Under The Radar: Bad Flirt

March 9, 2009, 11:16 PM

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Montreal-based Bad Flirt began as a solo project for singer/songwriter Jasamine White-Gluz, but became an official band while recording the 2005 record 6 Ways To Break Your Heart. "I didn't really enjoy being a solo artist," says White-Gluz. "I just liked writing songs and thought I should probably tour. I didn't like doing it alone. I played with different people from the Montreal music scene filling in as band members until I found these...scumbags. These street urchins." Now after persistent touring and a few lucky breaks in Canada, Bad Flirt is seeking to expand into the US and beyond.

The street urchins Jasamine found include keyboardist/vocalist Evan Dubinsky, guitarist Laura Lloyd, guitarist/bassist Nick Knowles and drummer Raf De La Durantaye. The group's collaborations have been described as a twist on acts like Blondie, The Go-Gos, The Bangles and other '80s chick rock' bands, but White-Gluz prefers a more general branding, claiming, "pop/rock is broad enough that I think it captures everything." She continues, "It's hard to describe our music because we don't hear it the same way. We all listen to different stuff, mostly heavier stuff but also some really bad 80s pop that most people listen to ironically but we think it's genius. We really go in trying to sound like Slayer, but it comes out sounding nothing like that."

While Bad Flirt have attained some level of recognition in Canada for their unique style and quirky personalities, attention in the US originally came from a rather unexpected place. The band was randomly selected as The Olsen Twins' favorite band of the moment...for a moment. This brief brush with pseudo-fame has unfortunately become a hot talking point for the media, but the most important question is often overlooked. Who gives a shit what Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen listen to? "I don't!" White-Gluz shouted, laughing. "There are a bunch of 13 year olds that did for a few moments. Bands probably get endorsements from people they like, and that's cool. But we can go on record and say that we don't like the twins. We were their little project until they realized they didn't care anymore. We didn't gain anything from it other than a new paragraph in our press release. It was funny for us. We don't really care about it. The feedback was mostly from 8 year old girls who couldn't even get into our shows, anyway. It was a silly and very weird experience to be a fleeting pet project for spoiled rich girls."

But why even pursue the American market? Record sales are down, as are ticket sales. People seem to be tuning out new music these days. "You know how bad things are in America? You can only imagine how it is in Canada. Same problems, but it is colder," jokes Jasamine. "Canada is not a huge country when it comes to music. Sure, there is good stuff that comes out of there, but you can only go so far. We put out Virgin Talk in October and now we're in the next part where we try to takeover America. You know, it's on iTunes," she laughs. "We're looking into other countries, as well."

Travel overseas may be difficult, however, considering the frontwoman's fear of flying. Bad Flirt have been forced to turn down opportunities in other countries because of the travel issue. "I keep bringing up this cruise ship idea. Everyone gets mad at me because I don't fly, so I was thinking we could book a show on a cruise ship. Put on some costumes, play cover songs, and sail to our destination. We know some Pat Benatar."

While they're land-locked, however, they're making the most of it. Having bounced back and forth between the US and Canada roughly 25 times in the last year, Bad Flirt is now launching their biggest US tour to date. This is their first headlining tour throughout the US, but they're no strangers to road tripping across America. "We like to stop in antique stores and hunt around. You find different things in every city. For this tour we have made a list of all of the fast food places you have in America that we don't have. We're trying to hit them all. We're going to try Jack in the Box and Carl's Jr... all of these things we've never tried before and we'll probably get really fat in the process. But hey, it's all part of the experience."

YouTube - Bad Flirt - Hiroshima, Mon Frere

Bad Flirt Official Website

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