Gigolo Aunts aren’t ready to say uncle

Gigolo AUNTS guitarist Dave Gibbs’ steely blues eyes glisten playfully when he is asked about his latest project.

“It’s a sea chantey,” he says, pausing a beat for disbelief to kick in. “It’s for the movie ‘Peter Pan.’ Yes, it’s miles away from anything I thought I’d ever do, and I don’t even know if it’ll make the movie or get cut out. But it’s a darn good pirate song. And I’d rather write music than wait tables.”

The Aunts wouldn’t have been the first musicians whose career arcs crossed paths with a dessert tray. As it happened, however, original members Gibbs and Steve Hurley moved from Boston to Los Angeles three years ago not to chase pop’s creme brulee but to embark on the main course -- life after their band.

That the Gigolo Aunts have a new album, “Pacific Ocean Blues,” and a July 30 appointment as part of the sixth annual International Pop Overthrow festival is the consequence of overflowing creative juices and a passionate fan base in Spain.

Gibbs, Hurley, guitarist Jon Skibic and drummer Fred Elftringham had been busy carving out livings doing music for film and television, or as players-for-hire, when they acceded to pleas from their Spanish label, Bittersweet, to record another album.

So in summer 2001 -- seven years after their major-label debut, “Flippin’ Out,” had seemingly positioned the Gigolo Aunts to emerge as the East Coast’s answer to the Posies -- the band convened in the Hollywood Hills home studio of the Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz, whom they met on tour in the ‘90s.

“We’d swim for a while. Then we’d order some lunch. Then we’d swim some more,” says Gibbs, 37. “Then the Crows came home early from tour and we weren’t done.”

The record, a mix of harmony-filled rockers and restrained ballads with distinctly California nuances, was completed in producer Chris Horvath’s studio in Venice.

“In the old days we could have knocked out the album in two weeks,” Hurley says.

Underpinning “Pacific Ocean Blues” are the sentiments of artists only reluctantly letting go of their original vision. From the song “Even Though (The One Before the Last)”: “No more time painting portraits of yesterday / Well, maybe just a sketch.”

“ ‘The One Before the Last’ is a saying we picked up in Spain, a joke about drinking,” says Hurley, 38. “You know, ‘This is the last sad song I’ll ever write ... until the next one.’ We ended up with a combination of really wistful and embracing-the-change songs.”

“This album was more guarded hope,” Gibbs says, “whereas [1999’s ‘Minor Chords and Major Themes’] was complete and utter resignation.”

The previous album, released on Duritz’s label, reflected the turmoil the Aunts encountered in the ‘90s after “Flippin’ Out” and its saw-toothed power pop failed to meet commercial expectations and ensuing projects became embroiled in label problems.

“We were always a little too rock for the pop crowd and a little too pop for the rock crowd,” Gibbs says.

“Now I think power pop is more like jazz. It’s kind of a clever study and sometimes it comes off as being too premeditated, too thought-out. We certainly might be guilty of that.... But I think power pop is going to be appreciated by a diminishing number of people.”

But not the power-poppers’ songwriting skills. Gibbs has worked on music for movies such as “Josie and the Pussycats,” “That Thing You Do” and “Dumb & Dumber,” as well as TV shows “Smallville” and “Alias.”

Hurley worked on “Dumber” and played for two of Anna Waronker’s projects: her band and the stage show “Lovelace: The Musical.”

Skibic, who has toured with Ivy and Juliana Hatfield, also played in the “Lovelace” band. Former Cavedog Mark Rivers, now a comedy writer, has taken over for Elftringham (who now plays in Ben Kweller’s band) and will play drums in the IPO festival show July 30 at Spaceland.

“What I do now is rewarding in a different way,” says Gibbs, who also has an album’s worth of solo material and performs around town under the name Kid Lightning. “It’s rewarding from a craftsmanship point of view.”

“It’s a challenge to your talent,” says Hurley, who is also teaching English at Eagle Rock High School. He recalls the days the Aunts toured tirelessly and lived on a meager budget, even crashing unannounced at college fraternities in towns where they had performed.

“Even at our best, we were doing just enough to get by,” he says. “But we miss the band. We miss rehearsing every day. We also know that after a while it gets to be a young man’s game.”

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International Pop Overthrow

What to make of the 180-band sixth annual International Pop Overthrow festival, which runs Friday through Aug. 3 at 12 venues throughout the Southland? We asked a trio of artists who’ve played the festival before which three acts they’d want to see. For a complete schedule, visit: www.internationalpopoverthrow.com.

RAY PAUL

The power-popper who ran L.A.’s Permanent Press records will perform Saturday night at Zen Sushi in Silver Lake.

The Glimmer Stars (Sunday afternoon at Johnny Foxx’s in Santa Monica):

“I heard a buzz about this young band on the [Internet newsgroup] Audities and really want to check them out.”

Maple Mars (July 24 at Club Lingerie):

“A band I had on my label -- their new material is supposed to be sensational.”

Badger (July 24, at Club Lingerie): “They’re coming from Norway to play.”

SCOT SAX

Sax fronts the Byrdsian quartet Feel, whose self-titled debut album was released last fall. The band performs Aug. 1 at the Knitting Factory Hollywood.

Copperpot (Friday at the Knitting Factory): “These guys capture what the festival is all about -- powerful frontman [Jarrett Randazzo is] drenched in sweat by the end of the show.”

Saucy Monky (Wednesday at the Derby): “Annmarie Cullen is fun to watch perform and a great writer-singer. Plus, Cynthia Catania adds twice the energy.”

Ken Sharp (July 28 at Spaceland):

“The ‘hot child in the city’ voice, the red hair, the lifelong devotion to pop -- you could easily replace the words ‘pop rock’ with ‘Ken Sharp.’ ”

WENDIE COLTER

The L.A. singer-songwriter and onetime promoter of the “Third Thursday” pop showcases performs Wednesday at the Derby.

P. Hux (Monday at the Derby): “Parthenon [Huxley] gives you top-quality songwriting, sincere emotion and utter class.”

Steve Barton (Saturday at Zen Sushi): “He’s the real deal, an original popster.

He had it in the ‘80s and he still has it.”

Evie Sands (Aug. 3 at Johnny Foxx’s): “Unique -- she’s the original pop songbird of the ‘60s. She’s a classic, and classics never go out of style.”