Punk(tuation)-funk from New York.

“In Oklahoma City all the beer is watered down because they can’t sell it over three per cent,” bemoans !!! guitarist, Mario Andreoni. “Everywhere we go we encounter ridiculous laws and the single is a song about all of them - Giuliani’s cabaret laws were just the most obvious example.”

Mario is laying some rumours about his band to rest. And not just the one that their current single, Me And Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard, is either a 9/11 reference or a personal attack on the NY mayor whose infamous “zero tolerance” drive involved closing any premises that didn’t have dancing licences if two people were spotted “moving rhythmically” inside. Their punk-funk sound, and the fact that they boast LCD Soundsystem’s Tyler Pope as a member, has also seen them grouped together with the new sound of New York - despite hailing from America’s Pacific Coast.

“Lots of bands in New York are experimenting with that Gang Of Four style, and we love that music too,” Mario demurs. “I think New York gets a large influx of art students who create their own scene. But we barely know half the people the press say are our best friends.”

But it’s not just the Giuliani reference and the punk-funk style. With their cryptic moniker (which Mario is loath to explain, save to say that it signifies excitement) and tracks like the nine-minute manifesto There Are No F**king Rules, !!! seemingly have more in common with artsy East Coast intellectuals like Warhol and Lou Reed than they do with the woozy psychedelia and no-brain punk normally associated with California.

“We’re just really creative people,” he protests. “People might think that we’re highbrow hipsters but there’s just as many lowbrow influences in our music.”

So let’s get some facts straight. The eight members of !!! (“Of course we argue but there’s never any talk about ‘let’s axe this guy!’”) all met while serving time in different bands on Sacramento’s DIY punk scene. All were turned onto dance music as a means of transcending the lo-fi scene’s self-imposed limitations. And so, with a love of Tito Puente as much as Tarwater bubbling in their brains, they joined forces for a couple of singles, which led to their eponymous debut album in 2000. But all that, according to Mario, was merely warming the enginee for the juggernaut LP they’re about to release next year.

“Giuliani reflects where we were at about a year ago, but the album is going to be about ten times crazier. We’re really gonna twist it up,” he enthuses.

Unlike Oklahoma ale, it should pack quite a punch. 01 Aug 03

!!! - Me And Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard (A True Story) is out now on Warp Records.