Newspaper Page Text
April 8, 1992
.Flagpole Magazine
Page 11
This Week in Rawk'n'Roll by Manfred Jones
Mourning the Mummies
OUT OF OUR TREE
In a world beset with so many tragedies
and sorrows, it’s with weeping eyes that I
enumerate one more for you. Compared to
global warming, pollution, ozone depletion,
deforestation, overpopulation, famine, and
the current
shenanigans
of would-be
presidents,
this bit of news
may seem tri
fling at first, but
hold on true
believer, be
cause one
more light has
flickered out.
The Mummies
have broken
up. At this point
two questions
(possibly
more) enter
your mind.
First, who the
hell are the
Mummies?
Second, why care if they've called it quits?
The Mummies were one of the few
rawk’n'roll bands around today. They hailed
from northern California, San Mateo I'm
guessing. They dressed up and performed
in mummy bandages and drove around in
an old ambulance that had the band's name
painted on the side in crypt-like dripping
letters. When they played, they had a repu
tation for giving it their all — no apologies to
anyone. Was there a curse? You'd better
believe it, Jack. The Mummies had plenty of
curses and dispensed them on the audi
ence liberally. They were rude, obstinate,
and, depending on who you talk to, a bunch
of assholes. How refreshing.
In a day and age when college-age
young ladies return Robert Johnson com
pact discs because they sound like scratchy
records, the Mummies insisted on recording
only in mono. (Phil Specter, wacked-out
visionary, agrees wholeheartedly; while
we're at it, do any of the clubs in town have
a "stereo mix’ through their house p.a. and
if so, what’s the point?) All of their releases
to date have been available only on seven-
inch aural platters of pleasure. After much
cajoling and deliberation, word has it that a
full LP, of all their sides, is forthcoming. It'll
have twenty-one songs a side...the same
twenty-one songs on each side. Needless to
say those technophiles who have opted for
the latest bit of technological doodadgetry
will be out in the cold, but then digital record
ings sound so
cold anyway.
We'll label
those folks the
"frigid fellow
ship’ and ask
them, “Man,
how can you
really get it on,
smooth and
wild like, if you
can’t fit the
needle into the
groove and
Sep.JO
Sub Pop,
Just rccewed your letter regarding your offer to include
The Mummies on one of the upcoming "Singles of the Month"
releases. The Mummies wish to have nothing to do with any
thing Sub Pup puts out or stands for. We don’t go for an>
of your Heavy Met-1 (excuse «e. "Punk Rock"| crap, or your
SI2 CDs and SIS picture discs ir. this catalog you’ve included
And If you thought for a minute that we did, I’d have to say
you’ve been smoking too much of your Hippie Love Weed.
So in closing, I guess I could say that we appreciate the
offer, but I would only be lying.
So Fuck Off.
Jite Mummies
work it?’ Like bad sex, bad listening playback
is frigid, but here we halt the digression.
The Sub Pop record label, home to the
likes of rock gods Nirvana, Mudhoney, and
the Afghan Whigs, probably has the coolest
reputation of any independent label around,
for those who care about such things. Look
at the Mummies response to Sub Pop's
offer of inclusion in an upcoming single of
the month release. Are they jerks or vision
aries, obtuse or on the mark?
This leads us to answer question two.
Who cares whether they existed or not? The
answer here is a bit more involved, but I’ll try
to make sense of it. Popular music is big
business. Billions of dollars worth of big
business. Rock and roll music, dated from
its first marketing to white teenagers, has
always been concerned with making a buck.
To be fair, there are distinctions. Sam Philips
(of Sun Studios fame) was looking for a
fellow like Elvis to make a million bucks, but
also wanted to set the music world, “on its
ear.’ The major labels, then as now, have
always been concerned with generating rev
enues at the expense of the artist.
Yeah, the music business is slimy and
really big, so tell us something we don't
know. Well, the irony is that even though the
music business is part of the overall “estab
lishment,’ a very important part of the mar
keting of rock and roll is the idea of rebellion.
Rebellion in this case includes rebellion to
authority and mor6s, parental or govern
mental. It needn't be as grandiose as revolt
towards political policiesln fact, it is more
likely to take
the form of en
joying oneself
in the face of
a cathode ray
tube culture.
That means
living life by
participating,
not viewing.
And this is
where the
Mummies
come in. Their
very exist
ence is life
blood, simply
because it's
up front and
honest. They
played their guts out with no apologies.
Unlike so many groups today, they didn't
form to get "signed.' No, they had a passion
for life and found an expression of it in three
chord primitive DNA level rawk'n’roll. If you
didn't like them, fuck off, who cares about
you anyway, loser? If you do, then, hell yeah,
let's get wild, scream at the moon with our
pants around our ankles, and bark like dogs
— mad crazy hounds. They did things on
their own terms in a day and age where most
so called music artists are all to eager to shit
in a bottle for the sake of “music product,’
alternative or otherwise. I can easily go on
ranting, but fit suffices to say the Mummies
were exhuberance. The Mummies were
rawk'n’roll.
Studio Feedback
Maxwell Sound
Over the past month or so, White Buffalo has been recording
their upcoming album and currently, they are in the process of
mixing down. It should be finished sometime this week. Also, owner
Mark Maxwell has mastered the upcoming compilation CD Fuel that
will feature Roosevelt, Hayride, Thornyhold, Jack O'Nuts, Five-
Eight Magneto and Bliss. The disc should be out around April 20.
Full Moon Studios
The Labrea Stompers have been in recording some stuff for an
upcoming single release, as have Roosevelt and Marlee MacLeod.
Redneck GReece Delux is coming in to record a 12 song CD and
Bloodkin has been doing a project with Buren Fowler producing.
The Earthworms will be coming in soon to do some work on a project
and the Go Figures will be in soon as well.
Black Box
The Roadside Prophets just recorded a 5-song demo. A mam
moth 11-song technopop project by Eldon Jonez and the Republic
is in the works. And singer/guitarist Jay Gordon is doing a solo
acoustic demo with some lead-work from one of Allgood's guitarists.
Suite 16
Magneto and Bliss were in this month, recording songs for the
Fue/compilation CD. Reprisal has been doing some work on their
tape and MagnaPop has put. together some songs that will be used
3-sides for singles to be released in Holland. Coming up, Guy
Smiley will be recording and owner, Kelly Noonan, is also working
with her own band, Wet.
John Keane
R.E.M. recently finished work on their demos for their next
album. Three Walls Down also did some recording and Uncle
Tuoelo did an acoustic project. John is on somewhat of a hiatus this
week getting acquainted with his new Macintosh digital editing
system so that he can edit DATs and ready them for CD mastering.
Mike Winger
Globe
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