I've gotten so used to "New York band" being synonymous with "Brooklyn band" these days that it's almost jarring to meet a group that's kept itself planted in Manhattan.
"I tried to get an apartment in Williamsburg once," admits Virgins frontman Donald Cumming, "but this is home, man."
And unlike so many of those bands that now call Brooklyn home, three-fourths of the Virgins are that rare breed: native New Yorkers. Cumming grew up in the Tribeca neighborhood — before it was Tribeca — guitarist Wade Oates was a West Village kid, bassist Nick Zarin-Ackerman is from the Upper West Side. Only drummer Erik Ratensperger, a Connecticut native, did not grow up in the city.
And as we take a walk through the East Village — their 'hood and mine — they acknowledge how much the area has changed in the past 15 years, washed by a deluge of luxury condos and NYU dorms. And yet the guys still have their favorite hangouts. There's a burger joint (Paul's), a 24-hour diner (Moonstruck), the Chrystie Steps and Lit Lounge, where the Virgins shot their video for "Rich Girls," and where their pal Leo Fitzpatrick (of "Kids" fame) hosts a party.
Ah yes, "Kids" — Larry Clark's 1995 fictionalized account of out-of-control teens in the big city may have shocked, but it was hardly far from the truth. Late '80s/ early '90s New York, back in the days before Rudy Giuliani made the city safe for Starbucks and strollers, was a different place, where both cigarettes and 16-year-olds were common sights in nightclubs. I remember it, and so does Cumming.
"I started going out when I was 14", he says. "I just started by going to '80s night, [at Don Hill's, home to legendary parties Squeezebox and Misshapes] and then I went to ['90s hotspot] Life. The door guys there would see me every night and be like, 'You are not coming in.' But eventually I got in."
Cumming and his bandmates have that seen-it-all quality that comes with having grown up as city kids — something that, as a product of the sheltered suburbs, I've always envied.
Here are a few more New York people and places near and dear to the Virgins' hearts:
RYAN MCGINLEY No single person has been more significant in the Virgins' story than Vice's favorite naked-kids-lovin' photographer. "I first met Ryan at a party," Cumming recalls. "He came up to me and told me he wanted to photograph me and my girlfriend having sex." After that icebreaker, Donald found himself cavorting naked before the camera all over New York, and even doing something that we can't describe here in one photo that hung on the walls of the renowned Whitney Museum in McGinley's 2004 exhibition. But it was a McGinley shoot in Mexico — "a bunch of naked kids on a flatbed truck bouncing around the jungle," as Cumming recalls — that Donald and guitarist Wade Oates first, ahem, laid plans to start a band.
ROBIN BYRD The doyenne of lovably cheesy public-access striptease has so many fans in New York, we should probably name a park after her. Count the ever-randy Virgins among them — in fact, their video for "Private Affair," short shorts, headbands and all, is an homage to the long-running Robin Byrd Show.
"GOSSIP GIRL" The show famously took the Virgins to heart last year, when the band's entire 5-song debut EP was featured in a fall 2007 episode. Castmember Jessica Szohr wore Virgins T-shirts, and that helped build the buzz. All that's left is a Virgins cameo on the show. Says Cumming, "I just want to meet those girls."
THE STROKES Musically, the Virgins' danceable pop-rock (with occasional bursts of Cumming falsetto) sometimes veers into Scissor Sisters terrain, albeit without the camp. But between the leather jackets, skinny jeans, the East Village connection ... I guess it was inevitable that New York's last great "It" band would be the band to whom they are most often compared. And some tracks, like "Fernando Pando," do feature the Strokes' spare, bass-slapping sound. Not that being likened to Julian and the boys bothers them. "We love the Strokes," they say. "Those comparisons are fine with us."
ATLANTIC RECORDS Not only do the Virgins not live in Brooklyn, they're not on an indie! The funny thing is, the way they got their major-label deal. "I basically bluffed them," says Cumming. "We signed our Atlantic contract before we were even a band. I made a demo, had a meeting and I was basically spinning lots of lies. They offered me a deal, and then I had to backtrack and put a band together! Since then we've been teaching ourselves how to play and how to be a band."
You've gotta love the guy's honesty. And if it seems like Atlantic is doing a soft sell with the Virgins, that is exactly what the band asked for. Says Zarin-Ackerman, "We wanted it to happen naturally and hopefully become successful because of the amount of fans we garner.” Adds Cumming, "We don't want our faces plastered everywhere. But Atlantic has been real helpful with gear and getting equipment fixed."
As for pressure to perform on the charts, he says, "SoundScan? I don't even know what that is."
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