Okay, there are a few things we have to get out of the way right off the bat. Girl Nobody is not singer Marta Jaciubek's solo project and the rest of the band are not her backup musicians. To clear things up a little, the name itself was supposed to be an off-the-cuff answer to the fact that uneducated writers and the public alike make the assumption that Girl Nobody is in fact the girl and nobody else. "Everybody thinks that with the name, it's funny, and then once they see us they tell me, 'Oh your stuff was great,' and I'm like, 'No,'" Jaciubek tells me as we sit in the back room at the Media Club before the band's The Future Isn't What It Used to Be CD release party. Shooting my band unity theory to shit, Jaciubek showed up alone and talked to me as the band (guitarists Joey Turco and Jimmy Northey, drummer Brett Drury, and bassist Jeremiah Schneider) showed later and unloaded the van. But this has become life for the girl with the voice you can't help but get a crush on and the face and smile that are making people take notice throughout Canada with the critical success of The Future Isn't What It Used To Be.

Knowing that the attention is bound to be there, Jaciubek is taking it in stride. "It's shocking. I don't know how these people do it. It's like they make things up. The last review was great, at least he listened to the album. But then he started looking way too much into it. Then there's these people who just talk about... well I have a problem talking about my looks. Of course I'm going to look hot when I have fake eye lashes on and my ass all in push up underwear or something. But you know, when people see bands a lot of times, they're drunk and they're horny and they're going to look at who's up in the limelight or whatever, and of course I'm going to look better than the average chick who just got off work. It's all about the illusion."

The illusion is what seems to be captivating writers across the country, such was the case at Toronto's Canadian Music Week where Girl Nobody took top prize and acclaim from the press and a full page in the Toronto Star. The only catch with the Star was the giant picture of just Jaciubek and little mention of the rest of the band. It seems no matter how hard the band try and present themselves as a band it's always a challenge to not make Jaciubek stand out. "I think it's a job that comes with a stigma. I agreed to be the singer of the band, but by no means am I the leader of the band. They're sweet guys and they're great and they listen but it's still a boys club. Anytime you get a few members of the same sex together the odd person out is going to be excluded. And they're like brothers to me, but a lot of the times I have to definitely make myself heard more than they do." This seems ironic with the exposure she has garnished over the past few months. Many comparisons have to be drawn to other girl-fronted bands, or at least bands that have a definitive front person that unintentionally gets all the fanfare and attention. "I wonder if we had a different name if people would still assume that, but I mean look at No Doubt, there's nothing about her in that but they still have that. They do that with males too, look at Counting Crows, who the hell are the other guys, like even lame bands have that, it's just bound to happen."

With the music back on track after a three year marathon of writing and recording and rewriting and rerecording that kept fans on baited breath, Jaciubek explained the prolonged process. "We're just really picky, us and [producer] Futcher, he's a perfectionist. He'd sit us down and say, 'Okay that's still not it yet.' Because we wanted to make an impact with the first album and we'd raise the bar every time we recorded something. It's a difficult process especially after that much time. It's hard, they're all our babies, I still can't listen to the album, it's still hard." With trips to Canadian Music Week in Toronto and release parties here at home in Vancouver, Girl Nobody are finding it a very different experience playing their babies for the masses. "The press was good to us [in Toronto] and then we come here and it's really weird. Vancouver's still such a small town and I think people have so many complexes about that that they try and compensate for that with a bad attitude."

The attitudes quickly change however when Jaciubek and company take to the stage. Jaciubek's childhood in Poland has influenced her stage persona in a sultry, cabaret-style performance that keeps all eyes on her every move, and keeps them there well after she's left, despite the fact that she takes no credit for her magnetism. "Whenever I try and actually think about doing something on stage, I either trip over myself or look like a complete dork, and I know it sounds cheesy but I am just trying to sing and play and try and deal with everybody. When I'm singing, I'm fine. It's in between songs when I freak out." But with her boys by her side like she likes it, instead of them behind. Girl Nobody has created a compelling album that seeks out the inhibitions you're so desperately trying to hide and releases them with a sigh. The Future Isn't What It Used To Be travels along the balances of Portisheadesque vocals that Jaciubek sometimes draws out under a sigh and slips in between the rest of the instruments while your system drinks it up and lets it settle into your chest. The album changes faces many times and recreates itself with each listen. The remix at the end of the album lets you decide if this is where Girl Nobody has been or if this is where they're going. "We all love so many different kinds of music and we don't want to be pigeon holed into a category. A lot of the tracks have little mistakes, if there was a skip or birds chirping we kept that and I think that it shows. I wanted it to sound natural, very organic and I think it does."

Give Girl Nobody a whirl on CordMag's audio player.

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By Jack Libby
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : April 22, 2004.