Gigolo Aunts

Gigolo Aunts started out in 1981 as a bunch of middle schoolers in Potsdam, New York, calling themselves Sniper: the brothers Steve and Phil Hurley, Dave Gibbs and Paul Brouwer. In 1986 they swapped that name for one borrowed from Syd Barrett's "Gigolo Aunt", off his 1970 album Barrett, and became a fixture of the Northern New York circuit, known for frantic live sets and the tight three-way harmonies of the Hurleys and Gibbs.

In the summer of 1987 they packed up for Boston, and within a year Hoboken's Coyote Records, then home to the Feelies and Yo La Tengo, had signed them. Rob Norris, once of the Bongos and a late-period Velvet Underground member, produced their 1988 debut, Everybody Happy. The follow-up, started with Paul Q. Kolderie, stalled when Coyote went under early in the sessions, and the band went back to grinding it out in the Boston clubs.

Flippin' Out, in 1993, is jangly power pop with no interest in scowling, and "Cope" rings like a bell with a bruise on it. Brouwer and Phil Hurley stayed until 1995, when Fred Eltringham and Jon Skibic joined Gibbs and Steve Hurley.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.