By: Sam Houghton
Rating: 9/11

“If you join me now/You’ve got a lot to gain.”
-“Pleasure Town”

Hide your boyfriends. Lock the back door. Throw on some pink spandex. Pleasure Town is ravaging a city near you, gassing it up with some sex. Rumor has there’s a hot girl in exaggerative lipstick and low cut skirts romping around the streets alongside her snakeskin boot wearing accomplice, pumping out intergalactic, sweaty, dance-hall grooves. They’re sucking in a whole class of the most dour and sophisticated hipsters, forgetting the trends and coolness and making them dance – actually dance. If you haven’t heard of them yet, well you have now.  If you like music that makes you move, check out the latest… Hank & Cupcakes.

A while back, to open up a show at the Cameo Gallery on North 6^th street in our fair Brooklyn community, Sagit Shir, singer and drummer for Hank & Cupcakes, told a story about a small leak she had in her apartment. The leak eventually turned into warped floorboards beneath her bed, which inevitably turned into utter frustration. That was until she heard the latest news on the earthquake in Haiti and the thousands who had died. She explained that her anger suddenly subsided into a horrible guilt; her little “issue” seemed so insignificant now. In front of an anxious, packed house, she said something to the extent that many people do not have the luxuries we had in that small Cameo space, “so lets get down and party like there’s no fucking tomorrow.” The audience responded, enthralled by that spirit some bands just simply exude.

Sagit is an empowering woman. She lacks little fear and seems always engulfed in self-confidence – not a boasting self-confidence, but more of an unselfish self-confidence. She’s much like Madonna in that she’s not afraid of her sexuality, dislike the Britney Spears alikes in that she has some integrity and sophistication and can actually write lyrics, and like Patti Smith in that she is often quite primitive and not afraid of expression. She’s a rockstar, capable of moving crowds, playing the drums but still dancing crazily to the beat as she hits the skins in a tantalizing yet precise way. Grown women feel like little girls talking to her, squealing and giggling. Oh, and she can sing quite well.

Bassist Ariel Scherbacovsky, the other half of the band, is perhaps the best bassist I’ve ever seen. I’m not positive what makes a good bass player, but from the noise that comes from his amp, it’s impossible to fathom what he’s doing. He is both lead and rhythm, playing purely with the four strings of his bass and a few pedals. Other bass players around the city are neither jealous nor loving, they are simply in awe.

Live, the band is nothing less than amazing. They have something special that will grow if they stick with it. There is nothing more enticing than watching a foxy punkish vixen shouting lyrics from atop her drum set. It’s simply revolutionary, like a protégé of Keith Moon. Their only flaw is their recordings. Although they have reissued their latest EP, (and it’s quite a remarkable EP), their live show is exponentially better. Apparently others have noticed as they are opening for the Gorillaz in Tel Aviv, Hank & Cupcakes’ hometown. Check ‘em out.