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 With
hindsight, there is something curious about the fact that what
seemed to be the final Throwing Muses album was titled Limbo.
After all, the reason why band songwriter/guitarist Kristin
Hersh, drummer David Narcizo and bassist Bernard Georges went
their separate ways in 1997 was not the usual musical or personal
differences ("we loved each other and Limbo was
our best record"), but simply finances. After 13 luminous
years, "the band was barely breaking even, and it just
didn't seem to make sense financially to continue Throwing Muses
as a living entity," as Kristin remembers. And isn't change
sometimes a necessity? But there are ties that bind, and as
Hersh maintains, "we've wanted to make an album ever since
we found out we couldn't."
Which accounts for a new Throwing Muses album, given (for the
first time in their history) a definite eponymous title, chosen
because the band sees this as a definitive work. Throwing
Muses may be the zenith of the Muses' power-trio incarnation.
In spring 2000, Throwing Muses got together in Boston (the closest
thing to a hometown for this band of wanderers) for a unique
sort of live reunion they titled "Gut Pageant." Put
together for the band's shockingly large and thriving online
fan community (at www.throwingmusic.com),
fans and band members mingled and enjoyed each other's company
for a day. "Like some kind of musical company picnic,"
says Kristin. Over 1,000 of the Muses faithful traveled from
all over the world to attend the ground-breaking event, some
from as far away as New Zealand. Special guests appeared (original
Muse and Kristin's step-sister Tanya Donelly played with the
band for the first time in almost 10 years and Bob Mould opened
the show with a surprise acoustic set), the band played, as
did Kristin solo, and something, somewhere, was willing another
reunion...
"We made a 'quick and dirty' record. It sounds very much
like us -- like we really do, as three people playing together
in a room. Because we literally couldn't afford the studio time
it would have taken to produce it, it was as if we were tricked
into making the record we always wanted! We didn't rehearse
before we entered the studio. We were playing by the seats of
our pants. It's a very exciting way to record, but we've played
together for so many years, that it also felt solid and secure.
It was nice to be home again."
In other words, welcome back from limbo. Throwing Muses
was recorded over three weekends. "I think we should have
been making records like that all along. There were very few
overdubs, and no heavy-handed mixing."
To seal the going-home experience, even original Muses member
Tanya Donelly (who left, and formed Belly, after the band's
1991 album The Real Ramona) got involved again. That's
her on backing vocals. Kristin: "It was so amazing what
she did. She wrote all these crazy melodies around mine...by
the time she finished I couldn't tell whose voice was whose."
- Martin Aston, 2003
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