The Riddle of Thee Minks

This boy-crazy garage band wants you to get Ready.

by M.J. Fine
Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Having run through three drummers in just over two years, Minks bassist Liz Lixx and guitarist Hope Diamond faced the prospect of canceling their appearance at a Philly Freakout. They'd been looking forward to playing with The Woggles and they didn't want to let down Mondo Topless singer/organist Sam Steinig, the man behind the garage-rock night. He'd volunteered the services of Mondo's drummer, Tom Connors, but Lixx didn't want to impose. "Sam called me back and said, 'Tom said, "I would give my left nut to play with Thee Minks,"'" Lixx recalls.

And so Thee Minks snared their Playthang. Nineteen months later, the trio's drinking beer on Passyunk Avenue and recalling their first night together. "I think me and Liz got pretty drunk that night and we kept teasing The Woggles boys, 'cause they were cute, that we were gonna write a song about them," Diamond says. "And we did! And it's on our new record!"

Put two Minks together, and the talk inevitably turns to cute boys. "(I Wanna) Do a Woggle" is their collective favorite song on Are You Ready Now? (Steel Cage Records). The Woggles are flattered by the attention — a posting on their Web site calls it "the most important song you will ever hear" — but for the record, drummer Dan Electro turned down Connors' offer to be his boyfriend for 30 seconds.

Connors, who's kept up his Mondo membership, caught on to Thee Minks' m.o. pretty quickly. "When I first started playing with them, I was trying to do all this crap and show off how great a drummer I am or whatever," says Connors. "[But] the simpler I make it, the better it feels with this band." Bass players still can't keep up with him, Lixx says.

Simplicity is the key to Thee Minks' appeal. If at first you like "Shut Up and Kiss Me" or the doo-wop-touched "Truly," they won't sell out on you. Diamond pinpoints the difference in the songwriters' taste: "I can listen to, like, a 10-minute guitar lead, which Liz can't. I can't play a 10-minute guitar lead, but I can listen to it." Any psych influence comes from her, but she and Lixx can't even agree on whether the groove in "Teach That Boy a Lesson" is R&B or psych. Either way, it's less tempting to split hairs when you're dancing.

Diamond finds plenty of other things to like about her newest bandmate. "You know, all the things they say about drummers don't really fit Tom," she says. "He's always early, he's never late, he never forgets anything. He's always there when you need him. He has not spontaneously combusted yet." Diamond says he also scared away the comic-book guys who used to stand up front at Minks shows but would leave without talking to them. Still, he's attracted his share of freaks, including a tea-bagging bar owner, a lawsuit-happy civil-rights lawyer and a bosomy lady who told him Thee Minks are nothing without him. And that was just at one show.

For Lixx, that cast of characters is a refreshing change of pace from her old job as a public defender in Allentown, where one client tried to strangle her and another grabbed her with the hand he'd just pulled out of his pants. It was enough to make anyone move to Jersey and start a band.

Now a civil defense lawyer by day, she's Thee Minks' alpha female. "In some ways, she's like the little kid who gets the party started and has all the energy," Diamond says, "and in other ways she's like the mom who takes care of everything."

As for Playthang, he enjoys watching Lixx and Diamond rock out from the vantage point of the drum kit.

"I have the best seat in the house. No question about it," he says. "All those guys up front, they think they're having fun. They can't touch where I'm sitting."

Sat., Sept. 17, 9 p.m., $8, with The Downbeat 5, Beretta 76 and The Blow Goes at The Fire

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Thee Minks
Are You Ready Now?
(Steel Cage)

For their first full-length, Thee Minks go multidimensional. The four-song Songs About Boys 7-inch had just one subject; with "151 Girl" and "Girl on the Go," they add booze to the mix, but they're still boy crazy. Stylistically, they're just as straight. Are You Ready Now? is pure garage rock, with a tight rhythm section, catchy choruses and short but sweet guitar solos. Liz Lixx and Hope Diamond swap growling leads and share memorable harmonies. If you've listened to garage rock in the past 40 years, you've heard songs just like these. If you're still listening, you'll dig 'em.