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The best kept secret in music
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Jasamine White-Gluz wants you to catch Montreal fever
"When you are doing the singer/songwriter thing you can hear a lot of the conversations that are going on in the venue, and it hurts your feelings if people are talking and not listening," Jasamine White-Gluz explains, sulking from Montreal while she recalls her three-year stint as solo-acoustic act Bad Flirt.
Touring for a year with the seven-song EP The August Issues, White-Gluz, a former communications student and music journalist, says she was biding her time until she could find a band of her own.
Back then, her acoustic ballads were often lost in a sea of hardcore and punk, and in an attempt to win over fickle audiences she would engage them in games of Twister and sandcastle competitions.
"There is something about Canadian musicians and the theme of kid's birthday parties... A lot of the shows I did solo, I was booked with hardcore bands and punk bands, artists that didn't sound like me at all. The audience wasn't going to the show to see an acoustic songwriter type so I would just throw in a bunch of shit to make it more confusing for people."
These days, abandoning the playtime theatrics in favour of the music, Bad Flirt is finally the noisy-pop rock band that White-Gluz had been longing for.
In 2004, Montreal duo Edmund Lam and Heidi Donnelly of Hexes and Ohs, as well as Mark Greenberg, joined the band. Something clicked and Bad Flirt jumped right into recording 6 Ways to Break Your Heart, splitting the recording session in half between Greenberg's basement and
CJOL at Concordia University.
"I felt when our songs were put to this record that it was the way they were supposed to sound," says White-Gluz. "I hope other people get that instant connection, and if it's possible to fall in love with music at first listen, I hope people get that, even if it's only with a great-sounding snare drum... whatever, that's cool."
The album launch is a free show on May 27 at Montreal's Casa del Popolo. Until then Big Flirt is set on a cross-Ontario tour.
With the American music press branding Montreal as the next Seattle, White-Gluz says there are a lot more people coming out to shows out of curiosity, and she is excited their release coincides with a lot of attention from kids "hunting for the next big thing from Montreal."
- Ottawa X-Press
“We can’t have a mosh pit with the kind of music I play, so we have a Twister game instead,” says Jasamine White-Gluz, aka Bad Flirt. “It lets people get to know each other up close and personal.”
Perhaps you’re already acquainted with Bad Flirt. At the tender age of 20, she’s amassed some impressive entertainment biz mileage, high-tailing it from zine contributor to Exclaim magazine reporter, from would-be promoter to Total Casting agent, and from disorganized emo band member to solo alt-pop charmer. Always at her side is her friend, former bandmate and on-stage master of ceremonies Ganit Bar-Dor, who entices audiences to play along and be merry as White-Gluz dishes out guitar-driven, break-beaten ditties. The Mirror lent an ear as the Bad Flirt discussed finding love, saucy stage antics and her inner punk.
Mirror: Your bio mentions Obey the Flame Productions.
Jasamine White-Gluz: Yeah, [Ganit and I] started it a couple of years ago with one of our oldest friends, Adam Reider, but he’s taken the reins now - he’s doing really well booking Scandinavian metal bands. The three of us just found the scene kind of stale so we started organizing a huge punk, hardcore and metal festival, but it was expensive and it kept falling through. Adam just invested more time and money into it, so it became his project. But it was a great experience for us. Luckily, we learned a lot about the industry before we started playing.
M: So what’s up with the Long Island connection?
JW-G: Well, their hardcore scene is really tight, so once you know somebody, you know everybody. It’s kinda like a big family and we’re the token Canadian daughters. New York is like our second home now, maybe even our first home. When I started playing solo, we both became more integrated there than in the local scene. It’s kind of lopsided, but it’s good to be part of that. That’s what I’d love to see here, but I think, scene-wise, Montreal is getting better. I remember a time when it was so catty.
M: So you’re not a tortured indie diva?
JW-G: I don’t take myself seriously at all. I’m not important enough to make anybody depressed, so I’m not going to scream about my problems. It’s just a fun time. All the bands we’ve ever loved have had really lively, entertaining shows, but I don’t feel like I can take full responsibility for entertaining a crowd, just singing and playing guitar. That’s why we bribe people with free stuff and distractions to make it a little interactive.
M: What’s on the menu this time?
JW-G: It’s basically a vaudeville beach party. There’s free candy and leis, we’re gonna have a hula-hoop competition and sandboxes so people can make sand castles. We also made “I Need a Boyfriend” and “I Need a Girlfriend” pins - trade them and fall in love! It’s like Valentine’s Day every day at a Bad Flirt show, that’s the goal. :
- Montreal Mirror
Discography
2005 6 Ways To Break Your Heart (New!)
2004 Heartbreaker Radio Single (US & Canada)
2003 The August Issues EP
2001 Songs For Traffic (Demo)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Embraced by lo-fi tweakers, punk-rock pranksters and pop tarts all at once, Bad Flirt has proven good songs can traverse genre borderlines.
Founded in 2001 as a solo acoustic project, Jasamine White-Gluz used her experiences as a journalist and musician in the punk music scenes of Montreal to help define her sound.
Jasamine took a punk-rock DIY attitude and indie-pop sensibility to put together Songs for Traffic
a 3-song demo that included the hugely popular track, My Expensive Hobby. The demo garnered immediate attention from the underground music scenes.
Soon afterwards Bad Flirt released the 7-song EP, The August Issues, and completed a year of constant touring, travelling by Greyhound and playing solo shows up and down the East Coast.
During this time, live shows ranged from the intense to the insane, with Bad Flirt including a regular Twister game tournament in every set.
Now recording and performing as a 4 piece electric band, Bad Flirt retains its fervent punk spirit and bridges it, with smart-pop. Mixing all the fuzz of The Jesus and Mary Chain, the melodies of Jimmy Eat World, and the sugariness of Juliana Hatfield, Bad Flirt is the soundtrack to the broken hearted and the heartbreakers everywhere.
Bad Flirt's new album, '6 Ways To Break Your Heart' has been all over Canadian College radio charts, appearing as the only Independent act to crack Earshot Online's list of top 50 records this July. From Victoria to Halifax, college radio has been a major supporter of the album.
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