The Kelly Affair

On Friday night, we had some special guests in AstoriaTony and Sarah dropped in from Ohio (turns out they were only 10 hours away this WHOLE TIME) and we went to see Bishop Allen at Pianos.

Had I heard of Bishop Allen? No. Did I love their concert? Yes. So what was so special? I would start with the fact that the lead singer looks so effortlessly cool wearing his CORDUROY JACKET IN JULY that you cant help but like anything that comes out of his mouth, particularly with that superhot broken front tooth. Thats also a nice touch. I would then add that the rotating use of instruments, some duct-taped together, also added some awesome. Finally, the humor and self-awareness that comes with realizing that 12 albums in a year is a lot of songs and some of them are only going to be 45 seconds long.

Their sound is pretty rad, too. They rock you gently, rock you slowly, but are totally capable of rocking your face off. Theyre recording one EP a month for a whole year, so we showed up to see June performed. It was quiet and thoughtful and introspective but also really, really fun. Like Ben Folds only without all the suckiness. Their Butterfly Nets has been in my head continuously since the show, I think its the ukelele. And the whimsy.

But what really, really made my night was the opening band. The Kelly Affair had me at This song is about a total douche bag! and yes, a lot of their songs were about douche bags and we all know how much I hate douche bags.

Truth be told, I couldnt hear much of the lyrics over the drums, but that was largely unimportant because this band is just so fucking cool. These are the kind of girls that guys want to make out with in the darkened corner of the bar, the kind of girls who are imitated by Urban Outfitters employees, who know how to wear last nights black eyeliner and make it look awesome, who are cooler and hipper than everyone you know, but dont even care.

After about 15 seconds it was clear that these were the girls I wanted to be. I WANT TO BE ONSTAGE WEARING A CERULEAN STRETCHY TUBE DRESS and awesome pumps, wailing on a guitar without looking like Im even trying. Or just rocking the drums without messing up my hair. Or even just playing the tambourine. I could totally bang the shit out of the tambourine for those girls.

Anyway, this guy I know totally had the hots for the bassist. I was planning on saying hi to her and telling her that I know this guy she totally has to meet, you know, being the wing-man. But when I got within 3 feet I lost all my nerve, she was simply TOO COOL and I couldnt do it.

Lest you think that I am being too complimentary, that there is no way that the opening act could have left such an impression on me, let me tell you that I wasn't alone in this sentiment: they rocked one guy into doing the lawnmower, the shopping cart, and a modified Russian kick, none of which were appropriate, all of which were hilarious. - http_www.moonpost.com_nora_.htm

One of the flawed traditions in music critique is the comparison of any grrrl band to one or more of the following: The Go-Go’s, The Bangles, The Breeders, Sleater-Kinney, or The Donnas. Luckily The Kelly Affair sounds nothing like The Breeders, and the remaining bases of comparison are strong enough to keep a crowd (and a drunken critic) on their feet for a better part of 45 minutes.

Friday the 13th at the Cutting Room brought The Kelly Affair, along with Mayflower Rats, Defective Skrew, and Klunk United, to Chris Noth’s posh palace of polished music. The venue is the kind of place you’d expect from the man who played “Big� on “Sex and the City�: on the thin line between hipness and pretentiousness. The Kelly Affair stood out that night because of a) their complete lack of stage banter and b) their simple but effective compositions. Like a Mondiran painting the group took a minimal amount of composition and presented it with the maximum amount of effectiveness. The “cooler than you� attitude of the band was lost on some ex-frat boys from Long Jersey that decided to yell misogynist, alcohol-slurred epithets. In those wasted 360 seconds we could have had two more songs, but the ladies of The Kelly Affair dutifully let the man-boys finish their rant. The band then proceeded to shove rock down the man-boys’ throats as the crowd erupted, and thankfully the stag party filled out.

The band (Amanda on guitar and vocals, Rania on bass and vocals, and yet another Amanda on drums) contains no actual “Kelly� and are headed into the studio soon. Check them out on www.thekellyaffair.com and be sure to keep an ear out for some boot-stompin’ tunes like “Bite Yer Tongue� and “Last Song� which, on the 13th, appeared midway through the set (how artsy!)

And at the show remember that their super power is to take your dipshit comments and magically convert them to rock, making you feel like a right douche for having opened your gob in the first place.

- Sugarzine.com

Empowered females have been making rock music for a long time, but The Kelly Affair lead singer and guitarist Amanda Christie says she still gets surprised reactions from people when she tells them she's in an all-female rock band.
The Kelly Affair

"People are still always just amazed that I think that girls can sort of do something that's traditionally thought of as like a masculine thing," Christie said. "And even though I don't think its very strange or outrageous or anything, even people that I know and respect think that it's a little bit crazy." Though the band is called The Kelly Affair, there aren't any actual Kellys in the group; The Kelly Affair got their name from "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," a Russ Meyer film about a band of hot, small-town female musicians who set out to make it in the sharktank of Los Angeles. In the Russ Meyer movie, The Kelly Affair gets into the big time, but so far the real-life Kelly Affair is unsigned and doing all of their own booking. This is Christie's first "real" band, but in not much more than two years of existence, Christie, bassist Rania Haditirto and drummer Amanda Cantrell have made a name for themselves in New York City and are ready to embark on their first tour ever.

"We wanted to [tour on] the west coast because a lot of our favorite bands are from Portland or from Olympia," Christie said, citing Sleater-Kinney, Team Dresch and The Thermals as examples.

"At first we used to joke and call ourselves a geography rock band, because we have a song about Hawaii, we have a song about California, we have a song about Canada, then we also have a lot of mean songs about boys," Christie said. "We like to call those our 'disappointment songs.'" Whatever the subject matter, it's opinionated, bold and catchy, just like the women in the band. And when they write their emotionally charged lyrics, they're not wasting time worrying about what the public reaction will be.

"We say what we want to say," Christie said. "We're not nervous or embarrassed to say anything in our songs." The Kelly Affair plays with Armored Frog and the Ginger Hustlers, 10pm, Wednesday, July 27 at Luckey's. $3-$5 — Sara Brickner

- Eugene Weekly

28 July 2005

Universal Measure
The Kelly Affair
The Kegels

Blue Moon
Seattle, WA

"The Kelly Affair is next. They're from New York City and they are the cutest band to ever play here. I kind of hate saying that until i look back on all of the ugly musicians we get in here. Rachel, who is bartending, thinks the guitarist looks like a girl from the WB's "One Tree Hill." But they're an excellent band, more in the Veruca Salt vein than Babes in Toyland. Yes. I'm using 10 year old bands to describe a current one. It's fucking appropriate.

Dave, meanwhile, shows up and says, "I didn't know you asked Sleater-Kinney to play."

The drummer tells 2 jokes. I'll pass them along now.

Q: How many indie rockers does it take to change a lightbulb.
A: You don't know?

Q: Why couldn't Helen Keller drive?
A: Because she was a woman.

- blogspot.com