The Muffs. Aprende inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

"We also have jazz tendencies"

The Muffs empieza el jueves 12 de febrero una gira española con escalas en Gijón (Casino), Santiago (La Nasa), Valladolid (Porta Caeli), Mallorca (Teatre Lloseta), Valencia (Wah Wah), Madrid (El Sol) y Murcia (12&Medio). El grupo californiano comandado desde 1991 por la cantante Kim Shattuck, ex The Pandoras, ha publicado ya seis discos, pero el último, Really really happy, data de 2004. Se supone que en actual tour adelanta temas de su séptimo trabajo, que empezará a grabar cuando termine su actual gira. Kim le contó algún detalle a OSCAR CUBILLO, mientras daba cuenta de un cafelito...

Que por qué creaste The Muff.
At the time when we started the Muffs I had just quit the Pandoras and needed a way to express myself though music. The music of the Pandoras was becoming more and more heavy metal, which I hate. I had been writing songs the whole time, which in mine and my friends opinion were better than the music the Pandoras was doing at the time. It gave me confidence to get my own band going.

Que si vivís de la música o tenéis otros trabajos.
We are professional musicians but Ronnie also works at a record store, Roy works in the nutritional supplement industry and I work as a freelance photographer.

Que cuáles son vuestras influencias, o vuestras bandas favoritas.
Right now some of the new music I really like are Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down, Locksley and The Leftovers. Some of my favorites over the years include Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, Elvis Costello, Cole Porter, The Kinks, The Who (from 1964-1967) The Beatles, The Ramones, Frank Sinatra, Thelonious Monk, Amy Winehouse and Johnny Cash.

Que si os consideráis una banda punk o rock.
Definitely a rock band. If you have to be specific you can say we have punk tendencies if you like. We also have jazz tendencies.

Que si duermes a gusto pese a tu pasado vinculado al movimiento riot grrrl.
Actually I was not involved in the riot grrrl movement. I was doing the Muffs during many fads the came and went throughout the 1990's, one of which was the riot grrrls, but I didn't really like the music that come from then. There was very little concentration on writing melodic music with them and I am into melodies and loud guitars.

Que qué nos cuentas de vuestra última entrega de estudio, Really really happy.
From 2000 to 2002 I took a well needed vacation from the Muffs to get my head together. During that time I fell in love with my husband and it was a very happy time. When I started writing songs again, a lot of them reflected the happy state of mind I was in. And some of them are about my crazy state of mind before that.
Then we got it recorded, and I produced it myself, which went quickly with the basic tracks but I took my time with the rest of the recording. 2 years later in 2004 we released Really really happy and went on a US tour to support it. I really like how that record came out. It's one of my favorites.

Que en qué te inspiras, y tal y tal.
Quite often when I write the lyrics I kind of let myself write words without thinking about it too hard. Usually what comes out are things I've been mulling over in my mind and it just ends up in the song, whether I want it to or not. I've written lyrics before where I realized much later what the song was about. I have to shape the lyrics to make them singable, and sometimes I get stuck on different parts, but I definitely write from an inspired place and the songs come out much better that way.

Que cómo serán los conciertos de la gira española.
We will play some really great new songs, some really great old songs and a lot of passionate, happy, crazy, rock and roll.

Que si, por cierto, acabaste mal con The Pandoras.
I'm just not very proud of the Pandoras. They are really hard to listen to. But they got me started in music so for that I thank them. They taught me what NOT to do and that's a good way to learn. So I want to thank the Pandoras for being bad because I learned a lot from that experience.