X-Ray actress to play Blue Hill bar

The Cure has had 12 different band members over the years. So has Blondie. Journey’s had 17 since 1974, and Steve Perry isn’t even in the band anymore. And Jefferson Airplane? Well, if you count Starship, then yes, they’ve had as many band members as Paris Hilton’s had pet Chihuahuas. But let’s not talk about that. No one wants to get “We Built This City” stuck in their heads.

Blue Hill’s X-Ray Actress has them all beat. It’s had three different lead singers, a couple drummers and a revolving stable of bass players, and the band has only been around for five years.

Fortunately, the mix-and-match lineup isn’t due to high drama or tabloid-worthy scandals; band members have had to do things like go to school or move for a job. The current lineup features drummer Mike Lugin, bass player Isaac Robbins, guitarist Josh Duym and singer Jessica Booth, with primary songwriter and keyboardist John Dyer being the only constant member in the funky, hip-hop tinged electronic pop collective. The band has two shows slated for July 22 and Aug. 19 at Marlintini’s in Blue Hill.

X-Ray Actress has been a long-term project for Dyer for several years now, who records the band at his Blue Hill studio, Unintentional Music. He moved to Maine in 1994, leaving a busy life in Los Angeles 12 years ago to come to Maine. Why?

Two words.

“The trees,” he laughed. “It’s beautiful here.”

In LA, he was a guitarist for the Party Boys, an art rock band that played with the likes of Sonic Youth and Jane’s Addiction. In Maine, he’s produced a number of local musicians, and is now taking X-Ray Actress away from being primarily a studio band into becoming a live act, capable of translating its sample-heavy sound onto the dance floor.

“We just put together our full-time live band,” said Dyer. “It’s been a long road, and this incarnation is pretty new. We had this mission to get a band that could actually go out and perform.”

That emphasis on studio polish comes from the fact that X-Ray Actress has for several years been licensing its music to Bunim-Murray Productions, the company behind numerous MTV shows, including “The Real World,” “Road Rules,” “Making the Band” and more.

“They used almost all of our songs,” said Dyer. “Every time they rerun those shows, we get paid. And now MTV has been using our music for their own ads. We’re on the Learning Channel too. So we’ve been focusing on that part, since they like to have alternate mixes, but now we’re going to play out more.”

And what a fun live show it promises to be. On the band’s most recent album, 2005’s “Weird Box,” female vocals coo and tease over steady, hip-hop influenced drums and electronic samples. It brings to mind bands such as Morcheeba, the Sneaker Pimps, Zero 7 and Lamb, British groups that came out of the trip-hop fad in the 1990s and who combined hip-hop beats with electronic elements and female vocals.

But X-Ray Actress has more of a pop sensibility; horn samples and crunchy guitar highlight many songs, showing they owe as much to James Brown and the Red Hot Chili Peppers as they do to downtempo trip-hop musings.

Dyer is excited for the upcoming shows in Blue Hill, when the band has played at Marlintini’s in the past, they’ve taken it as an excuse to have a weekend long retreat of sorts; record all day, and play all night. Guitarist Josh Duym, who Dyer describes as an 18-year-old “guitar prodigy,” won’t be playing on the 22nd, though: he’s a student at Maine Maritime Academy, and he’s got class all weekend. Tom Saad, a longtime X-Ray Actress associate, will take over for the night.

“Josh is in tugboat school,” said Dyer. “He’ll be out on a tugboat all day and night. Not many people can say that – I can’t play, I’ve got to go out on a tugboat.”

Supporting acts:

Eastern Maine hip-hop gets a chance to shine at Carolinas Sports and Spirits in Bangor – Boss, a Bangor MC, will have a release party for his debut album, “Finding Boss”, starting at 9 tonight. Billing himself as a hip-hop/garage band fusion, Boss has had the opportunity to open for hip-hop legends the Pharcyde and Talib Kweli. He records for Flophouse Records, and works with Queen City Entertainment, who are dedicated to promoting Maine hip-hop. Also appearing will be the Nigel Hall Band, Maine’s finest purveyors of soul. For information, visit www.myspace.com/bossthepoet.

X-Ray Actress will play at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, July 22, at Marlintini’s in Blue Hill. The show is 21+, and there’s a $3 cover. For information, visit www.xrayactress.com. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.