Sunday, March 26, 2006  

The Gossip

Bad Reputation
The Gossip dishes the dirt on its artsy garage-rock sound
Washington Post Express, Thursday, March 23, 2006

The Gossip's new CD, "Standing in the Way of Control," is a white-heat blast of garage-rock blues. But unlike so many bands who have mined the punk-soul axis before, the Gossip's ringer is singer Beth Ditto, who vocalizes with the passion and lungs of a classic R&B belter.

"I was a total choir nerd," said Ditto from a crackly cell phone somewhere in Colorado, confirming that her voice isn't the result of biology alone. "I was in church choir growing up. My mom was a choir nerd when she was a kid, and she literally taught me how to sing. I never took vocal lessons or anything like that -- it probably wouldn't hurt me -- but I learned from my mom.

"My mom quit school when she was 8th grade," continued the Arkansas native, the Southern twang still prominent in her speaking voice. "She's total rad style; a rock 'n' roll mom. She listened to a lot, a lot, a lot of music. I was always around honky tonks, and my whole family played music. That's how my voice came along; it was just encouraged from birth."

Guitarist-bassist Nathan "Brace Paine" Howdeshell is also from Arkansas, and his and Ditto's rural roots are all over the Gossip's music, which sounds like the White Stripes in a mud-wrestling match with a no-wave funk band. Drummer Hannah Blilie adds the primal-dance thump on "Standing in the Way of Control," which was produced by Fugazi's Guy Picciotto. "He would come to our shows in D.C., and he's recorded Quix*o*tic and Blonde Redhead, and we all were really into the sound of those records," Ditto said. "And, you know, he's a punk legend." CHRISTOPHER PORTER

Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW; Thursday, 8:30 p.m., $10; 202-667-7960. (U St./Cardozo)

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