"The Mummies" тобы: Гараж панктың бастаушылары

American garage punk band

The Mummies are an American garage punk band formed in San Bruno, California, in 1988. Exhibiting a defiantly raw and lo fi sound, dubbed "budget rock", the Mummies' rebellious attitude and distinctive performance costumes exerted a major influence on garage punk and garage rock revival acts later in the decade, as well as in the 1990s. Their recorded output was intentionally completed with poor, cheap equipment, including their first and only studio album Never Been Caught, which was released after the group's initial break up. Since then, the Mummies have engaged in several positively received reunion concerts and tours, including appearances in Europe and the US sporadically through to recent years. The band is currently working on a movie.

Formed in late 1988 by Trent Ruane (lead singer, organ, saxophone) and Maz Kattuah (bass guitar), the band's lineup also included Larry Winther (lead guitar), and Russell Quan (drums). The group became a key musical force in San Francisco's emerging garage punk scene alongside the Phantom Surfers and the Untamed Youth, although the band set out to be cruder than their contemporaries. The group adopted the moniker the Mummies and immediately became known for their style of dress, clothing themselves in tattered rags like monster mummies. This homemade choice of attire was influential on the local garage punk scene, with newer groups also dressing in similarly gimmicky clothing. Influenced by R&B and 1960s garage rock bands such as the Sonics and the Fabulous Wailers, the Mummies, according to promoter and musician Jorge "Real Boss Hoss" Ojeda, "created the 'budget rock' sound. They recorded their own records on cheap, damaged gear and self released them". Indeed, starting with their debut performance at the Chi Chi Club in February 1989, the band was committed to a "do it yourself" approach, epitomized by their cheap, vintage gear and Farfisa organ, a characteristic instrument of 1960s garage. Keeping with their total disdain for modern technology, the Mummies refused to publish their music on compact disc, and often brandished their vinyl covers with the slogan, "Fuck CDs". The band briefly reunited the following year to tour Europe bringing Supercharger (a garage rock band the Mummies were friends with) as support, after convincing the promoters the trio added to their four members would be the equivalent of bringing over one ska band. In 1994, persuaded by the positive response, the band returned on another tour and released the live album Party at Steve's House before disbanding again. performed in the Maybellines while Quan was involved with many groups including the Maybellines, the Bobbyteens, the Count Backwurds, and the Dukes of Hamburg. Additionally, Winther wrote, toured and recorded with the Orange Peels. The Mummies have since arranged one off concert reunions on an intermittent basis, starting in 2008.

Since the band's 1990s heyday, the popularity of the Mummies has grown steadily with the successive generation of garage and indie rock musical acts, and the group also holds a devoted cult following. Ruane reflected on the group's time in San Francisco's garage punk scene: "For some unbeknownst reason, we went over in a big way up there", and "Soon there was a very short lived, extremely frenetic climate in San Francisco, as we had inadvertently caused a scene (in the literal sense)".