Wild and whimsical Sex With Lurch rings in

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer

Sex With Lurch frontman Robbie "Tom Kat" Quine will lead the band's three-night stand at Wave Waikiki beginning Sunday. Sex With Lurch 9 p.m. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday $10 for those 21 and older, $15 for those under 21. Wave Waikiki 941-0424 Note: Tuesday show is for those 21 and older.

SoCal theatrical band Sex With Lurch began, as most good things in life do, in the realm of dreams. Vocalist/guitarist Robbie "Tom Kat" Quine "wanted to mix glam, science fiction, transvestites and surfing all together" in a really cool band while sporting Vince Neil blond locks, stilettos and a vinyl jockstrap accentuating his tight, tattooed buttocks. Guitarist "St." Bernard Yin, surfing buddy extraordinaire, simply agreed that it was all good.

Now claiming seven members, Sex With Lurch may not be one of the Los Angeles club scene's more famous denizens, but it's certainly among the most downright interesting. In addition to transvestite Lurchette backup singers and dancers Electra Lux and Brandy Warhol, you'll find among the Lurch lineup Minister of Propaganda Paul K., who, according to a November L.A. Weekly story, appeared on stage "dressed as a chicken ... painting a portrait of Sartre."

And what would any self-respecting band calling itself Sex With Lurch be without an actual doppelganger for the zombie-like giant playing keyboards and — here's where I get excited — theremin? F.Y.I.: That's an electronic contraption that gives off moody tones with the wave of a musician's hand over its two electrodes.

I gave the band's four-song EP a spin.

• "Friendship," with its sitar-lite guitar work, cosmic blips and bleeps and trippy electronic vocals, reminded me of the Beatles "reunion" song "Free As A Bird." I hated that song. This one, however, was kind of cool in a Byrds-without-all-the-drug-references kind of way.
• "Pretty on the Inside" features a menacing guitar line and a Quine lead vocal one might have not been surprised to hear from the hypothetical love child of a Ozzy Osbourne, Lene Lovich and Robert Plant tryst. Not that it's a bad song or anything.
• "Glitter Bitch" benefits from an insanely catchy sing-along chorus ("Ohhhhhh-ohhhhhhh-ohhhhhhhh, you're just a glitter bitch!") and nasty catty lyrics ("She's white trash and she's got zits. That don't stop her from turning tricks.") Shower, anyone?
• "Lonely Beach," with its "are these guys being serious or what?" sappy lyrics ("I was walking down the beach and I found a shell. It was beautiful, but it was cracked, and it looked like it had been through hell. It reminds me of you. It was one of a kind."), can't help but get snickers after the insanity preceding it. Great theremin by Lurch, though.

In a week of Wave Waikiki nights also featuring punk promoter and Sticklers bassist Otto as that very model of a modern major transsexual Hedwig, three nights of Sex With Lurch is comparable to extra gravy on your mac salad and kim chee.