No release date is given on this record, but I think it came out in the very early 1990s. Lois Maffeo was an intrinsic part of the more indie-pop end of the nascent American Riot Grrl scene of that time, and part of the excellently-named Courtney Love, who for ever after would need to be referred to as Courtney Love (the band), as they’re nothing to do with Courtney Love (the person). I wonder how many promoters and gig-goers got caught out by that band name? Hah!
Lois seemed to have a few famous friends, relatively speaking. On this record she gets help from:
- Molly Neuman (Bratmobile, Frumpies)
- Stephen Immerwahr (Codeine)
- Donna Dresch (Team Dresch)
Cool. That kind of ‘guest star appearance’ speaks less of some kind of unit-shifting corporate strategy and more of an intensely creative, supportive and co-operative scene that existed in American indie music at the time (and perhaps still does?). There were a lot of bands, and a lot of people, and they all got mixed up into all sorts of different situations.
I’ve never really looked closely at the sleeve of this record until now. It seems to be some kind of shrine, perhaps? A shrine to Sammy Davis Jr, John Wayne, Tyrone Power and a whole load of other people? No idea what it means, and I can’t work it out. I presume it means something, as it’s quite an odd image and not one that would be either stumbled upon or randomly chosen.
This is the fortieth release in K Records’ International Pop Underground series, which continues to this day I believe. I love this series of records, and everything it stands for. They’ve been released by K since the mid-to-late eighties and are a pretty impressive ‘shopping list of talent’ that has been comprising and documenting the shifting sands of independent music for over twenty years (!) now. I demand that you stop reading this now and visit the K Records website, where you can see the amazing breadth of artists that have had records out as part of this series.