by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“My father tried to convince me that it was wrong to name my band Sexy Boy,” says Christophe Lamarche, “and that’s when I was sure it was the right thing to do.”

All the way from scenic Sherbrooke, QC, Lamarche and guitarist Pwell, keytarist Guy Baston, bassist RNO and drummer Bruno Le Veau brought their lurid electrofunk to town late last year, just prior to the release of their debut album, Lollypop on Sunday School.

Lamarche, whose Sexy Boy moniker started off as an “ugly and pretentious” DJ name, is also the new keyboardist for Echo Kitty, who’ll open for Sexy Boy at this weekend’s inaugural Kimono My Klub, a new glam & glitter monthly at Playhouse. (There’s a discount on the cover charge for Jayne Mansfield, Bettie Page and Stevie Nicks lookalikes, as well as “Major Toms,” “cute sailors” and “20th century boy/toys.”)

Sexy Boy’s ridiculous, spandex-clad persona might bear some resemblance to David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, but musically it’s modern punk-funk and electro that fuel their sound. Lamarche lists local bands like les Georges Leningrad, We Are Wolves and the World Provider as influences, along with acts off New York City’s DFA label, but it was a little band from France that really sealed the deal.

“Everything’s because of Daft Punk,” gushes Lamarche. “During the summer two years ago, I was a bit drunk and I listened to Daft Punk’s Discovery album and it changed my life. I decided right there to be part of popular music.”

With an album, a couple of hot new demos and a roof-raising music video directed by Lamarche’s roommate Olivier Lambert (see/hear the latter two at myspace.com/

sexyboyband), Sexy Boy is on the upswing—it’s right there on their Web Site, they’re “plus gros qu’Jésus.” But the band’s arrival in Montreal was marred by a streak of bad luck. Their label, the Mintaka Conspiracy, folded days before their record launch, leaving them scrambling in a new city, with no contacts, business savvy or stage experience to speak of.

“That show was terrible,” says Lamarche. “Really, it was a failure. We had a lot of stress and we did everything really fast. (laughs) It was like a state of emergency.”

But it was all uphill from there, as the band tightened up and turned their gigs across the city into booty-bopping parties, from Divan to Chaos to Foufs to Club Soda, where they recently topped the bill at a UQÀM talent show as the token “professionals.”

That’s right, Sexy Boy is no amateur act. All five members are music-school grads, and their previous band played jazz.

“It’s a really purist way to learn music, and we were tired of it,” says Lamarche. Conversely, the band has been accused of copping a Montreal sound, something that might force them to return to their roots.

“Yeah, we’re gonna play jazz on the next album,” jokes Lamarche, contemplating “the Sherbrooke sound.”

“It’s really edgy.”

With Echo Kitty and DJs Jef Hell, Sentimental Sénéchal at Playhouse on Saturday, April 29, $7 or $3 for those wearing “glamourous freak” costumes

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