Local Music: From the mouths of Total Babe

It seems to happen every couple of years in the Twin Cities music scene: a band of teenagers comes along and reminds everyone that rock 'n' roll is still very much a young person's game.

Following in the footsteps of First Communion Afterparty, Mouthful of Bees, Battle Royale, Baby Guts and Melodious Owl, the latest underage band with overachieving gumption is Total Babe, a violin-laced folk-pop quartet of 17- to 18-year-olds, mostly from south Minneapolis, led by high-school dropout Clara Salyer.

Salyer is anything but a slacker. A Buddy Holly-bespectacled, slightly gawky but sharply witty sandy-blond singer/guitarist, she says she quit Main Street School of Performing Arts because "I knew I could get my G.E.D. and focus on other things." Besides music, her focus now includes running a record label called Personal Best and booking gigs for her band and others.

Salyer is clearly smart, too. Take, for instance, the quote she gave me on her band's growing buzz when I met them all at a coffee shop Sunday:

"The weird thing about Minneapolis is, if a band is really well liked here, they don't ever seem to get liked anywhere else," she observed, "but then if they're liked everywhere else, no one likes them here."

Total Babe, she concluded, "is lucky because we're starting to be liked here and in other places already."

Those places include Germany -- where one of their songs is featured in TV commercials for the candy brand Balisto -- and New York, where they have landed with a small indie label (So TM Records) and recently played gigs during the CMJ Music Festival. That's right, the teen band traveled on its own to NYC, where the members hung out in Brooklyn and briefly stalked the guitarist from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Carolan may have the coolest parents, based on a story Salyer told about one of the group's early gigs at Big V's in St. Paul: "It was like 1 a.m. and the only people there were Lizzie's parents, who are cute and normal, and a toothless ex-convict who hangs out there."

Salyer said she originally wanted to put together a folk act (hence the violin) but started writing poppier songs after teaming up with guitarist and De La Salle High student Jordan Gatesmith, who plays with Carolan in another band, We Valedictorians. Drummer Tim Leick came aboard this summer. There's no bassist in the band, which is ironic because Salyer studied jazz bass in school.

The name Total Babe was a joke that stuck because of the boys in the group. Said Carolan, "Clara says she never wants to have more than two girls in the band. Otherwise, 'Total Babe' would be too obvious."

The group's debut EP, "Heatwave," bears vague echoes of orchestral pop groups such as Camera Obscura and Belle & Sebastian, with a little Jenny Lewis/Rilo Kiley-ish purring via lines such as, "Even when I yell, I know I'm right." Most of the songs are light and brooding but playful and lushly arranged, including the new Current/89.3 FM single "Bearbones," and the whistling-filled gem "Shape Up." There's also swirly, atmospheric texture in the candy-commercial track, "Gary Coleman" (which really has nothing to do with the "Diff'rent Strokes" actor).

As with most teen bands, the future of Total Babe depends largely on its members' post-graduation plans. Gatesmith wants to land in New York, and Carolan hopes to study in France. Salyer plans to enroll somewhere local, but said, "We'll make it work somehow."

After full-length tributes to Christina Ricci and Lisa Bonet, the third set pairs the duo with a different producer, Def Jux guru Aesop Rock. Identifying tie-ins to the actress remains a tricky proposition, but this one has the most memorable tracks, including the wigged-out funk grinder "Like You" and the near-metallic "Protagonists." Murs and Aesop will join Slug on Tuesday for a CD signing and Santa Claus-style photo-ops at Fifth Element (6 p.m., 2411 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls.; free, but Toys for Tots new-toy donations requested).

Blue turns 'Purple' Bluegrass maestros Monroe Crossing have issued their ninth CD (!), "Heartache & Stone," in time for their seventh annual Cabin Fever shows Saturday (2 and 7 p.m.) at the Mantorville Opera House in Mantorville, Minn., west of Rochester. The quintet also performs Sunday at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 4100 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls. (4 p.m.). The new disc's mostly Minnesota-penned songs include a cheeky but fast-fingered version of "Purple Rain," plus songs by Kevin Barnes, Becky Buller and Crossing members Art Blackburn and Lisa Fuglie.

For bluegrass fans less prone to churches and opera houses, Pert Near Sandstone headlines the Cabooze Saturday, touting its third album, "Out on a Spree" (9:30 p.m., $8). The sextet's most traditional-styled album yet, it's loaded with way-old songs that the band has dusted off on stage, including "Wild Bill Jones," "John Henry" and "Give the Fiddler a Dram."

Random mix Lucy Michelle, Romantica and Nicholas (The Feelin') Mrozinski will join Curtiss A's John Lennon tribute on Dec. 8 at First Ave to promote "The Minnesota Beatle Project, Vol. 1," a Fab Four tribute disc also featuring Mark Mallman, Jeremy Messersmith, the Suicide Commandos, Roma di Luna and more, benefitting grade-school music programs. ... Palmer's booker Chris Mozena has issued a mostly local compilation on his new deep-blues label, Half Door Records. "Headwater Blues, Vol. 1" features Spider John Koerner, Charlie Parr, A Night in the Box, Luther the Devil, Mississippi Gabe Carter and more. ...

Eschewing the usual mid-March release schedule for albums with Irish flavor, local Celtic rockers the Wild Colonial Bhoys will be at the Fine Line on Saturday promoting "Live ... What's It to Ya?!" (9 p.m., $6). The live CD features new songs and older favorites recorded last year at O'Gara's. ... Dillinger Four's "Doublewhiskeycokenoice" is featured alongside 7 Seconds, SNFU, Bad Religion and more in the new box set "Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO Records." ...

First Avenue hosted a retirement celebration for general manager Jack Meyers Saturday, capping his 30 years with the club. He'll be around until the end of the year, helping longtime booker Nate Kranz fill his role. A raspy voiced, more strait-laced counterpart to Steve McClellan, the club's mouthier rock 'n' roll figurehead during the '80s and '90s, Meyers took over as G.M. following the ownership battle that briefly shut down the club in 2004. It's very appropriate to thank the guy for saving the place.

chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658