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.
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