UPPER WEST SIDE — Talk about a stripped-down sound.
Wearing only undergarments on stage started as a gimmick for bandmates Lauren Molina and Nick Cearley — but it's one that has propelled them from average YouTube performers to nationally touring musicians who are set to play their biggest show to date.
Performing as the The Skivvies, Molina, 33, an Upper West Sider, and Cearley, 34, who lives in Harlem, don only their unmentionables while doing covers of popular songs using the ukelele, cello and guitar.
"The shock value lures people," Molina said of the show, which exploits their skin but still strives to keep things PG-13.
While some people assume "our act might be dirty or raunchy," Cearley explained, "we’re such asexual people."
The duo performs its own riffs on current pop songs and oldies using an acoustic sound to accompany their nearly-nude appearance.
"In an oversaturated market of music, especially on the Internet, you kind of have to have a niche or gimmick in some way," Molina said.
It's apparently paid off, as the group has moved from playing smaller local gigs to touring from coast to coast.
On March 16, they're performing at the 500-person Times Square music club 42West, which is a big step up for them in terms of venue size, they said.
"We’ve created a small business that we’ve watched grow," Cearley said.
In New York City, they have a loyal fan base of about 100 or so familiar faces who follow them to multiple shows, Cearley said.
The Skivvies also enlisted an agent to helped them pitch themselves as a house band on game shows that are in development, including for A&E and WE tv.
Because many of their songs involve witty twists on mainstream songs, the group hasn't recorded an album for sale because they'd run into rights issues. However, this year they plan to record songs for sale on a donation-only basis to avoid any legal tangles, they said.
It seems like a big leap from the days when they were just friends having fun playing music at home, they added.
The idea to strip down to their underwear started as a lark. In 2012, the pair had jumped on the fad of covering pop songs and posting them to YouTube, but Molina couldn't decide on her outfit.
"As we were getting ready I said, 'I need to figure out what to wear,' and I was walking around in my bra and Nick said, 'You should just wear that,'" Molina recounted.
Soon after, The Skivvies were born.
Both Molina and Cearley are very comfortable with their bodies, but they acknowledge their skimpy wardrobes have a shelf life as they age and their metabolisms slow.
"It’s like obviously when I’m 70 years old, I'm not going to be doing this," Molina said, "although maybe it would be hilarious."
But they also feel confident that fans aren't just coming back for ogling purposes.
"I think we’ve proven ourselves that we could wear clothes and be just as successful," Molina said.
