Naming your album after one of the greatest albums of all time is a pretty bold move, but the career of !!! has been nothing but a series of bold moves. First of all, there’s the winking name, supposed to be pronounced with whatever onomatopoeias you want, but refined over time into “Chk Chk Chk.” The Sacramento-based band’s 2001 debut was something of a land mine in underground rock circles. At a time when radio was dominated by pop-punk and slick club hits, !!! sought to combine the anarchy of the former with the sexiness of the latter, pulling influences from ’70s disco, ’80s funk and art-rock, and whatever inside jokes where reverberating around the band at the time (“Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass” and “Even Judas Gave Jesus A Kiss” are some of the more inspired song titles in their catalog).
A few years ago, as the members of !!! were wandering the streets of Austin during SXSW, they decided to call up Spoon’s Jim Eno on a whim. Soon, Eno found himself producing !!!’s Thr!!!er at his own Public Hi-Fi studios, his first foray into electronic music. But even amidst the samples and old-school synths, !!! brings an undeniable live energy to their music, which is especially important given their dance floor pedigree. They even invited Austinite Sonia Moore to guest sing on a few songs, inspired by her onetime gig as a backup dancer and singer for MC Hammer.
Lucky for us, !!! kept Moore in mind when they recently rolled through town. Moore and the band stopped by our Studio 1A and got the dance party started in an instant. The live version of “One Girl/One Boy” is even more kinetic, backing up Moore’s powerhouse performance with a slinky groove. Those three exclamation points never seemed so apt.
Watch video of the performance and grab the download below.