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Dates Appearing: July 5 - 9 Current Release: First Book |
The Mud Girl is the central character - homeless, abandoned, wise beyond her years and composed entirely of mud - sliding across the pages of children's story written by Montreal native Kim Bingham.Mudgirl, on the other hand, is fact not fiction. She is Bingham's musical alter ego - self-possessed, larger-than-life and not the least muddy in terms of direction, focus and a driving, guitar-based sound that's alternatively fierce, reflective and flat-out joyous.
"Bare bones, I'm a writer: Songwriter, journal writer, children's writer, poet, whatever," says Bingham, 26. "Mudgirl is an extension of myself where I get to be cartoony and a bit surreal. What I love about pop music and the whole rock 'n' roll culture is the self-mythologizing aspect of people like Madonna and KISS and David Bowie. Just playing guitar in a rock band is not my ultimate ambition."
First Book is Mudgirl's debut release. The five-song EP was recorded in Vancouver, produced by Bingham, and engineered and mixed by Odds guitarist Steven Drake (whose recent studio credits include producing 54-40's Trusted by Millions and mixing Trouble at the Henhouse for the Tragically Hip). First Book is released by the artist's own Permanent Records through Page Music Distribution.
To date, Mudgirl has been a D.I.Y. effort for Bingham, who directed the video for lead single This Day and designed an album cover that will generate double takes. "I didn't want it to be sexy and I didn't want it to be gross," she says of a digitally altered photo of Mudgirl carrying her decapitated head by the hair. "I just wanted it to make an impact."
While First Book is effectively a prologue, it's also the latest chapter in Bingham's career as a writer and musician. Her move to Vancouver in the fall of '94 ended a seven year tenure as co-founder, singer and one of several songwriters in Montreal's beloved Me, Mom & Morgentaler. A collective of college friends who recorded three albums and toured throughout North America, the high-energy Morgentalers won a fervent cult following for its theatrical hybrid of punk, ska and pop.
After toying with either forming a band on the west coast or performing under her own name, Bingham chose to launch Mudgirl as a flexible, multi-faceted project modelled after England's The The. "I've always like the way Matt Johnson's records keep changing because of the rotating cast of musicians he uses," says Bingham. "So I figured I could be the camp director for this thing called Mudgirl. I'll supply the activities, direct the flow and whoever wants to participate and get on board, hey, that's great."
Hence Mudgirl will be evolving as fast as Bingham herself. None of the musicians involved in the First Book sessions participated in national tours with Slow Burn and Moist/I Mother Earth. Instead, Bingham's touring band features ex-Rhymes With Orange drummer Niko Quintal, bassist Kevin Spencer from Hamilton's The Misunderstood and guitarist Joe Hrechka of the group Hollowbody.
The EP's title refers to both Mudgirl's maiden voyage and how highly Bingham rates pen and paper. "If I was to lose all my possessions, I'd be most upset about losing two things: my guitar and my journals, which I've been writing since I was 8. Those journals are a mixture of text, drawings, photos and memorabilia, a collage of my life at various points in time...That's what this record feels like to me.
The four Bingham originals on First Book deal in large part with leaving her hometown (where she was enough of a celebrity to win a 1995 Montreal Independent Music Award as Heartthrob of the Year) for the relative, anonymity of Vancouver following her engagement to Drake. The anthemic This Day, for instance, is about exiting the Morgentalers and the myriad of emotions that come with a major change - boundless prospects and frayed nerves included.
Bingham will flash another side of the Mudgirl persona via a web page that features diary entries, illustrations and the kind of personal attention missing from most band sites on the Internet.
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