Avenue D - Talking Dirty

Feted for their famously filthy lyrical content, New York duo Avenue D bring their Miami roots to bear on electroclash for a fabulous mix of booty bass, hip hop and all points in between.

Avenue D is in Sydney this week as part of a quick jaunt around the country. It seems that it has been one wild party for high school best friends Daphne D and Debbie D since they moved to New York from Miami a few years back.

Daphne and Debbie might not yet have done Dallas but with tracks like Shut Up And Stick It In, Do I Look Like A Slut?, Show Me What You Got and The Sex That I Need, these gals excel at talking trash in ways that might even bring a blush to Peaches’ cheeks. Their music is all too often simply filed away under electroclash, but in actuality it’s a tasty mash-up of booty bass, ghetto-tech, eighties new wave, punk, hip hop and elements of cabaret.

While blaming their designers on Do I Look Like A Slut? they explore new technologies, which have helped them fill the hole in their lives on Orgasmatron.

“We do actually have a few songs that are not about sex,” laughs Daphne rather coyly, backstage just prior to a show. “Thank You For Nothing You Bitch, for instance, is about friendship. There is a plethora of others, but obviously most of our songs are about sex. You know how it is.”

“It’s all in good fun,” adds Debbie. “People, usually men, expect that girls are quiet and pretty and sweet, but we are certainly not like that.”

“Most people get the joke but every once in a while we do get the person who doesn’t get it or gets really offended and that makes everything more fun for us,” says Daphne.

Ironically these girls seem to thrive on every situation that arises and their biggest hit Do I Look Like A Slut? was inspired by punters who were trying to be offensive by screaming the word ‘sluts’ at them throughout their show.

“I think we have done the slut thing to the max and are ready to try something different,” says Debbie. “Too much of the same thing starts to get boring but at the same time it seems to be what people want so we just give it to them.”

“We are currently working on music that’s coming from a little bit of a different angle, dealing with life, love and all that,” adds Daphne. “We would like to make songs that are even more offensive to people on a number of different levels but still manage to bring them around to our point of view. I don’t know why, but pushing people’s buttons is so much fun.”

Indeed their madcap hi-jinks extend to running riot in Boy George’s home. “He had invited us to stay with him and we just hung out and had fun with him. Once he left us by ourselves and we just went wild, trying on all his old clothes and taking pictures in every room. It was amazing to open a wardrobe to find all his old Culture Club outfits just sitting there – of course we had to try them on.”

Surprised by their popularity, Debbie and Daphne are clearly enjoying the ride all the way. “Avenue D totally started out as a joke,” exclaims Daphne. “We never really thought that we would have a career in music, travel the world and the rest of it. We were just best friends who decided that we should do something retarded together.”

“Our first gig was at a cabaret night so I don’t think we are strictly electroclash,” says Debbie. “We had only written two songs for that gig and then every week we would write a couple more songs. Avenue D is just the two of us coming up with songs to keep ourselves entertained, and as it turns out other people are also entertained.”

“Larry Tee saw those cabaret bar shows and was really keen for us to play at his parties in Manhattan and later in Williamsburg,” explains Daphne. “We could not think of anything more fun so we agreed.”

Attracting a huge gay following in New York, I wondered if Avenue D had conscientiously worked to attract the attention of that particular fan base, like, say, Kylie Minogue has in the past.

“It kind of represents where we were at a certain place and time,” says Daphne. “We live in New York City and most of our really good friends are gay guys. They were just the people with whom we were hanging out and partying. Obviously the natural extension of this was that they would also be at our shows.

“Larry Tee’s parties always attracted an interesting mix of electro hipsters and gay men. I think they appreciate how crass we can be. I mean, who else likes to talk about cock as much as we do?”

WHO: Avenue D
WHAT: Play a surprise show at onelove at Tank
WHEN: Saturday 11 November
MORE: www.tankclub.com.au