Absolute Punk- Lansing, Michigan based power pop trio who seem to love 90’s era indie
almost as much as I do (and I love 90's indie A LOT). Also, for those who have
been on the losing end of a night of drinking only to be reminded about the
hilariously random things you said the morning after, the album’s title Find
Me A Drink Home should bring a smile to your face.
How Is It?
The state of power pop and pop-punk lately has made me feel a little
disappointed. While I can appreciate a good recording and sometimes glossy
tracks can still work, I am starting to grow tired of the monotony. Countless
bands keep churning out the same shit album after album and occasionally songs
are over polished to the point of stripping away the personality. The only
thing that keeps me from entirely losing faith within that genre are the bands
that thrive on the fringes of the mainstream and can appreciate the fact that a
little roughness and imperfection add personality to a song. The fuzzy and
rough-around-the-edges pop found on Cheap Girls’ debut Find Me A Drink Home
is the perfect antidote for my indifference towards the genre. Buzzing guitars,
earnest vocals, and relatable lyrics are what fuel Cheap Girls' energetic debut
effort. While Cheap Girls' album may be a breath of fresh air and a welcome
listen to those who loved the raw and sloppy tendencies of 90’s indie and
alternative, those who prefer the cleaner production of today’s pop-punk and
power pop bands may want to stay away.

Book of Brilliant Things- If someone told me this record was released 10 or 15
years ago I'd have no problem whatsoever believing them. This is total mid 90s
style pop punk that bears more than a passing resemblance to Smoking Popes.
Which I am completely and utterly in favour of by the way.
Seeing as it seems to be the in-thing to play music that sounds like it was
released by Lookout in 1993, it would be criminal if these guys didn't get the
attention they deserve. Far be it from me to be the arbiter of taste these days
though - I am more than happy drinking in posh bars and listening to M83
records rather than spending my hard earned dough on Maximum Rock And Roll and
whatever record's flavour of the month with the 'kids' this week.
Their record is available for download free of charge from their label's
website - and if you like it you are urged to give a bit of a donation or maybe
buy the vinyl. Or give them a bit of praise on a two bit blog. I am a cheap
bastard so I have done none of the above.

Can You See the Sunset- How can something that is seemingly so simple be so damn awesome? There is nothing complicated about the 90’s indie sounds of Find Me A Drink Home and that’s part of the charm. Fuzzy but trebly guitars chime along, drums keep
imperfect time, and the intonation on the bass just sounds ever-so-slightly
off. And by pointing out the pimples of Find Me A Drink Home I’m saying
that I absolutely love it. It is raw but not exactly lo-fi and punkish without
being punk at all. Sure some will say that Cheap Girls just sound like any
other mid-tempo alternative power-pop group and are indistinguishable from
their peers, but they can’t see the forest for the trees. This is “drinkin’
beer from a can at a house party with your best girl sorta music”.
I don’t know a whole lot about the Lansing, Michigan power-pop trio Cheap Girls except that this is one heckuva a debut record. The melodies are simple but memorable and it rocks in a Northeastern sorta way like pre-Lovey-era Lemonheads (but with a bit more muscle), Dinosaur Jr., Superdrag, or even Bob Mould’s Sugar.
Rough-around-the-edges and a little sloppy but even more endearing because of
its flaws. The flaws are non-flaws and actually positives in my book.
Throughout the whole of Find Me A Drink Home Cheap Girls don’t really
mix it up a whole lot, but they really don’t have any reason to. The band
sticks with what works; their earnest and straightforward power-pop that is
energetic yet relaxed and loud as fuck but catchy as hell. Some records just
have “it” and this one unquestionably does so pick up the LP, CD, or head over
to Quote Unquote Records and pay what you like for the record, but pay something. Find Me A Drink Home is worth your green. RIYL: Smoking Popes, Lemonheads, etc.

Coastal Beat- Michigan is a magical place. It holds the world record for
longest freshwater shoreline, and national records for most public golf courses
and registered snowmobiles. No matter where you are in ....Michigan.... you are never more than six miles from a natural source of water. It has more lighthouses than any other state. It’s the state where Henry Ford first revolutionized the way we move. Oh, and Michigan is shaped like a freakin’ mitten. Take that, Florida.
Now add to that list a band called Cheap Girls who have arisen from the mitten, and are ready to once again change the way we move (only with dancing instead of automobiles). Find Me a Drink Home is the debut album from Cheap Girls, and can be purchased through
their Myspace profile on vinyl and CD formats. If you order through their Myspace before
the end of 2008 Cheap Girls will throw in an acoustic version of the entire
album, and also a Christmas-themed button. The album is also available for
digital download (for free or voluntary donation) through Quote Unquote Records.....
Cheap Girls describe their sound as rock /
powerpop. I’m not really sure what powerpop means, but I guess it works. The
instrumentation is mid-tempo rock like the sort I imagine people bobbing their
heads to at an overcrowded frat party. The lyrics have a charming, almost
effortless-sounding delivery. It might be because I’m about as mature as a
rock, but I find it hilarious talking about this band. “Cheap Girls are
awesome.” “Cheap Girls are easy to get into.” “Cheap Girls get my stamp of
approval.” I could keep going, but I hope you get the idea. ....
Find Me a Drink Home kicks off with the track “Kind of on Purpose,” which
talks about realizing how we lie to ourselves about the problems in our lives.
Even though Graham recognizes this act of self-deception he knows it isn’t
something he can stop. “I don’t have the time it takes to put into words what I
can’t make out for myself. I just lie when I’m nervous, and I’m always
nervous…and I can’t say that I could stop tomorrow.” Every time I see somebody
who I haven’t hung out with in a while the first question they ask is how I’m
doing. The last few lines of this song pretty much sum up how I’ve always
longed to reply. “Boredom and alcohol met and got along too well and I should
just stop speaking. I’m out of luck and out of money, out of sympathy. And
that’s the story with me. Let’s not talk about me.”....
The idea of self-deception is one that pops
up repeatedly throughout this album. It’s also a concept that is easy to relate
to. I rarely do the things I know I should, and I tell myself that that’s okay.
Graham echoes this in the song “A Lesser Rate” when he sings: “I’ll drown in my
dishonesty and I’m laughing now, hysterically, because I should be further than
I am. And what can I say when I do the opposite of what’s always been good for
me? I don’t show it when I mean it. And I’m all of those things which I won’t
own up to.” For someone claiming to be dishonest with himself Graham’s
songwriting comes across almost overwhelmingly honest.....
Another concept that appears regularly on Find
Me a Drink Home is the thought of drifting aimlessly through life. I’m
going to assume that everyone can relate to looking at their present situation
and wondering if they were meant to be somewhere else (“No One to Blame”). Like
Graham I have often wondered if I should be further in life than I am. On the
track “Parking Lot” Graham talks about wanting to “set sail in a different sea”
in order to escape the mess he’s made of his life. Wouldn’t it be nice if
everything in life came with a reset button? Alongside these topics of
self-deception and meaninglessness throw in some songs about being addicted to
alcohol, cigarettes and boredom and this album comes off unexpectedly mature
for a debut. ....
Find Me a Drink Home closes with a track called “Through to Me,” which
talks about a party scene that sounds disturbingly familiar. This song finds
Graham people watching at a party after a long day’s work spent planning to get
hammered drunk. Through his observations Graham realizes the fakeness of
everyone around him. He sees people acting tough and talking a lot of trash in
order to distract themselves from their own problems. “We’ve got no substitute
for good and cheap substance abuse. With blurry eyes and fucked up smiles our
best disguises are all of the piles of shit that we talk and talk while
everyone else just soaks and soaks.” This basically sums up in a few sentences
the events of most of my Friday nights.....
The more I try to decipher the meanings
behind these songs the more I am amazed by their universality. Who hasn’t been
at a crowded party watching people smoke cigarettes and spit drama, only to
wonder if there might be somewhere else they were supposed to be? These songs
are filled with brutal honesty. These songs will make you think twice about
cracking open that sixth beer. The only minor flaw I find on Find Me a
Drink Home is the same problem I find with most rock albums: many of the
songs sound way too much alike. But I guess that’s alright when all of the
songs sound good. I hate using clichés, but when something ain’t broke.

Delusions of Adequacy- With a band name like Cheap Girls and an album called Find Me A Drink Home, you might expect some alcohol-fueled, hard-edged bar-rock to come spewing from the speakers, and that’s exactly what you get. The trio from Lansing, Michigan use guitar, bass and drums to pound out eleven similar sounding and quick-paced, average rock songs.
The evenly produced power-rock tunes contain
copious amounts of chugging and churning guitars, throbbing bass lines and
smooth drumming, but do little to engage the listener. Other than a few tempo
shifts and some classic-rock sounding guitar leads, the songs hardly
distinguish themselves. Cheap Girls play their inane rock with a decidedly hard
rock ethos coupled with uninspired alternative stylings and sterile
songwriting. Their monotonous brand of music is like ordinary classic rock in
alt-rock clothing, occasionally showing hints of punk-pop like the Failure’s Union
and/or The Futureheads.
The only thing stopping this from being a
truly disastrous release are the flashes of alt-punk, the competent vocals and
two tracks that don’t suck. Ian Graham’s singing is energetic and smooth and
accented with just the right amount of angst, while “Kind Of On Purpose” and “A
Lesser Rate” are playful and melodic enough to elevate this album from
extremely awful to extremely disappointing.

Diatribe- These garage-band kings from Lansing, MI are truly unique on many fronts.
When the band is not playing over the vocalist too much it’s really a nice
blend of harmonics and resonant sound. However the pitch shifting of vocal to
music dynamics does kind of add a vintage effect. Weather or not this is
purposeful to the recording process or not, I guess it’s unimportant.  ....
Cheap Girls reminds me of a better time in music; When it was about feeling good, not
angry, or artsy, or empowered, just fucking good, and never great, because
‘great’ makes you work too hard as a musician. Musicians that work too hard put
out awful sophomore records and loose face over time. Even if you don’t have
the opportunity to view a band, you can always tell the guys that are having
fun from the guys that stay in separate rooms at the Holiday Inn on long and
pointless tours. Anyhow back to the band at hand.....
The lyrical content is perfect for mellow singing brothers, Ian and Ben Graham.
It’s the most care free song writing I’ve read in a while, and it refreshing.
This is mostly reminiscent of bands like Texas is the Reason or Braid. Although
weathered mostly, I mean these bands as compliments. Brilliant lyrics without a
bunch of mismatched poetry and read between the lines nonsense. It actually
makes me want to learn a few of the songs for sing-along car ride purposes,
whereas normally I’m a silence listener. Couldn’t find much on the discography
of these guys, but would love to hear more.

Dryvetyme Online- Toss out existentialism, nihilism, postmodernism, and any other system of thought that requires the believer to frustrate themselves and their conversation partner in order to make a point. Drunk philosophy will always reign supreme, especially
from those philosophers who know how to drink well (quality over quantity!) and
initiate, engage in, and sustain a conversation under their own power. Now,
this is not to advocate drunkenness and/or disorderly conduct under the
influence of too much alcohol, but more that we come to the realization that a
couple of drinks loosens the tongues of even the most tight-lipped, allowing
for thoughts, ideas, opinions, and beliefs to flow copiously. Because, as any
student of music history is aware, for better or worse, many of the more iconic
songs and albums of the past 100+ years have come as a result of the use of
drugs and alcohol.
Borrowing from that same formula (and drinking from that same well), Cheap Girls prove on their debut record, Find Me A Drink Home, that they really do know how to imbibe with authority and still hold discourse with a bit of clarity. This power-pop trio from Lansing, Michigan has put together an eleven-song ode to the causes, effects, factors, results,
and everything-in-between of youthful substance use and abuse. There’s little
to no glamorizing of the behavior here, as the band wears their hearts and
emotions firmly on their sleeve, but displays them and the associated
experiences with a brazen honesty and guitar riffs blazing. Influences like The
Lemonheads and Jawbreaker abound, but what’s more important is that Cheap Girls
believe in what they’re singing and the simple-yet-tight pop melodies they’ve
crafted. With highlights that include “Kind of on Purpose,” “27 Days,” and
“Kill Your Mood,” Find Me A Drink Home is unapologetically romantic,
nostalgic, and lovelorn without being tacky, cliché, or boring. Or better said
– coherent drunken ramblings over straight-ahead rock-&-roll kicks musical
ass.

Exclaim!- With staggered releases on a variety of formats, Find
Me a Drink Home is the kind of record that, given some time, should
deservedly permeate the brain of any fan of the alt rock-influenced punk
produced by bands like the Lemonheads and Samiam in the ’90s. Cheap Girls write
simple, catchy three-chord pop songs and attack them with the verve of the
later and the fuzzed-out melodic sensibility of the former, making for a
compelling set of songs that, with the exception of a somewhat misguided
acoustic closer, is pretty much without fault. The record’s low-budget
production is sometimes endearing and sometimes a little too thin but it can’t
disguise songwriting that would make Evan Dando jealous.

For the Sound- The nights of…well…debauchery
hinted at by a title like Find Me a Drink Home paints an instant picture
in your mind. This is a party album. This is an album to blast on the way to
the bar. This is an album to have fun with. In this case, judging a book (or,
more accurately – an album) by it’s cover won’t lead you too far from the
actual result. Here Cheap Girls have pulled together eleven
tracks of fast, hard-hitting pop-punk with all the attitude and swagger
(mumbled swagger, but swagger nonetheless) that you’d expect to hear on an
album of this title. And maybe that doesn’t exactly guarantee the most unique
listen you’ll ever come across, but it does work well as the soundtrack to a
pretty good night out on the town.
“Kind of on Purpose” jumps straight to the
action with a jerky melody and somewhat rough production that lends the
illusion of listening to a band play in a garage as opposed to on a legitimate
release. This is an effect maintained for the entire album, for better or for
worse. In most cases it works well for Cheap Girls,
contributing even more to the band’s already edgy sound, but there are
instances on Find Me a Drink Home where this quality might distract listeners
that are more used to a clean, polished album.
Find Me a Drink Home stays in the vein of “Kind of on Purpose” for the
most part (look to tracks like the jittery “Stay High (Magic)” and “I Should
Never” for further examples of this), but that’s not to say Cheap Girls
shy away from a more stripped down approach on the album. “Her and Cigarettes”
clocks in at just over a minute and a half, but the swirling acoustic guitar
and smooth vocals of the track are enough to show that Cheap Girls
are just as capable of providing simple, almost cute songs as they are muffled
pop-punk.
Find Me a Drink Home doesn’t provide much in terms of innovation, and
admittedly some of the songs do tend to blur together, but these are both
excusable offenses when you take into account that Cheap Girls
are providing a much rawer take on a genre that is normally all but drowned out
by pro-tools of one sort or another. The band makes this rough delivery work
for them, and as a result, Cheap Girls might just be a breath
of fresh air for many. Or, they might just be fun. But really, are either of
those options a bad one?

Late Night Wallflower- I’m gonna be honest, Cheap Girls‘ Find Me A Drink Home (Bermuda Mohawk Productions) starts out kind of lame, with the first song being a
little underwhelming. However, it quickly picks up the pace.
The band have a Husker Du-esque sound that I generally enjoyed more and more as
the record progressed, particularly “A Lesser Rate.” If you get a chance, pick
this up. It’s a refreshing and honest record that I’d definitely recommend.

Mutiny Zine- Cheap Girls are actually guys. Quite miserable guys. At least it sounds like they're miserable. Lyrically the band's new album "Find Me A Drink Home" has quite a
dark feeling to it, in a way it's about waking up and facing reality after a
late night in a half-empty bar. It's basically about sucking at life but it's
told in such a humourous way that is actually sounds hopeful in the end.
Musically it's very basic. Good old guitar pop rock which makes me think of
bands like Sonic Youth and at times The Hold Steady. In a charming way
vocalist/drummer Ben Graham sounds a bit like a depressed pop-icon from the
80's. But in some weird way it's the dejected vocals that makes this record
good. "Find Me A Drink Home" has to be played a few times in order to
be fully enjoyed. I wasn't too excited when I first listened to it but it gets
better with time. You'll find some really good stuff if you give it a chance,
at least I did. This is not a record you put on to listen to a single song.
There are no "hits" on the album, it's just good over all and should
be enjoyed in it's full. It's not exactly a party record either, but it will
work very good on sunday mornings.

Pocket Full of Chump Change- Aside from the Get Bent demo, Cheap
Girls is the best new band I’ve heard all year. God damn I love this
album. Hailing from Lansing, Michigan, this three piece brings me back to the “good ole
days” of the early 1990’s, when good alternative music ruled the airwaves. The
summer between my sophomore and junior year of college I had a ..two am.. paper route. I’d pickup the newspapers from the depot in Chelmsford and load them into the hatchback, delivering to about 70 houses before 5am. The only thing that kept me awake and alert was the overnight show on WFNX. Because it was so early in the morning, I’d pull over at a payphone (yep-pre cell phone days), and for a quarter I’d make a bunch of requests: Jawbreaker, Soul Asylum, the Wedding Present, the Pixies, Mother May I, etc. It was as close as I could get to a good tape mix as I’d already broken the deck in the car. It was that oh-so short time that alternative music about being a loser was catchy enough to make
us want to dance rather than wallow in misery or punch someone in the nuts. In
short, this is fantastic guitar driven power-pop much in the vein of early Soul
Asylum, Boyracer and Bender. The more I listen to this the more I’m reminded of
Bob Mould’s post Husker-Du powerpop band SUGAR. Like Mould’s fantastic
threesome, this trio layers great guitar hooks and crunchy rythyms that due to
their sheer upbeatness of the tracks at times almost manage to gloss over some
dark lyrics: singer Ian Graham fills his lyrics with references to too much
boozing (the opening cut “Kind of on Purpose contains the great turn of phrase
“My head hits the ground/my body the floor/I’ve been a little bit better/I’ve
 been worse before”) great loves long lost but not forgotten (”It’s Been 27 days
without you/and I still feel the same”). That said, there’s a wry sense of self
depreciating humor that runs through the course of the album that never lets it
take itself too seriously or delve into a maudilin state (Gotta love the not so
subtle digs and hipsters like “I Know everyone there’s no need to know in this
city”).  The standout track is “Parking Lot”; a three minute over the top,
amps turned to 11 shout out to saying “fuck it” and giving in to
slackerdom  (”Tonight I’m going to spend just laying down/smoking all
the pot that I just found”). It’s got a massive sound, reminiscent of the
catchier tunes on Archers of Loaf “Vee Vee”. It’s followed by “I Should Never”,
a song that’s got great, simple melodies and a perfect danceable drumbeat.
There’s hints of Shame About Ray/Great Big No era Lemonheads here, but with a
lot more muscle, a lot less feyness behind it.

The Punk Site- Find
Me A Drink Home is a step back in
time to the mid nineties alt-rock musical landscape. It's an alcohol-induced
coma of three-chord pop-rock songs delivered in a slightly muffled and
distorted fashion. Songs like No One To Blame and Stop
Now are filled to the rim with catchy hooks and spoke-sang vocals that
fall somewhere between Bob Mould and Evan Dando.
But no matter how catchy and entertaining some of the songs are, many fall
victim to an overtly smothered mixing job which makes the album seem a little
long and bloated.

Punkbands.com-  The first thing I noticed about this CD was on the
first track in the first ten seconds; drummer Ben Graham sounded like he was on
the back of the beat for the entire first song. I kept thinking he was coming
in a millisecond late on each beat compared to the rest of the band. The
guitars seemed to be on the front of the beat and Graham was following in the
back.
It wasn't until track four, Stop Now, that I felt like the band was functioning cohesively. I have to admit, listening to this release was a little boring; there isn't much dynamically
that kept me interested. Each song has the same tempo and each delivery sounds
the same. It could partially be because of the recording. The levels aren't all
there, the vocals sit behind the band and the drum kit blares over everything
else, and while I would normally enjoy that, it is very distracting here. Ian
Graham, the lead vocalist, sings well but there isn't much variety in how he
sings. It just comes across plain and tired.
I can't really recommend this release unless you are a fan of this genre of music, or rather the content; boy doesn't like his life and begins writing songs about it. I'm not saying people shouldn't write about how they feel but aren't there any other topics to write about? And
more variety in the composition of the music would have helped a lot; each song
sounds very similar and there isn't much to pull the listener past the first
few tracks because telling them apart isn't that easy.
Given more time to mature and maybe find another time signature or tempo, Cheap Girls will be a very good, straight forward rock band. Maybe they have something more live that can't be heard through CD.

Punknews.org- It’s easy to look back at the ..90s alt-rock landscape and only recall the disappointing and cringe-inducing bands. You know -- the kind of stuff that led to nü-metal
or made you wish flannel and brooding frontmen had died with Nirvana. But there
were other great acts with songs that combined just the right amounts of rock,
pop, and often quirk, to conceive a lasting product. Bands like the Lemonheads,
Nada Surf, Fountains of Wayne and Superdrag mixed power-pop with the fuzzy aesthetics
of the ..90s to create smart and catchy songs. It is these bands that Cheap
Girls seem to be paying homage to on their debut Find Me a Drink Home,
and despite their reference points being somewhat obvious, the record is an
extremely fresh listen.
So by now you should have some idea of what Cheap Girls sound like -- that is,
a guitar, bass and drum trio that mix three-chord pop songs with some bar rock
riffs and solos for a sound that recalls the finer power-pop bands of the last
decade. One factor I’ve failed to mention so far, however, is bassist/vocalist
Ian Graham’s voice. Graham’s pleading, albeit reserved, vocals recall Josh
Caterer of the Smoking Popes in their pleasant crooning approach. It’s this
soothing delivery, coupled with often-excellent melodies that make Cheap Girls
a recognizable face in the power-pop crowd.
The blues licks, powerhouse chorus and simple verses of “Kind of on Purpose”
start the album on a charming, relaxed note, but it’s that track’s followup
that will make you love this band. Starting with simple palm-muting and a
melody I guarantee you won’t easily shake, “No One to Blame” sounds like a song
Evan Dando sold to help pay for his drug habit 15 years ago. From the bass lead
in the breakdown to the deliciously alt-rock solo and a hummable chorus, this
song has it all and luckily, Cheap Girls tap into these elements elsewhere on
the album. “Stop Now” has a wide-eyed bounce to its verse and a simple refrain
(“I keep getting all your letters / And they look good in print”) that
seems to demand that you sing-along, while “A Lesser Rate” seems to take a bit
of a darker approach to the power-pop formula.
What’s interesting is that despite subject matter that often tends towards
drinking, drugs and heartbreak, the mood on Find Me a Drink Home is
overwhelmingly optimistic. Blame it on Graham’s voice or the band’s perpetually
upbeat tempos, but this is an album meant for foot-tappers and summer drives.
While I’d like to let Cheap Girls off the hook on the strength of songs like
“No One to Blame” and “Stop Now” alone, it needs to be mentioned that there are
some dull patches on the second half of the album where things become a bit too
familiar and the melodies don’t seem as smartly crafted. Luckily the pure pop
of the acoustic “Her & Cigarettes” acts a pleasant and well-needed
interjection, even if the momentum never fully picks back up.

Punktastic- I really wanted to like this band. I mean what a name! I envisaged a boozy
blues-influenced band, I guess a little like The Hold Steady. A band that sung
about their experiences with floozies and babes who have thrown their underwear
at them while playing at some flea-pit in Tennessee. Sadly well, Cheap Girls are a massive disappointment. They remind me a little bit of early REM or The Replacements,
just not as good. The songs tend to float past and are neither driving or hooky
enough to keep me interested. Lyrically they're quite an interesting band as
they sing about beating loneliness and depression, but musically it doesn't
quite stack up. For me at least.

Razorcake- This is very guitar-driven, with a thick and fuzzy texture occasionally drowning out the vocals, which are very reminiscent of Michael Stipe. Unfortunately, when
I’m getting into a record only to realize there’s no lyric sheet included I get
somewhat annoyed. Instead, we’re given some out-of-focus photographs, including
one of a shoe, and a recording note stating “Cheap Girls wear shoes made by No
Sweat Apparel.” I think there’s no better way of telling people you have
nothing to say than prioritizing apparel over content. I like the name of the
band and album, but even after a couple of listens I found myself having
trouble differentiating between tracks. Every song had the same tempo, and if I
didn’t catch the breaks between them, I would have thought it was one really
long track. The exception is “Her and Cigarettes,” in which they go acoustic
and throw in some keyboards. Good background music to ignore while reading.

Readjunk- Decent bar rock with a positive, straight-ahead rockitude. 
The vocals seem weak, or at least washed out in the mix, but the music
has a pleasing, distortion-heavy alternarock sound that's a little bit
reminiscent of Husker Du. The riffing can get to be repetitive, but good
soloing helps break it up.
Not bad, but hopefully the vocals will be stronger on the next one.

Smother- Cheap Girls debut full-length’s
title “Find Me a Drink Home” sounds like it was some side project of Brett
Michaels back in the ‘80s. But I assure you it is far removed from that cheapened
hair metal. Using poetic lyrics that are far from sober but far from titty bar
drunken, Cheap Girls write pop-rock melodies with sweeping power-pop anthems
that are guitar-centric and fun-filled but not much else…but isn’t that enough
these days?

Suspect Device- Man this is an amazing album!!!! One of those releases
that you check out and are left feeling like you've been punched in the gut!
It's really fantastic! It has a bit of a Replacements thing going on but also
that awesome Dinosaur Jr pop laced guitar rock that literally forces you up out
of your seat and has you dancing around the room like a buffoon. It's just so
full of great tunes and amazing ROCK-age that not checking it out it is a total
none option, you really have to listen to this!

The
Alterative Star- Who are they?....
A trio from Lansing, Michigan who take cues from 90’s
alternative rock acts like the Lemonheads to craft simple, poppy rock tunes
with overly basic production. The band really know how to take darker subjects
like drugs, alcohol and heartbreak and turn them into glorious catchy pop gems.  What’s it like?....
Interesting and it’s
hooks will certainly grab a hold of you. One highlight is the production, which
screams late 80’s/early 90’s and it is quite a change from the squeaky clean
auto tuned production of today. Tracks like No One To Blame features a
fuzzy guitar solo abundant with bends, very simple drumming and even a simple
bass solo. It’s not perfect though. A downside is its repetition, the songs
really do sound the same and it can be hard to distinguish one from the other.
The only noticeable change is the second last tune, Her and Cigarettes a
short bouncy acoustic tune with a poppy chorus. It is also probably one of the
only songs where singer/bassist Ian Graham isn’t totally muffled and
monotonous, another downside but ultimately Find Me a Drink Home is still
decent and anyone who loves a good pop song should certainly give this band a
listen.

We Take
More Drugs- Although it would seem all I listen to is The Hold
Steady, I have found time to find a new band, Cheap Girls. I stumbled across
them on Punknews.org while watching some Hold Steady related video(I am truly obsessed). They are a power trio from Lansing, Michigan who keep things simple and fairly catchy. Their sound is at times bar rock simple and at other times they remind me of some of the
"alternative" bands I listened to growing up (older Buffalo Tom comes
to mind, musically, not in the vocals). I downloaded their album, Find Me A
Drink Home, for free late last night. They seem to be doing a Radiohead
thing where you can get the album for free and then donate an amount of money
you choose (I'll put a link at the bottom). Anyway, back to the music, they
definitely take me back to my younger days, when confessional-style
lyrics and broken hearts did not lead to terrible emo. Rather
than whine and annoy, bands used to write catchy three chord three minute odes
to girls who messed you up and the beer you drank in large amounts to forget.
As I remember these things, all I can say is, Thanks Cheap Girls. Their songs
make me feel nostalgic and old, but in a good way.

What We Hate- Man, it sure is refreshing to receive a CD in the mail that's actually you know, worth my time. You assholes wouldn't believe how good you've got it, only listening
to the music you want. Ambassadors, critics and tastemakers--people like me--we
intentionally subject ourselves to some of the most aurally inept noise ever
put to tape, so you don't have to. You probably think getting free CDs in the
mail is an awesome benefit. I thought the same thing before I started doing
this. Now I know that for every quality CD the mailman drops in my box, he's
going to deposit fifteen more that are all kinds of awful. It's not his fault
though, and hey! This is one the good ones. Seriously, Find Me A Drink Home
is one hell of a debut that has taken my heart hostage. Thanks, Cheap Girls.
As lousy as the nineties were compared to
other decades, one thing that I miss about those days is alternative radio. The
music was raw, heartfelt and earnest, the guitars crunchier than a bowl of
granola, the rhythm sections tighter than a baby in a tin can. With Find Me
A Drink Home, Cheap Girls have captured that energy and used it to create
a record that parties like it's 1995 without sounding dated or obsolete. This
is a band that wears their influences on their sleeves, but it's hard to fault
them for it when their influences are this fantastic.....
Vocalist Ian Graham is a dead ringer for Josh
Caterer of The Smoking Popes, his croons displaying a passionate yet tentative
approach that fits the crunch of the music behind it like a glove. Dude wails
on "27 Days", a song that's so awesomely melodic it hurts my brain to
think about it too much. And shit, that hook leading into the chorus of "Stop
Now" is sinfully sweet, so much so that I often find myself singing it out
of virtually nowhere. "I Should Never" has a bounciness/crunchiness
duality that's equal parts Jawbreaker, Dinosaur Jr. and Cheap Trick.....
Find Me A Drink Home is a welcome and fresh breath of air for anyone like
me who grew up spending entire Saturday afternoons near a radio, wondering how
heartbreak and regret ccould possibly sound so upbeat. It's gonna take a
miracle for this record to not make my top ten at year's end.

30 Music- Good rock voices are hard to come by, but Cheap Girls vocalist/bassist Ian Graham possesses a set of pipes unique enough to make his bands '90s alt-rock homage
stand out. Reminiscent of The Smoking Pope's Eli Caterer and Buffalo Tom's Bill
Janovitz, his voice has an odd timbre that sounds like full throat crooning
through a mouth full of cotton balls. Their songs are a tour through indie rock
and power pop as it evolved from the '80s through the '90s.
The album opens with the mid-tempo rocker "Kind of On Purpose", whose
languid pace would make it better suited as a deep cut to break up the shorter,
faster songs later in the album. Following it is "No One to Blame",
which oddly enough would have made a superior opening track with its palm muted
opening bars and statement-of-intent chugging guitars and offbeat accents.
Along with most of the album it languishes in mid-tempo territory, but its
distorted take on Outfield/Rick Springfield style guitar pop makes a better
introduction to the record.
"Parking Lot" is full throttle power pop, harnessing the shitfaced
antics and powerfully straightforward melodicism of the Replacements. Bluesy
licks, recalling the post-millennial bar rock of the Hold Steady pop up
occasionally, and melodic walking bass lines anchor the record. The latter is a
welcome sound, and stands as one of the few positive things to come out of the
ska punk movement.
Somehow despite thin, tinny production and obvious influences, the album
manages to rise above it in instances where it strips the songs to their jangly
core and adds some punk grit, like the aforementioned "Parking Lot"
and the similarly "Stop Now", which would have been hits in the time
when the Gin Blossoms and Green Day ruled Modern Rock radio. Penultimate track
"Her and Cigarettes" is the lone acoustic song here, a short melodic
burst with a killer chorus that adds a different texture to the record while
retaining its melodic core.
Like their name implies, Cheap Girls make it easy to like them and take them
home, but you won't want to gnaw your arm off if you wake up with them lying on
you.

So, as you may have heard, we have a new record. It's called "Find Me A Drink Home" and it came out April 22nd. It's available on CD via Bermuda Mohawk Productions.

The record will also be available on LP (vinyl) format via Los Diaper Records. You can pre-order the vinyl right now on our main myspace page via paypal and they will ship by the end of May.

All the art for both formats was done by our good friend Jeff Rosenstock and the music was recorded and mixed by our long-time homeboy Rick Johnson .

You can buy just about anything we have to sell on our myspace page using paypal and that's the most direct and probably the cheapest way to get it online, however it's also available on interpunk.com (and probably some others).

LANSING:

for our local friends, the cd's (and the vinyl, shortly) are available at FBC, Uncle Sams Record Emporium and Replay Entertainmetn Exchange. It will be available at some other stores soon...

EVERYONE ELSE:

if you know of a good mom+pop record store in your town, let us know and/or tell them to get our stuff..and if you really want to help, send us your address so we can send you some goodies and posters (kinda like a street team, but not so organized...not really a team i guess.."team cheap girls"...hmm..maybe we have something there..thoughts?)

We'll be on tour at the end of May and early June in the midwest and east coast, please come visit us if we're in your town...and maybe give us a place to crash.