Metro Pulse/Music/Jucifer

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What:
Jucifer

When:
Saturday, July 27, 9 p.m.

Where:
Pilot Light

Cost:
$6

Bonus music feature:
Country Goth
Leslie Woods isn't dark—she just sings that way.

Jucifer won't bend over for anyone

by John Sewell

Athens, Georgia's Jucifer is one of those problem groups. The band defies easy description and categorization for several reasons: Jucifer is only a duo, which is not exactly a "group," lead singer/guitarist Amber Valentine is unabashedly attractive and could thereby fall into the "sex bomb" category, and the band's music is hard, if not impossible, to lump in with any of the myriad subgenres within the world of indie rock. So when it's time for the necessary evil of critical pigeonholing, Jucifer is an enigmatic X-factor mystery band.

Employing a wide range of influences, Jucifer would most easily be ranked alongside such artsy, distorted guitar manglers like Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and Royal Trux. Instead, Jucifer prefers to be presented as a heavy metal band. Sure, their music is loud and heavy on the guitar, but the band seems to have more in common with The Velvet Underground than, say, Slayer. So why the decision to opt for the metal description?

"I think people perceive any band as what they want it to be and as what they can relate to most easily," says Valentine. "So we've got a girl who dresses crazy, a guy [drummer G. Edgar Livengood] who beats the hell out of the drums, a whole bunch of amps, high volume. It's very easy for that to overshadow the music in someone's perception. And then that can lead to being perceived as something with a shtick, which is really not what we're about.

"Honestly, I don't think we fit into any category," Valentine continues. "Fitting into a category is not something we strive to do, or not to do. Categories are stupid, even though they're helpful if you're trying to describe something. Trying to describe music or a movie or even a joke, it's probably not going to translate properly.

"We prefer to be called metal because, in our experience, metal fans are actually more embracing of experimentation than a lot of other subgroups within music. Metal fans seem more willing to check out something that's not conformist. I'm not saying that all metal fans are this way. But we'll play our heavy, heavy, heavy stuff and then switch to a more pop, weirder and distinctively not metal kind of song; and they'll still respond to it. It's not an exclusive, aloof audience from our experience."

Jucifer's new CD, I Name You Destroyer is indeed a confounding juxtaposition of musical styles. Though the album does have its heavy moments, the bulk of the material is more melodic, ethereal, alluring and, well, kind of scary. Like candy-coated razor blades, the songs are often sugary sweet and mask something sinister and dangerous within.

Valentine says she doesn't really take that much interest in exactly how fans find exposure to Jucifer's music. "I think we have a lot of fans who don't necessarily listen to as wide of a spectrum of music as we do and don't always like far out stuff. But somehow they're able to filter us into whatever kind of stuff that they like. I don't know how that works, but who cares? That's not my business to worry about it."

Valentine is more adamant about her image as a woman in rock. She is proud to be an attractive woman, but doesn't want to exploit her femininity or to push Jucifer as a "hot chick band."

"I really despise the concept of, um, the whole sexuality thing whether it's guys or girls," says Valentine. "I know it's reality. And a lot of people like a band because of the hot guy or the hot chick or whatever.

"Basically the roles for women in rock are 'hot chick,' 'strong lesbian,' 'angry, scary bitch,' 'one of the guys,' or 'cute little babydoll that has to be taken care of who's not sexy, but that's why you like her—because she's approachable.' These are the roles that women usually occupy in rock.

"My thing, as far as fashion and stuff, I do whatever I feel like. I dressed like a boy until I was 22 and then I started spending money on clothes because I always liked clothes," Valentine continues, laughing. "So it's unfortunate that some people that will dismiss us because they think a girl that wears makeup and crazy clothes couldn't possibly play anything good.

"Years ago when we didn't have a record label and could have used the press, someone offered to pitch a story about us to Playboy. The opening query was can you provide a picture and your measurements so we'll know you're hot enough for Playboy? And that was totally offensive. I'm not gonna pander to that kind of mentality. I mean, if people buy our records 'cause they think I'm hot, there's nothing I can do about that. But I'm not willing to bend over for that kind of attention, no way."

The band, who recently completed a string of dates with über sludge metal purists, The Melvins, is happily finding an audience whose number continues to swell. And the lack of a bass player, which was initially a debit, has allowed for a different kind of musical evolution.

"We started without a bass player simply because we couldn't find one," says Valentine. "But within a year it became really satisfying to us and we didn't feel like that we were lacking anything. The years have passed, and we've become more and more certain that it's the best decision not having another person in the band. We have such a backlog of material, God forbid we have another person with their own ideas and their own parts.

"Edgar and I are aesthetic people. We both love things that are beautiful to us. I have no agenda except to please myself.

"And if there's any agenda at all behind the way I present myself, it's accidental," Valentine continues. "Sometimes people assume that I'm not a strong female or a good role model. And I think that that's an incredibly sexist, anti-female perspective. I hope to bring some awareness to the fact that just because I enjoy stereotypical female clothes, it doesn't make me any less of a whole person. I think trying to play down your femininity so that you'll be considered valid is as bad of a thing as trying to sell your body to get ahead."