Full of Soul: D.C.'s Poor but Sexy

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"I WAS A GUY who told people that Fugazi was my favorite band for a lot of years," says David Brown, best known as utility percussionist with the Travis Morrison Hellfighters. So, how to explain his new soul-inflected project, Poor but Sexy?

"I was obsessed with R. Kelly," Brown says. "I tried to make some R. Kelly songs, basically. I literally tried to make what I thought sounded like R&B radio hits. But it didn't really turn out that way. People say it sounds like Steely Dan. There's a lot of '70s radio rock in there."

Then came a months-long job in Ukraine alongside former Dismemberment Plan guitarist Jason Caddell. "I played him the demos, and he offered to work on one song and record them. So, I recruited the rest of the guys." Those guys being longtime hotshots of the D.C scene: keyboardist David Durst, Brandon Kalber on bass and drummer Bruce Falconer. This equals a lot of chops in one room.

That room is Caddell's basement studio. "The recordings turned out good and people seemed to like it. So, we recorded a bunch more at Inner Ear," aka the studio Dischord Records all but built.

But Brown's accomplished vocals are a far cry from the martial shouts of "Repeater." Or the de rigeur indie rock whine. "When I sing, I do have classic R&B in mind," he says, "copying Otis Redding and that."

Brown is ambivalent about the dog-and-pony show of finding a label, generating hype and touring until the wheels fall off. For now, PBS jams can be found at myspace.com/poorbutsexydc. But, says Brown, "I'd like to play every club in D.C. by the time the year is done," thus ripping a move from the local go-go playbook.

"There's a bit of a new-soul scene in D.C., and I'd like to hook up with them. I don't even know who they are. But there's a whole other world of people" beyond those raised on Fugazi, says Brown. "I would like to tap into that."

» Galaxy Hut, 2711 Wilson Blvd., Arlington; Sun., 9 p.m. $5; 703-525-8646. (Clarendon)

Written by Express contributor Bob Massey
Photo courtesy Larke Paul