Lesbians On Ecstasy

Now here’s a concept that can’t fail to please: taking safe retro radio hits by lesbians and revamping them for the sweaty queer disco clubs of yore. The result is sexually charged electro geared and destined for play among underground clubs and confrontational art sets. This fierce Montreal foursome create lasting impressions by juicing up Rough Trade’s "High School Confidential” as a hot pornographic fantasy in "The Pleasure Principal,” injecting Indigo Girls’ "Closer to Fine” with some serious drug abuse on "Closer to the Dark” and slapping kd lang’s "Constant Craving” with an anti-consumerist stance for "Kundstant Kroving.” Though this is all great and fun, it’s still hard to separate this album from novelty territory, especially since the Lesbians’ messy party-minded compositions often lack the emotional power of the originals, something made especially obvious on "Revolt,” the Lesbians’ romp through Tracy Chapman’s "Talkin’ Bout a Revolution.” The most effective track is probably "Tell Me Does She Love the Bass,” their intense, jealousy-fuelled rereading of Melissa Etheridge’s "Like the Way I Do,” as it greatly exposes the underlying yearning of the original with its deadpan vocal delivery. This, and many of the tracks on Lesbians On Ecstasy, will be pumping out of queer and straight clubs for years to come, and this unity of the sexes through the pulsing of the beat is exactly what Lezzies On X are going for.

What does it take to be a Lesbian on Ecstasy? Bernie Bankrupt: I guess a really gay attitude.

What’s your role in the group? I’m the sort of nerdy one. I play the computer and the sampler, keyboards and the synthesiser.

Have any of the artists you’ve covered given you any feedback? Nope, not yet. But we’ve been trying really hard. We approached a bunch of them, we’ve given copies to some and we did hear from someone who talked to someone who knows Lorraine Segato [ex-Parachute Club], and apparently she likes the idea but I don’t think she’s heard the track ["Parachute Clubbing”]. But she was flattered, apparently.

How did the concept for the group come about? Well, it came about one night when Frankie, who’s the singer, and I were out at a friend’s birthday party — a lesbian birthday party, so we were doing lesbian activities like listening to people play acoustic guitar, and this woman who was a friend of a friend of ours did the most amazing Melissa Etheridge cover, or version, of "Like the Way I Do,” and we were both struck in the moment by what an amazing song it was and how it would make a killer dance floor kind of track. We kind of just took it from there, and said, "Well, people are doing all sorts of crazy dance floor covers and electro versions and there’s so much retro stuff, but who is servicing the lesbians, that’s what we want to know,” and so the answer is, "We are!” We’re servicing the lesbian community… with our dance floor remakes.