“He said she loved us and would be great to open for us,” remembers Tranter.ĭan Crean, Justin Tranter, Cole Whittle and Stevy Pyne in Japan in 2010.
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Rex manager and Led Zeppelin publicist BP Fallon was impressed enough to start managing the band, and he brought in David Bowie’s longtime producer Tony Visconti to work on their first album, “We Love You,” which was self-released in 2008.Īs labels courted Semi Precious Weapons, a Columbia Records A&R rep named Andrew Keller told them about a similarly glam Manhattanite named Lady Gaga. At the time, most of the band lived in a loft in Greenpoint right next to the sewage works.įormer T. Semi Precious Weapons formed back in 2005 when Tranter (then a solo singer-songwriter) wanted a band that “took it back to the spirit of Warhol, Max’s Kansas City, CBGB and trashy NYC romanticism.” He called upon Whittle (his old roommate from the Berklee College of Music), drummer Dan Crean and guitarist Aaron Lee Tasjan. Lady Gaga, too, was a fan, and even opened for them back in the day. In an emotional recent Instagram post, British soul star Sam Smith wrote that seeing Semi Precious Weapons was one of the most important moments of his young life. 1 song), Selena Gomez’s “Good for You” and Gwen Stefani’s “Used To Love You.” Whittle is now the bass player in Joe Jonas’ new band DNCE, who are currently having their first Top 40 hit with “Cake by the Ocean” (also co-written by Tranter).Īnd the band’s fans have risen to the top, too. Tranter has gone on to become one of the world’s most in-demand songwriters, working with co-writer Julia Michaels on Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” (which this week unseated Adele’s “Hello” as Billboard’s No. Semi Precious Weapons were a glittering failure, but the DNA of this forgotten downtown group is flourishing in the current pop-music scene. They had been signed and dropped by two major labels and, by Tranter’s estimate, cumulatively invested well over $1 million in keeping the group afloat for nine years. But despite winning the Village Voice readers poll for NYC’s best band in 2007, and being declared America’s most “important” group in a Guardian article written by music mogul Alan McGee, Semi Precious Weapons dissolved in 2014. Like so many in the music world at the time, Moss was hip to the group’s over-the-top theatrics and Tranter’s gender-bending sexual magnetism.
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“She said to her friends, ‘Do you know what you do with a boy like that?’ Her friends said, ‘What?’ And then she said, ‘Everything!’ We had some touchy-feely fun - it was a good night.” “I was standing with her after the show,” remembers bassist Cole Whittle. “After the show she bought a couple of shirts and three necklaces from my jewelry line.” Moss also saw something else she liked. “It was Kate Moss, dancing,” he tells The Post. In 2008, New York City glam-rock group Semi Precious Weapons were three songs into their debut London show at the Notting Hill Arts Club when singer Justin Tranter looked down and saw a familiar face.