The Evangenitals: Meet the Press

"Like the Dixie Chicks being beaten with their own guitars at the playful hands of the Violent Femmes."

"The Evangenitals... sound sort of like a cross between Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks and L’il Kim. I bought their album."

Gifted with a powerful voice, Crockett makes her distinctive mark as the anti-crooner. She sings with a deep clarity and is able to maintain odd balance of folky sweetness and country music's signature yee-haw .

At first listen, her vocals call to mind other notable altos like Cher, Grace Slick, and flannel-clad lesbian grunge pop extraordinaire, Linda Perry.

Billing themselves as “the love child of Frank Zappa and Stevie Nicks,” the Evangenitals fly the freak folk, alt-country, hippie love and punk rock banners, cite influences from the Violent Femmes to Dolly Parton and Devo, and are thoroughly allergic to pigeonholes, which isn’t that surprising when you consider the band’s original members started making music more or less on a dare while working at a Silver Lake sex toy company.

At the time, songwriter/lead vocalist Juli Crockett, vocalist Lisa Dee and guitarist Brett Lyda were living in an apartment complex near Mr. T’s Bowl in Highland Park, which has since become a home away from home. Per Crockett, a onetime amateur LA district champion boxer and playwright/director with prodigious amounts of energy, their band name was a product of a work-related brainstorming session. It’s gimmicky, but it set the tone for the irreverence that’s become an Evangenitals hallmark. This is, after all, the boho crew that transformed OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” into a whispery country-noir ballad, skewered Ron L. Hubbard’s legacy in “Ode to Scientology” (“I want to be clear/ I want to be here/ Whatever it costs to stop this aching”) and whose promo poster (for last year’s “Everlovin’”) featured band members arrayed in a tableau evocative of the Last Supper.

It’s also the band that learned by doing — first at open mic nights, then at myriad clubs across LA. And Crockett & Co. swiftly learned how to use laughs to provoke tears. “The Work Song” transforms the recitation of a bland daily schedule into a mantra as poignant as it is funny. Wisecracks take a back seat on “Time to Go” (“If this is love then I’m sorry we’re in it”). “I Just Forgot” blames the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice on male ADD with a sweet country lilt over a tick-tock rhythm that gradually evolves into an audience sing-along.

Things have changed since their beginnings five years ago; Lyda, for instance, has departed, and ubiquitous Eastside guitarist Henry Bermudez has signed on. But the collective resistance to pigeonholing remains. Crockett’s likely to snarl like a punk rocker one moment and then yodel the next, while pulling off an odd dance that’s part Appalachian stomp and part shadowboxing bravado. Her harmonies with Dee occasionally suggest a more tuneful Freakwater, but they so exuberantly flout genre conventions that what starts out as a pretty ballad can end up a raucous, multi-instrumental jam. It’s hard to know what to expect from their live shows — and, while their recordings are fine, the Evangenitals are best experienced live.

[The] Evangenitals ... belie the lame pun of their name with entrancing strains of rootsy Americana pop.

"3rd loudest audience applause in the 10 years I've been booking the Buccaneer"

For pure craziness, there are lots of other bands, including one that I can't write to but I've become a big fan; they're called the Evangenitals. They're from Los Angeles. One of the front singers is a former boxer-slash-philosopher. She's a fantastic singer. Her name is Juli Crockett.

"Evangenitals is a strange mixture of words-- evangelists and genitals (!), however it works for the talented but tough-to-define band. And if you want to enjoy the beautiful music they emit, and get caught up in their sing-a-longs, head to Universal CityWalk on September 1st. That’s where the alt-band is presenting a free concert that is sure to pack the lively gathering place for entertainment."

Just fantastic, bunny with a chainsaw coolness.

Books, Booze and... Sodomy?
Tonight is the last Sunday of the month, and the 40 or so people gathered here at Mount Hollywood Church are dressed in their Sunday best, or in what passes for Sunday best in this part of town. Candles are lit, incense is burning and the music sounds soul-stirring at first — an acoustic quartet singing and strumming what could be an Appalachian spiritual — but after closer aural inspection it appears to be a marginally disfigured version of OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” The next tune — also lullaby-soft — appears to be about, um, butt fucking. Yup, sodomy. A fast glance at the evening’s program reveals the band’s name: The Evangenitals. What the hell kind of church service is this?

In a very small series in a club here in LA I went to see two shows within a couple of weeks. One was an able band that was playing loud, not even too loud, just nicely up there. Their songs were compelling, the playing was good. Lots of conversations going on throughout the show.

Two weeks later the "Evangenitals" played the same venue. Almost at "classical chamber music" volumes. Barely audible as far as clubs are concerned. Similar type of music, similarly centered around the quality of the writing and the emotional depth of the performance. Result: Nobody whispered a word, 100% attention from the entire audience throughout the whole set. Remarkable.

I love this album! These guys and gals are amazing. I first found them on myspace, heard to their music and was an instant fan. I recommend this album to anybody who likes Tom Waits, Mark Lanegan, Ween, the Unicorns, or even Ray Stevens. The CD is great, but they are even more fun live with Juli's funny and enlightening commentary between songs. If you're looking for something loveable, completely different, and somewhat life-changing, I suggest you give them a try.

[The evangenitals] write such great lyrics that make smile, laugh and sing all night!

It is my firm belief that no band in Los Angeles gets more "room respect" (and deservedly so) than the Evangenitals. When these guys play, no one speaks or makes a sound. It's a true phenom.

Some of the coolest music this side of the planet. In fact, the other side of the planet from my viewpoint, but you know what I mean. Do you?

Have you ever met a retired professional boxer who is working on her Doctorate in Media and Communications, sings lead for an alt-country band, is a published playwright and theater director and works in a sex shop? No? Well then you should meet Juli Crockett. She has done it all and more."

No one can say for sure who the inspiration for Maggie Fitzgerald was. Jerry Boyd did see her though - after he had written her story. It happened three years ago, when he was helping Huntley train a woman named Juli Crockett. Ever since she had climbed off the deck and won a bout in San Diego, he'd been telling Dub, "That white girl can fight."

"Some days you go looking for the sky but oh lord it's a long walk upwards. Other days you stay down on the earth and find your Evangenitals. Get your tired heart wrung by the best new band since the last best new band ... and maybe the best band after them also."