With the release of their second studio album, Tonic for Hysteria, San Francisco-based space-pop pioneers Excuses For Skipping are ready to take over the underground. Their steadily burgeoning audience has followed them from tiny Mission district watering holes to the main stage at the annual Dyke March to a sold out record-release show at Café du Nord.      The band has an uncanny ability to fuse the familiar with the foreign. Vocalist and guitarist Linda Moody flaunts the arena-sized vocal melodies of Arcade Fire and Bruce Springsteen while guitarist Tammy Fortin coaxes a steady torrent of otherworldly noises from her pedal board. Bassist Wendy Brents and drummer Rob Ryan supply the steady, propulsive beats which reference everything from house music to dub reggae without ever becoming predictable.      Tonic for Hysteria is a massive leap forward for the band. Working with producer Greg Marks, they’ve harnessed their disparate influences into a rocking, cohesive whole reminiscent of the later-era experimentation of the Clash. With lyrics that span subjects from the gentrification of San Francisco to the death of Michael Jackson, these are songs that aren’t afraid to wear their heart on their sleeve nor place the tongue in cheek.      Live, EFS utilize keyboards, improvised percussion objects like bicycle frames and 3-part vocal harmonies to engage the crowd opening for acts like Scout Nibblett, Esben and the Witch and Memomena. They have already broadened their fan base beyond San Francisco with slots at SXSW, the Fabulosa Festival and numerous west coast tours. Their infectious energy, adventurous musicianship and irresistible pop hooks make Excuses For Skipping a band on the rise.     Hysteria: "Saturn is our ballast, our basic center. In fact, this God lives in our real center, the psychic uterus, right below our navel. The word hysteria, derived from the latin word for uterus and addresses the saturnine issue of loss of center. The Oxford English dictionary says, "Women being much more liable than men to this disorder, it was originally thought to be due to a disturbance of the uterus. Hysteria has been described as occurring when one enters a world that is not of one's own definition. The process begins with detachment, which becomes loneliness, which becomes hungry yearning. Hungry yearning tilts us off balance so that we easily fall into someone else's game, where we then thrash crazily like a hooked fish. Thrashing crazily could be called the predominant symptom of the late 20th century. But flailing is actually a healthy reaction to an unhealthy situation, as when a fish attempts to become unhooked. Historically hysteria has been observed most frequently in women who have had to live in worlds defined by men. But now the masks have come off, and thrashing crazily is available to both sexes in recognition that neither is in a world of its own choosing. " Caroline Casey -Making The Gods Work For You