LOS ANGELES, Calif. —
“Sometimes
out of necessity, you quickly throw something together and it turns out to blow
your mind.”
So says
Kitty Pause, one-third of the scrappy Florida threesome
the Mix Tapes. The band’s unpretentiously infectious debut
album, #1, is an unexpected gem that combines playful humor and raucous
power-trio energy with rousing, arena-ready tunes that reflect the members’
deep-rooted affinity for vintage pop-rock songcraft. According to Kitty, “This
record is a celebration of the music we loved as teenagers.”
In a parallel
musical life, drummer-vocalist Kitty Pause and the Mix
Tapes’ guitarist-vocalist Skool-Ejekt have already won
considerable international acclaim and built a substantial fan base as the
rootsy duo Hymn for
Her. Completing the Mix Tapes is bassist-singer
Reverend Rewind, who Skool-Ejekt describes as, “A sexy
beast/man-of-the-cloth exorcised from the popular Gulf Coast rock band Go Man.”
#1, recorded in
lean, mean D.I.Y. style by the band and mixed by Detroit garage-punk guru
Jim Diamond, offers a dozen instantly memorable originals that
make it clear why the Mix Tapes feel no need to delve to deep
into its members’ prior musical achievements. Such winsome, melodically
adventurous tracks as the deviant, surging “Cocoanut,” the anthemically catchy
“Don’t Give In,” the pointedly
poppy “Out of the Black” and the psychedelic rocker “In & Out” embody the
trio’s irreverent inventiveness.
Considering
the Mix Tapes’ distinctive style of songwriting, it’s ironic that the
band’s formation in late 2013 was initially inspired by the scarcity of original
music in and around their meeting ground of Sarasota.
“The
three of us were in our two bands, equally frustrated,
playing original music in bars for people busy watching TV or demanding lame
cover tunes,” Kitty recalls. “So we decided to join forces and create a ‘British
invasion’ cover band, playing only songs that would let us sleep at night with a
clear conscience and not make us feel as if we sold our souls to the great and
powerful bar mitvah/wedding devil. Soon our American roots started creeping in:
Lou Reed, Fats Domino, Harry Nilsson ... It began very
casually, but there was an instant chemistry that came from three hearts
marinating in the same musical melting pot.”
“Since
day
one, it’s had its own engine.” Skool-Ejekt says of the trio.
“We had funny times stamping our own style on requests like ‘Margaritaville’ and
‘Sweet Home Alabama,’ pissing some folks off. But soon people were coming out to
hear our skewed versions.”
The
Mix Tapes’ musical and personal rapport quickly won them an
enthusiastic local following, and even earned raves from no less an authority
than AC/DC frontman and fellow Florida resident Brian
Johnson.
“He
caught a show and told us that it was the most
entertained he’d been since the Beatles died,” says
Reverend Rewind, “You do the math.”
It didn’t
take long for the band to begin slipping in their own ’60s/’70s tinged
compositions, calling them ‘rare B-sides’ of their fans classic rock faves. Soon
there was a demand for recordings.
The Mix Tapes
made their recording debut with an EP of raunchy, original Christmas-themed
tunes that they called “Ho, Ho, Ho Merry XXX-Mas.” The holiday disc won a good
deal of local attention, setting the stage for the birth of
#1.
“We recorded
#1 in a week,” Reverend Rewind says of the album. “I
think this record has the same don’t-give-a-f… attitude that we started the band
with, which is the way we recorded it. My roommate recorded us in the living
room. We were pretty much goofing off the whole time, but somehow we came up
with a shiny, golden nugget.”
“We were
surprised at how easy it came,” Skool-Ejekt agrees. “We didn’t
want to put a ton of time and money into it, so we approached the whole thing
very casually. With the help of a good friend and some false promises, the
recording was a breeze. Some of the songs we chose were ones that weren’t
working in our other bands or personal songs from the closet. They all came
seamlessly together after the three of us reworked them. A bit like the
Rolling Stones’ Tattoo You: a bunch of
leftovers that made up a great album.”
“I think that
we all naturally write pretty catchy tunes, even when the subject matter is
dark, which in a lot of cases it is,” says Reverend Rewind. “We
have a lot in common musically, but our individual approaches are slightly
different. So if I write a song and think I know what it’s going to sound like,
it usually comes out stronger by the time everyone adds their own little mojo to
it.”
#1 has already
won a good deal of positive attention on the Mix Tapes’ home
turf, with “Cocoanut” gaining substantial airplay on Tampa radio station
WMNF-FM, which recently featured #1 as its Album of the
Week. Having launched the release with a Tampa show in front of several hundred
fans, the band is now looking forward to bringing its tuneful transcendence to a
national audience.
“People have
been getting really hot and sweaty about it down here in the Sunshine State,”
says Reverend Rewind. “It’s an interesting experiment that got
out of hand and took on a life of its own. We’re looking forward to seeing where
it takes us.”
