The Toilet Boys are a relentless, shining, sweating, gritty, flamboyant rock N roll spectacle fronted by the glamorous Ms. Guy, who's so impeccably femme it's hard to believe she's truly male—until you see that salient Adam's apple. Still, Ms. Guy is somewhere in between male and female in a way that makes such words as “cross-dressing” and “drag” seem belittling. With Ms. Guy, it's not burlesque; it's just the way he is.
“He's been that way since he was 2 years old,” says guitarist Sean, who blows fire onstage and whose instrument —his guitar—has a flame-spitting pitchfork attached to the end. “It's not a shtick; it's not contrived. It's just him.”
And then Sean sighs because he's having trouble expressing just what he's trying to say. “Guy's got a star quality that exudes from him. I mean, yeah, it's gender illusion, but it's not like he's trying to be . . . I mean . . . It's weird. I wish we could find the perfect way to define it.”
The New York band sports more than one member with star quality: Sean's been featured in a UPS commercial, and the whole band did a commercial for website IAM.com. “We're pretty much whores,” says Sean. “We'll do anything to pay the bills.” Anything? “Deejaying, small-time prostitution, go-go dancing, party promotions—[bassist] Adam is a ventriloquist and magician. . . . We've all done ridiculous stuff.”
After putting out CDs and singles on various small labels, the Toilet Boys signed to Roadrunner a year and a half ago, only to be released from the deal recently amidst the usual record-label crap. “We're psyched to finally have that over with,” says Sean. “Our mission now is to figure out how to put out our next record and take over the world.”
THE TOILET BOYS PERFORM WITH THE BLEEDERS, THE DONALDS AND DIABLO 44 AT THE GALAXY CONCERT THEATRE, 3503 S. HARBOR BLVD., SANTA ANA, (714) 957-0600; WWW.GALAXY THEATRE.COM. THURS., NOV. 30, 8 p.m. $13.50. ALL AGES.
