Fashionista

Formed amidst the tourist traps, nude beaches, and raging college students of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Fashionista's anglophiles evoke the rainier sound of Brit-pop from Blur to Pulp.

Bandmembers Anthony Fashion (vocals, guitar), Howard Melnick (guitar), Jarrod Rose (bass, vocals), George Borghi (Juno 6), and Asif Ali (drums) were brought together by a mutual love of Bowie, glam rock, and shoegazers like Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine. The band's closest U.S. peers lie across the country in the Pacific Northwest's Aveo. Much like Aveo, Fashionista uses resonant vocals and a guitar jangle to pay tribute to the Smiths. Though they sometimes turn to Kevin Shields-type guitar walls, the band's nearest overseas kin are the glammed-up Suede and somewhat somber Gene. In fact, Fashionista's debut EP Neptune, King of the Sea, released on Claire Records in 2001, sounds most like U.K. Smiths followers -- guitarists taking a cue from the Johnny Marr sound and vocalists infatuated with the brilliant Morrissey.