That Handsome Devil
"At times [the music] seems out of control; moving frantic, saying things you shouldn't. But [it] wears it well, and knows how to get away with it in public." -Godforbid
According to That Other Wiki, That Handsome Devil is "an American rock band hailing from Brooklyn, New York by way of Boston, Massachusetts." According to Orange Alert, it's "a wonderful mix of Tom Waits, Gogol Bordello, and G. Love (if he decided to grow a pair and stop singing about basketball and lemonade)." According to Notable Music Co., it's "everybody’s favorite psychedelic-rockabilly-jazz-R&B-blues-surf band." According to frontman Godforbid, the band is simply "fringe pop." But one thing's for sure: whatever That Handsome Devil is, it's always a little bit deranged.
The band has been featured in the Guitar Hero and Rock Band game series as well as on the TV series Weeds and Reaper.
Members:
- Godforbid, frontman, lead vocalist, and lead songwriter
- Jeremy Page, guitar, bass, keyboard, banjo, pedal steel, glockenspiel, percussion, accordion, synthesizer, kazoo, background vocals, and songwriter
- Naoko Takamoto, back-up vocals and sex appeal
- Andy Bauer, drums, percussion, accordion, guitar, and background vocals
- Evan Sanders, keyboard, trumpet, and trombone
- Jeremy Siegel, bass and background vocals
- Sam Merrick, drums
- Deflon Sallahr, live show hype man
--- Associated Acts
- Alaskan Fishermen, a hip-hop and rap group that included Godforbid and Page]
Albums:
- That Handsome Devil EP (2006)
- A City Dressed in Dynamite (2008)
- Enlightenment's For Suckers EP (2009)
- The Heart Goes to Heaven, The Head Goes to Hell (2011) (Abbreviated THGtH)
Singles:
- "Dating Tips" (2004)
- "Steady and Slow" (2007)
- "Hey White Boy" (2007)
- "Lucky Me" (2008)
- "Mr. Grinch" (2008)
- "Chicken Claw" (2009)
- "Marilyn Loves Heroin" (2009)
- "Disco City" (2009)
The band provides examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Godforbid and many of the personae he takes on.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Face of the Band: Gee, I wonder who.
- Fauxlosophic Narration: Earlier interviews with Godforbid (here's an example). See "Heel Realization" below.
- Guttural Growler: For effect.
- Handsome Devil: Invoked (no, really?).
- Heel Realization: Godforbid, very recently.
Godforbid: I had pure intentions, but then I became increasingly aware of how to manipulate the moment or people around me. [...] It was a horrifying thing. I woke up from it like a blacked out night, "Ah! I've been a douchebag all these years!"
- Manipulative Bastard
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Godforbid. As summarized by the man himself:
Godforbid: I can't call myself high fructose corn syrup because Coca-Cola's the name that sells. They're not ready to hear high fructose yet.
- Refuge in Audacity
- Shrouded in Myth: Godforbid. To quote a fan:
Anthony: Godforbid himself had earned a reputation made up of one part Jesus and three parts Jesse James.
- The origins of the band as well. Prevailing fan theory is that they met in the back of a cop car, but Godforbid nixed that pretty quickly, observing that police don't often put strangers together upon arrest.
- The Smurfette Principle
- The Social Expert
The music provides examples of:
- American Dream: Flavor 2 in "Bored."
- Black Comedy
- Cluster F-Bomb: "Inside You."
- Evil Sounds Deep: Godforbid's voice has been described as "a lot like that talking plant from Little Shop of Horrors."
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Charlie's Inferno" is a sprightly, elevator-music-esque tune about a man who is blocked from entering heaven and sent to Ironic Hell for lack of any other place to put him. And that's just one example.
- The Masochism Tango: "Twist the Knife."
- Mood Whiplash: "Party's Dead," the last song on THGtH. It's somber and notably lacking in black comedy.
- Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly: Songs take inspiration from everything from surf to swing.
- Genre Roulette: Although almost all of the songs have blended influences, the sheer breadth of styles involved inevitably results in some weird transitions. A good example is the jump from "Charlie's Inferno" to "U + I in Suicide" on The Heart Goes to Heaven.
- Refuge in Audacity
- Suicide as Comedy: "U + I in Suicide."