Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Semi Precious After Parties!


Semi Precious Weapons, the band opening for Lady Gaga, has a curious history with the flamboyant mega-pop star. At one time, she used to open forthem.

"Yes, she was," says Semi Precious Weapons singer Justin Tranter. "Thank God. It changed my life. Then she moved to L.A. to make the biggest record of the decade."

Though her evolving persona of carefully constructed theatrical dance-pop contrasted sharply with their brand of trashy, uninhibited glam-rock, they felt an instant connection.

"Gaga has been a huge fan of ours since she was about 19 years old," Tranter says. "So, she was a big fan of ours back in New York City, when no one knew who we were besides her. She started opening for us in New York in about 2007.

"I think we share the same aesthetic, though it's musically very different," he says. "We're both very visual, we're very over the top, very filthy. But we're very honest musicians -- the four of us (Semi Precious Weapons) met in music school. Much like Gaga -- even though it's a very visual over-the-top performance -- we still take the music very, very seriously."

The band began in 2006, after Tranter and his bandmates chucked everything they learned in music school, and struck out for the bright lights of New York City -- and were disappointed by what they found.

"We had been in music school and were taking music so seriously, over-intellectually," Tranter says. "So, we tried to get together and just write songs that would make us happy, and were fun. In terms of New York City, we moved there thinking it would be like Max's Kansas City (an infamous '60s-'70s nightclub) in an Andy Warhol documentary. It was actually much more like behind the scenes in 'Sex and the City.' I'm not going to make fun of it, but that was not what we were looking for.

"All the other bands in New York were taking themselves too seriously, and everything was so boring. So, we started this band and convinced all these DJs and promoters in New York to let us play at their parties. That's how kids like Gaga did hear of us, because all of a sudden we started playing at the coolest parties in New York, where rock bands weren't playing."

Now that the band is playing in sold-out arenas all over the country, it might be tempting to put those sweaty nights of wild abandon behind them. But probably not -- Semi Precious Weapons not only opens for Gaga, it also hosts an after-party at a club in every city. The after-party in Pittsburgh will be at the Altar Bar, starting at 9:30 p.m.

"Gaga doesn't do afterparties -- it's a security risk," explains Tranter, who will DJ the afterparty. "I spin everything from Metallica to Beyonce to Guns 'N Roses to Gaga (of course). There's lots of champagne poured all over the audience, and lots of people barely dressed." - Pittsburghlive.com
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