By James Casey
Arizona Daily Wildcat
December 10, 1997

Who the hell is Anne Summers?

Photo courtesy PC Music. Arizona Daily Wildcat Anne Summers (L to R: Brad Samuels, Andrew Pontano, Alec Boyajy) plays Club Congress Friday night.

Anne Summers is no angry, folksy female or a hippie-rock chick from Alaska who lived out of her car in San Diego; Anne Summers isn't a "she" at all. Instead, it's the name of a new pop sensation from the nation's capital that hopes to take over your airwaves and subliminally influence you with songs about girls, booze and other important issues. And it's coming our way for a show at Club Congress this week.

Anne Summers debut album, The Dandy, has gathered speed since its release and is now in the national college charts' top five. When I asked guitarist/vocalist Andrew Pontano during a recent interview about how this success had affected the band, he casually replied "It's been cool, we've been playing a lot of shows and just trying to roll with the punches."

The group was formed three years ago in Maryland by Pontano, bassist/vocalist Alec Boyajy and drummer Paul Swegle. Swegle was replaced midway through recording with new drummer Brad Samuels.

"Appealing pop songs, energetic physical shows and lots of great jokes in between songs," are, according to Pontano, the real reasons to listen to Anne Summers, which has a wide range of influences. "Elvis Costello, Billy Bragg, the Beatles and a lot of older stuff," he told me. "Pavement have been a big influence as well." Pontano also spoke highly of Blur, calling them a "great band."

Drinking and having a good time is a fairly central theme with Anne Summers. There's a promo photo of the band taken in a bar and many of the songs relay the boys' predilection for the sauce. "We drink Budweiser now," said Pontano. "I guess our tastes are rising with our success. Many of the fine establishments we play [unfortunately] don't have Milwaukee's Best. Icehouse is quality too - only the cheaper stuff."

It's evident from looking and listening to the album that Anne Summers is influenced by the '60s and British music. The band's name itself is the name of an English nanny who used to model clothes and lingerie at tea parties in the countryside. "Its all about time," said Pontano. "A lot of great albums have been blocked out of the U.S. MTV is responsible for a lot of this. Radiohead are on the ball and bringing out some cool stuff." This anglophilia could be a product of Andrew's semester spent in Sheffield, England while he was in college.

Anne Summers doesn't really want to be the next pop sensation unless it's the result of its musical talent. "I have a problem with musical gimmickry," Pontano said, "when people don't rely on songwriting, but on being different from everyone else. I'm bombarded by this stuff all day when I'm listening to the radio. That stuff annoys us."

Anne Summers is definitely a group that you'll want to see. Luckily, you'll have your chance this Friday night, when they play at Club Congress, opening for C Spot Groove and Tito & Tarantula. Additionally, with the winter closing in on us, you can pick up a piece of "summer" from your local record store by buying The Dandy.

For concert information, call Club Congress at 622-8848.