Don?t expect the audience to get naked when the Brazilian Girls play here. During a show earlier this month in Boulder, singer Sabina Sciubba spontaneously invited audience members who accepted bassist Jesse Murphy?s suggestion to “get naked” to join the band on stage.
“The night after we tried the same and they didn?t [take off their clothes], so it won?t be our new stage gimmick,” Sciubba said.
But of course gimmicks have never been what this band is about. Formed in2003 at New York?s NuBlu club, Sciubba, Murphy, drummer Aaron Johnston and keyboardist Didi Gutman began playing experimental jazz together regularly before officially forming. They released their self-titled debut album in 2005 and are currently touring to support their sophomore release, “Talk to La Bomb.”
“We aren?t a pop band,” said Johnston of the band, which critics hail for playing a hearty mix of electronic, jazz, rock, dance, pop and funk. “We are musicians and the people in this band are incredibly talented. Jesse is the best bass player in New York. Sabina is brilliant. And Didi has played with some heavy jazz guys. There is just a cool buzz with this band.”
But how have they kept the cool buzz going when traveling constantly? “We change up the music, the outfits, the audience, the money, the traveling,” said Sciubba, who?s said before that categories, such as jazz or funk don?t matter to them.
But cohesiveness does. Although all of the band members are equal, Sciubba is arguably the first among equals, certainly in live performances when she uses her sultry voice to sing in one of five languages (French, Spanish, German, Italian or English), as she struts about the stage wearing a trench coat with masking tape over her eyes.
When asked about her popularity separate from that of the band, she bristles. “I?m not at all aware of a separate following,” said Sciubba. “And I don?t have a separate project. It?s all about the Brazilian Girls. When I?m not focused, all I have to do is look at Didi or Jesse or Aaron on stage and I?m right back into the music.”
If you go
The Brazilian Girls with Feelgood/DJ Craze
» Venue: Sonar, 407 E. Saratoga St.
» Time: 8 p.m.
» Tickets: $20, Ticketmaster, www.ticketmaster.com; 410-547-SEAT
