they deliver some catchy, minimalist tunes with much vim and vigor, making a little go a very long way. –Jimmy Alvarado - Razorcake

Although only five songs long, this self-titled precursor to the Stolen Minx’s soon-to-be-released full-length is an all-night rock and roll dance party just waiting to happen. Combining ‘50s/’60s-style rock and roll with the modern age spunk of early Sleater-Kinney, this wonderfully unpretentious EP draws from the best of both eras to create some truly hip-shaking music.

From the surf rock of the opening cut, “Minks Riot,” to the kitschy playfulness of “Chug A Lug,” the real stand out here has to be “Boys On The Floor.” With sweet, sexy, yet sassy vocals, blistering keyboards reminiscent of the notorious Jerry Lee Lewis, himself, topped off with a Chuck Berry twist. What the Stolen Minks lack in running time — this disc is only about nine-and-a-half minutes long — they more than make up for in kinetically infectious charm.

Having supposedly formed on a whim on a cold Nova Scotia night, the Stolen Minks seem to approach their songs the same way. Spontaneous and impulsive, this is truly a refreshing change of pace from the overly calculated and decidedly premeditated music that populates the world of indie rock today. After all, since dancing is a highly spontaneous and impulsive act, in itself, it’s only appropriate that the music that elicits it is, too. 9 - Venus / Dean Ramos

Gathered around food while shooting jokes and giggles back and forth, it's obvious The Stolen Minks are a band that appreciates fun times. There are very few pauses in conversation as they talk about all that's led to the release of their second full-length album, High Kicks. They wouldn't seem out of place as kooky-yet-cool characters in a John Waters film like Hairspray. But where the girls in that movie were left dancing to the music, these ladies would be the ones inspiring all that tail-feather shaking.

It was in part the wild dance party vibe of Hairspray that helped inspire the group to make punchy rock 'n' roll that has an ear for the past while also sounding fully in the now.
High Kicks is a big leap on the raw power scale, with wildly fuzzy vocals matched by screaming guitar and bubbling rhythms that allow the band to take off and never look back over the course of 22stellar minutes.

It's an energetic listen, and it benefits greatly from the production of their old friend Dave Ewenson, who recorded the album for them at Echo Chamber in Halifax. He was one of their earliest supporters, hosting a Tuesday evening open mic at Stage Nine where the band performed some of their first sets. "Dave's been our music friend for as long as we've been a band," says bassist Tina Johns, who plays in the Minks along with former Coasters Stephanie Johns (no relation), Rachelle Goguen and Erica Butler.

Being a band specializing in garage rock, the group had strong ideas about how they wanted the production to sound for the new album. "We put a lot of effects on the vocals to make them sound 'crappy,'" says Tina, attributing this idea to the musical taste of guitarist Steph. It was Stephanie in fact who made producer Ewenson a mixed CD to provide some pointers on what they were looking for. The buzzy vocals of Jay Reatard, Coachwhips and the Carbonas are definite points of reference when listening to sassy tracks on High Kicks like "North End Strangler" and "Reflexes."
"We put a lot of effects on the vocals to make them sound 'crappy.'"

Vocals weren't such a pressing issue when the band first got together almost five years ago. Following the demise of the Chitchats, a band that featured Stephanie and drummer Butler, The Stolen Minks were initially an instrumental band. Their skills were still developing at this point, so focusing on their chops was a good start. "You're just playing and not having to worry about singing," says Stephanie.

She says once they realized what a good singer keyboardist Goguen was, trying to be an instrumental band seemed unreasonable. After spending their early years recording both their own songs and covers by the likes of Link Wray and Roger Miller, the Minks have now come out with their first album of all-original material. Like on previous albums, the vocals are split pretty evenly, with all four members getting turns at the microphone, often in the same song, as on album opener "Bring It."

Having already done a short Canadian tour earlier this summer with B.A. Johnston, the band will soon head out on a massive, 10-week trek taking them across Canada and into the US (because of school commitments, Goguen will not be making the cross-continent trip). Aside from looking forward to playing down south for the first time, the Minks will also open for The Black Lips in that band's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. It's a gig that's left Stephanie "on cloud nine," as she writes in an email.

The rip-roaring fun won't be strictly of a musical variety when The Stolen Minks host their CD release show at Gus' Pub Friday. Inspired by a pie-eating contest once held at a show by the band Oh God, the Minks plan on doing some serious baking in preparation for their own cupcake-eating contest. They're unsure how it'll work out, but Goguen has a solid tip: "The winner is going to be the one that eats the cupcake wrapper." Once again, it's a group giggle. - The Coast / Andrew Robinson