As the Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch was coming together, then-titular-star Neil Patrick Harris and the musicians/actors cast to be his backing band performed a live gig at Rockwood Music Hall for an intimate crowd. Since then, the members of that backing band, Tits of Clay, have decided to become a real band as their time permits. With Harris and / or other special Hedwig guests, the band has played a few late-nights shows at the Mercury Lounge, post-Hedwig performance. The most recent was September 4th and, despite the 11:59 pm start time, the show sold out with the line of people waiting to get in going around the corner. Most of these folks would be considered Hedheads and they could have heard of the show from a tweet from NPH, implying he might be there. But though they might have come to hear Hedwig showtunes, those same fans may be surprised to hear Tits of Clay do an almost entirely punk set.
The Tits’ members attire and hair certainly would have given that away though and The New Yorker wrote up a good description of them, “Justin Craig (guitar, keyboards, vocals), the music director, who has a Pete Townshend nose and a prettified Nigel Tufnel hairstyle; Matt Duncan (bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals), who has short emerald-green hair and a macho black mustache; Tim Mislock (guitar, vocals), who has asymmetrical blond hair, like a half-buzzed Leif Garrett; Peter Yanowitz (drums, vocals), with crimson hair, on drums. They combine the look of old-school glam and punk with the one thing the genre currently lacks: youth.”
Joining the Tits (at various points) were Lena Hall (Yitzhak in the current Hedwig), Shannon Conley (Hall’s understudy), Miriam Shor (the original Yitzhak), and Stephen Trask (Hedwig co-creator). But there were no Hedwigs — Harris might have been out of place with Andrew Rannells now in the role but neither were spotted at the show. As the main Tits rotated instruments, they performed a rowdy set that included Violent Femmes’ “Kiss Off”, Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation”, X-Ray Spex’s “Oh Bondage, Up Yours!” and concluded with Trask singing “Angry Inch”. You can check out photos below.
Additionally, the band also mentioned that they were working on an EP, one of those things a real band tends to do, and were crowd-funding it. Their PledgeMusic campaign allows you to pre-order a download of the EP, get a signed physical release or a signed setlist, or hang out at a soundcheck or in the studio with the Tits.
