Members of band, Garbage, Dress in Drag at Show
Butch Vig and Duke Erikson Surprise Fans at KIAB Concert
Jul 28, 2008
Vig and Erikson are part of the Know-It-All Boyfriends (KIAB), an informal cover band that plays a handful of shows each year at Café Montmartre, a cozy bar and jazz café in Madison, Wisconsin. Another prominent member of the group includes singer/song writer Freedy Johnston. For over a decade, Johnston has released a handful of highly acclaimed albums, and may be best known for his work of writing incidental music for the Farrelly Brothers movie, Kingpin.
According to Duke Erikson, who plays bass, guitar and vocals in the KIAB, learning covers is just part of the fun for the band.
“An interesting part of being in KIAB is learning all these well constructed songs, and how they’re put together,” Erikson said.
Unknown Group to Share Stage with 'Boyfriends'
In the weeks before the show, the band had announced they had an unknown act opening for them named the Know-It-All-Girlfriends. Fans had guessed that the secret band could be anyone from local female singers, to perhaps even Garbage front woman Shirley Manson.
“We were really shut-mouth about it,” Erikson said, in between drags from his Marlboro cigarettes.
Between 9:30p.m. and10:30p.m. the band mates changed out of their regular clothes, put on black fishnet pantyhose and slowly transformed into rock & roll princesses. Butch and fellow KIAB member James “Pie” Cowan slipped into French maid outfits, and sat down to have their make-up applied by professional make-up artists. Ignoring the hair poking out of top of his dress, Cowan looked down at his chest and complained that his “breasts looked too small.”
As the make-up artist rimmed Vig’s eyes with black eye shadow and prepared to apply bright red lipstick, Butch Vig caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror and laughed.
“As far as I’m concerned,” Vig said, “tonight is Halloween.”
Fans Shocked and Surprised at Groups' Appearance
After getting all dolled up, the Know-It-All-Girlfriends (KIAG) took the stage and were greeted with a packed room of excited and shrieking fans.
“That was the best part of the show,” said a sunglasses and tiara-wearing Erikson of the crowd’s surprised reactions.
Staying playful and true to character, the guys made jokes on stage about stealing each others boyfriends and called each other bitches. Before the first song, guitarist and vocalist Jay Moran addressed the crowd.
“We’ve gotten really close on this tour,” Moran joked. “In fact, we’re all menstruating at the same time.” He paused before adding flirtatiously, “But not tonight boys.”
"It's Not Everyday You Get to See the Guys of Garbage in Dresses"
Halfway through the night, the band took a brief intermission to slip out of drag and into their regular attire. For the next hour and a half, they played covers of chart topping songs such as “Don’t Worry Baby” by the Beach Boys and AC/DC’s “You Shook me All Night Long.” They also played their one original song, “Ramp it Up.”
At 12:55 a.m., the band rapped it up departed from the stage. As he wiped some specks of glitter of his face, Erikson summed up his brief stint in drag in one word: Liberating.
“It’s like we could do whatever the f**k we wanted on stage,” Erikson said.
Some die-hard Garbage fans had traveled several hours just to see this show. At the end of the night, many of them agreed that the trip had been worth it. After all, as one fan was overheard saying, “It’s not every day you get to see the guys of Garbage in dresses.”
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