In these days of lean beef, vitamin E supplements and two-dollar bottled water, it's nice to see that some bands still believe in the old rock maxim: sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll. At least the gals in London's next-big-thing Fluffy do. On Friday, in the midst of a promotional tour of the U.S. to hype their September 17 debut album, Bridget Jones, the 23-year-old guitar player of the female pop quartet, had a little rock-related incident that prevented the band from performing that night at L.A.'s Troubadour with Boss Hog.
According to a source, unbeknownst to the rest of the band and management, young Miss Jones had obtained some strong Codeine pills for a nasty cold she caught while in Vancouver, and during a photo shoot for Raygun magazine she loaded up a healthy tumbler of Jack Daniels, tossed it back and promptly fell out, cutting her leg on some glass in the vicinity. Needless to say the shoot was called off, and although the cut required five stitches and wasn't sewed up in time for the band to take the stage (and despite the fact that the doc told Jones to lay off the leg), the spunky ax grinder still insisted (perhaps emboldened by some more of those little pills) on catching headliners Hog anyway.
The all-female combo play a raw version of punk that draws on the sound of Nirvana, the Sex Pistols, the Stooges and the Ramones. Fluffy's debut UK single, "Hypersonic," has been described as "an ode to masturbation." In the U. S., the slightly less controversial "Husband" was released yesterday. The group certainly has a knack for delivering on their jailbait looks; Singer/songwriter Amanda Rootes told one English journalist, "Men seem to find it hard to understand that masturbation is a different thing for women. For us, it's not just about cumming. It's a far more sensual thing. Having said that, I'm kind of envious that men have the abililty to squirt like they do... Oh to be able to squirt like that. Men don't know how lucky they are." Fluffy has managed to coax British producer Bill Price (Sex Pistols, Clash) out of retirement to work on their debut, which they are now completing back in England. On a related note, Fluffy is slotted to play the Finsbury Park show in London on June 23, the first date for the re-united Sex Pistols, joined, as previously reported, by Iggy Pop and the Buzzcocks.