Warm up with the All Girl Summer Fun Band

ROSS RAIHALA, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Friday, February 8, 2002

As far as describing a sound and attitude, this name says it all: the All Girl Summer Fun Band.

And even if summer is still a few months away, the Portland-based group will celebrate girls, fun, bands and the release of the self-titled All Girls Summer Fun Band debut album with an all-ages show tonight in downtown Olympia.

"We're serious and we like to play music and everything," says Jen Sbragia, "but we're fun and silly, too."

Sbragia, 32, is best known for her role in the Softies, an acoustic duo she formed in 1994 with ex-Tiger Trap vocalist/ guitarist Rose Melberg.

The Softies released a trio of albums for Olympia's K Records, including 2000's well-received "Holiday in Rhode Island." In a review, Pop Matters claimed it's almost not "possible for anyone to say anything bad about the Softies. It would be like pulling the wings off a butterfly."

After one Softies show in Portland, keyboard player and vocalist Kim Baxter approached Sbragia with a tape of her music.

"And I listened to it a lot," says Sbragia. "It was great to find there was somebody else in town playing my kind of music. We started hanging out, and she said she had some other girls for me to meet."

Those "other girls" -- drummer Kathy Foster and bass player Ari Douangpanya -- met Sbragia soon after and, as she describes it, "we started playing music together and we kept playing music together."

The band name followed.

"Kim asked me if I wanted to form -- and this may be the direct quote -- a group 'that's sort of an ... all-girl ... kind of summer fun ... kind of a band.' It was funny and we decided to keep that name because it exactly fit what we were doing."

The band released its first single in 1999, of which the All Music Guide wrote: "All four of the songs are so simple and happy that they should be prescribed as anti-depressants."

Another single and a pair of compilation appearances followed as the band prepared to record its debut full-length album. Sbragia figured K Records would be the right home for it but was reticent to pitch the idea to label head Calvin Johnson.

"I wanted to ask him for a long time, but I was sort of shy about it," says Sbragia. "When I finally talked to Calvin he was, like, 'Of course.' "

The resulting record hit stores Tuesday. The band runs through 13 breezy songs -- such as "Canadian Boyfriend" and "Cell Phone" -- in 27 minutes.

While "Cartoonish" might carry negative connotations when used to describe other groups, that's not the case with the All Girl Summer Fun Band. After all, its first release depicted the women as, well, cartoon characters.

And just like a colorful Saturday morning show, the All Girl Summer Fun Band have a theme song: "They're nothing big, but they're nothing small, just four best friends that you'd like to call ... when you hear their songs, you'll want to hear them again."

Sbragia says she doesn't consider the All Girl Summer Fun Band a mere side project and hopes to continue recording and touring with them. The Softies, meanwhile, have not broken up, but the duo doesn't have any immediate musical plans, as Melberg is now a married mom who lives in eastern British Columbia.

"The two bands are really different, but they're also the same. With the Softies, we never really thought we do anything, we were just best friends who made some music together.

"And with (the All Girl Summer Fun Band) we get along really well, too, and that's kind of rare for a band. But it's also a lot more lighthearted and fun. I can write a song that's about nothing and it's OK. We're all OK with being a little goofy."

Ross Raihala covers music and entertainment for The Olympian and can be reached at 360-754-5406 or OlyRoss@aol.com.

The All Girl Summer Fun Band

- What: The Portland-based band will perform an all-ages concert with Dub Narcotic Sound System and Operation Makeout.

- When: 8 p.m. Feb. 8.

- Where: The Midnight Sun, 113 Columbia St. N.W.

- Tickets: $5.

- For information: See www.kpunk.com.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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