Gross Points

  Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, Joe Weber sits inside the round booth room at Alligator Lounge in Greenpoint, filling up on the bar's free pizza. The spot is quite comfortable to him—after all, it is the watering hole for his band, garage rockers Gross Relations, which rehearses just down the block. Bassist Peter Lauricella soon joins us and, following some small talk about the bar's free bites, beer, work and vegetarianism—particularly in light of the live chicken slaughterhouse just up the block—the remainder of the band trickles into the circular cove.  

Gross Relations started playing together in 2009, but it wasn’t until April of this year that the guys got serious. “We were drinking buddies, and one day we said, ‘Let’s start a band and see what happens,’ says Lauricella. So far, it’s working out. Trading on a fuzzy punk sound—“After our first show, someone said that we sounded like Guided by Voices but even worse quality,” Weber says with a laugh—the band has played venues like Coco 66, Glasslands and Bruar Falls alongside up-and-comers like Dinowalrus and Great Tiger. Still, Lauricella says, “People don’t know what to think of us. I guess we’re some sort of power pop or perhaps weirdo pop.’” Drummer Jon Feola prefers to describe

Gross Relations’ sound as “awkward aggression.” “There’s awkwardness to it in some regards but at the same time aggressive confidence,” he says. “We’re into what we’re playing. The songs are stripped down and get to the point. There are no crazy instrumental parts.”

The band universally agrees that the tracks are solid in sincerity. “We don’t say much in our songs,” says Lauricella, “but we do mean what we say.”

As Rod Stewart’s “Young Turks” plays in the background, Andy Nystrom further explains their sound. “The lyrics are weird, and it has the organ sound that makes it stand out from straightforward guitars,” he says. “Not to use the Weezer comparison, but they blew up with big guitars. That’s what we have but more of a punk element.”

In some ways the band is still finding itself, perpetually constructing an underprocessed sound, each track an unending hum that’s actually catchy. The song “Rewind You,” stirs up Weber’s inner Frank Black and can’t help but have echoes of Pixies guitar along for the ride, while “You Don’t Know Me,” has repetitious lyrics and chords befitting The Ramones— appropriate since it’s Weber’s favorite band. Light organ is thrown into “Don’t Beat On Me” making it almost dance-y.

As the band members dig into more pizza, they seem contemplative about their future. They’ve all been around the band block already: Feola has been in several bands and has the most years of recording under his belt. “I started recording myself when I was 7 or 8 years old,” he says. “Later, I’d record under a bunch of fake monikers. I’d make albums and pass them off with different names and come up with band members. I would send these out to record labels, and no one would write back.” Lauricella adds that each of the guys is on the same level in terms of what they want in the band. “We all know one another and wouldn’t want to let one another down,” he says. For now, a 7-inch release Nov. 9 and an EP slated for early 2011 are their main focus.

Before the band heads out for rehearsal, Weber orders one more Stella, leading to a domino effect of one-last-beer orders, then Lauricella blurts out that he’d like to be Siouxsie Sioux for Halloween. For a band that started as friends and drinking buddies, not much seems to have changed. “We laugh a lot,” says Feola. “Everyone just takes themselves too seriously.”

-- Gross Relations Oct. 27, Shea Stadium, 20 Meadow St. (betw. Waterbury & Bogart Sts.), Brooklyn, 718-986-8563; 9, Free. Also Oct. 31 at Mercury Lounge.