THROWING MUSES by Chris Rite

Picture the scene: you're somewhere in a local bar in the Deep South. It could be Baton Rouge, New Orleans or anywhere on the God forsaken Mexican Gulf coast of the United States. It's hot, too hot, you're wet and that last cold beer just made you sweat more. The smoke that's coming from all angles permeates everything and you really don't need that cigarette you just lit this place oughta have one of those 'The Surgeon General Has Determined That Smoking Kills' plastered across it. This place could tell a story or two. It's seen better days and there are no visitors here, only locals. The owner slops another beer down in front of you. Behind you, on a low stage, three people are trying to resurrect the glory that was once the blues. Whilst the girl on vocals implores you she's the best thing around, off in a corner things are getting tight. A weasel owes money to a bear and his gorillas look hungry...

OK, so it's all melodramatic bullshit, but that's the kind of atmosphere that Throwing Muses implant in your head on their current album 'Red Heaven'. A mighty change in direction for the Throwing Muses. Kirstin Hersh, David Narcizo and Leslie Langston have it down to a tee. They know exactly how to instil atmosphere into what they're doing, and do it they do well.

"Yeah, you know it's weird," comments Kirstin. "We might have recorded the album in the most expensive studio in New York, but it still sounds like it was recorded at a gig. It would have been impossible to end up with anything else as there are four different elements in our band. This time we didn't use any effects like fuzz-boxes and so on. All I did was to turn up a really old Marshall amp as high as possible so that all the lights on the desk went to red and get a raw, dirty sound that I can get any time I want. I really hate overdubs and back-up tapes. Man, music’s gotta come from the heart and not from some sort of digital desk in a studio."

With a major tour that they finished in ’91 under their belt the Muses have gone on a retro trip to discover their roots. They’re now a perfect unit working, as one, on a quest to find the roots of American music. The folks in the South can be mighty proud of their little northern friends as the Muses continue their little quest.

"I just couldn't stand that multi-guitar stuff anymore and in the end there just wasn’t anything left for us to do, but to split the band up and reform as a trio with a more simple and rawer edge. Rock'n'roll's a prison that you just gotta break out of once in a while."

Long live a good old fashioned jailbreak!

Reproduced from Indie-cator, Issue 1, October 1992

Disclaimer:- Yeah, I know that the writer of this article has difficulty with names, facts etc but this is how it was printed. It's not for me to pass judgement but it's hardly  surprising that this mag was so short-lived!

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