Shimmy shake, booty quake!

The Boom Chica Boom Girls shake things up with their own brand of go-go

By Jen Hazen
Published: June 17th, 2005 | 12:37pm

For the past three years, Aubrey Edwards and Beth Schindler, who make up Austin-based go-go duo the Boom Chica Boom Girls, have been designing their own costumes, choreographing routines, promoting themselves, and booking events. All for the love of quaking their booties on stage. Jen Hazen spoke with Boom Chica Aubrey about cat fights, tattooed backs, and a different kind of go-go.

How did the Boom Chica Boom Girls come to be?

Boom Chica Boom is a two-woman go-go troupe that formed in Austin, Texas in the summer of 2002. I grew up in Redlands, California and moved to Austin to earn a Bachelor degree in magazine journalism, as well as an Associate degree in photography. Now I’m a full-time freelance photographer. Beth Schindler grew up in Austin, studied welding and metal arts, and currently works full-time at Waterloo Record Store. We were both working casually as go-go dancers on an irregular basis. Boom Chica Beth worked with Kings and Things with their drag king shows, and I was dancing at a monthly 80s dance party. After we met, our absolute love for dancing convinced us to form a troupe and market the hell out of it in the garage scene here in Austin. Since its inception, we have danced throughout the U.S., toured the Northeast, and will be relocating to Chicago.

Can you give us a taste of a Boom Chica Boom performance?

Picture this: Two brunette go-go girls in fishnets, white knee-high boots, bouffants, and swingin' bikinis dancing with fervor and passion to the songs in the air. We always have our black, cylindrical go-go boxes emblazoned with the BCB logo, and we always have a smile on our faces. We shake, shimmy and high kick to whatever tune we hear. Sometimes we dance alongside the singer, to sex up the show a bit, or we may grab tambourines to join in with the band. We definitely flow with whatever is on stage and our goal is to give the audience a wonderful show and some great eye candy. We have danced with an array of acts including the Pontani Sisters, Andre Williams, the Sons of Hercules, The Deadly Snakes, Pele from The Hives and The Raunch Hands.

If you are dancing for a band, does the band give you music prior to the show, so that you may choreograph and practice or is it more on the fly?

BCB is predominately an improvisational go-go troupe. Our gift is that we can dance to anything that the DJ spins or the band spits out. There are times where we will choreograph routines to specific songs or sets for bands, but that is usually for special occasions, like a touring band coming through town or a band's record release party. That is also what is so challenging and exciting about go-go. You never know what song is going to play next and so we are always on our toes. We have danced together for so long and have created our own style that we can read each other remarkably. When we dance together it flows as if it has been choreographed, but still retains the element of spontaneity.

Who or what influences the BCB style of dance and costume?

Our style has always been, obviously, influenced heavily by 1960s pop culture. We used to spend hours watching old episodes of Hullaballo, Shindig, Laugh-In and Soul Train, trying to perfect these dance moves to a tee. Since go-go originated during that time period, our style embraces these roots while also adopting a modern, rocknroll flare. Since we dance with anyone from 80s DJs to 60s soul bands, our style has to be diverse and adaptable. We will always have a slice of original go-go accoutrement though, our white go-go boots are never left behind. While the original Shindig dancers never had fully tattooed backs, for instance, we merely see this as a contemporary evolution of an old style. Our style is a hybrid — a juxtaposition of the 60s youth culture with the contemporary youth culture.

What’s your dream gig?

Our dream gig? Well, that would have to be dancing with any of the following:
— The Stones, we wish we got to them 40 years earlier, but we'd still be stoked
— Any former member of the Oblivions W
— We are currently courting Reigning Sound
— The 13th Floor Elevators
— Ike and Tina at the Roseland Ballroom, circa 1969

What’s your fave dance move?

Our favorite move is definitely the pony. It is a move straight outta the 60's that works beautifully with almost any song from the past five decades. You are basically bouncing (as if riding a pony) from the left to the right foot. You jump to the right foot for a beat 1, then tap the left foot slightly by its side for beat 2, jump back to the left for beat 3, then tap the right foot for beat 4. All the while your arms are moving to compliment the foot movement; either pushing down towards the ground simultaneously, or raising each arm to compliment it's respective foot is in the air. You know that scene in Apocalypse Now when the playboy bunnies get off the airplane to greet the soldiers? That's the pony.

Have you ever experienced any out-of-control situations at events since you seem to be shakin' shit up so much?

Usually when we dance, people can distinguish between us being a part of the show and not an object to ogle and grope. Occasionally, a dude may grab our ass or jump on our box with us. We have given high kicks to the face before, and the club owners and bands are very accomodating and look after us. Overall, we've had it pretty mellow. Any event where we think it may get out of control and people may be keen to get rowdy, we bring our buddies who act as Boom Chica Security. When there's booze, rocknroll and scantily clad ladies on pedestals... a disaster can potentially ensue. The roughest we've had has been in the wonderfully debaucherous city of New Orleans. We were dancing with Seattle's The Spits at the Rockening Festival. The show was pretty crazy, kids were so excited and we had to dodge incoming beer bottles and hope we didn't get punched in the face. A scuffle broke out near the stage, and a dude in the audience began hammering his adversary over the head with a gallon container of water. He eventually poured it all over the guy's head, and all over the stage where I was dancing. I screamed at him in between songs, letting him know that a gallon of water on stage is a bit of a hazard and to take his fights outside next time. He accused me of not being rocknroll and tried to get his girlfriend to fight me as I was on stage. I told them to fuck themselves and kept dancing, hoping I wouldn’t have to defend my honor as a dancer and throw down while wearing a bikini. For more information on the Boom Chica Boom girls, visit boomchicaboom.com