After getting in touch with Mystery Girls guitarist, Jordan Davis, about bringing the Mystery Girls back to Detroit (which we did) the conversations started becoming something to temper boredom. It's really boring here in Port Huron, Michigan, I'd imagine it was even worse in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Jordan's quotes in white

I fowarded him an article that appeared in the Onion about a guy who's friends were bitching about his love for Led Zepplin. The article mentioned that the kid got hooked on to Led Zepplin II when his brother came home from college for the summer and lifted weights to it.

I guess it is pretty evident that I dig Zepplin, huh? Oh well. This article could apply to me though, this bonehead started with Zepplin 2 were as I started with Zepplin 1. Completely different situation. To me Led Zepplin 2 is a little pompous and self righteous. One kicks ass.(singing) YOUR TIME IS GONNA COME!!!.

They Call Me the Hunter. That my name.

Babe Babe Babe babe babe baby baby baby I'm gonna leave you.

I'm not joking woman I've got to Ramble.

I hear it calling me back home. (wait, wait, wait, guitar solo)

Guitar: Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Duh Boom Duh Duh wah wah Duh boom!

Fuckin Zepplin man!

And Pot too!

Black Sabbath beats the pants off Led Zepplin. Especially when comparing the first albums. And the second albums.  And third. Oh, and the fourth. Yeah, Black Sabbath pretty much fucking kicks ass.

Saw the DirtBombs for very first time. Very Kicks Ass!

I mention that the type of Zep fans the article was talking about are pretty annoying but it's those Doors freaks who say "Dude.Jim really killed a hitchiker! He talks about it one "American Prayer" when "Riders From The Storm" comes on the radio.

You know even worse than the Doors guys are the Dead guys. Obviously number one for the music, number two for the fact that they buy more t-shirts than records, and number three you sort of have to be cool with them because sometimes you end up asking them for grass. Yet, they are a good way to acquire a decent size Hendrix collection. I feel no shame from stealing from hippies. Dead Heads anyway.

Jordan peppered some coversations with Fuckadelic references. I mentioned to him that I threw on some Funkadelic one night thinking it would get the party happening but all it did was bring complaints

Funkadelic in Party situations. I live ( Have lived (moved out yesterday)) in a party house. I've played "Maggot Brain" as well as that purple double disc of all them there singles at every party in the last two months. Nobody seems to dig. Even, Yes, even my band mates. Not like they don't like it , they just seem unenthused. I think you have to sit down and connect Funkedelic personally to your brain. Thats how it worked on me. I was sitting around with my roomate (Both of us on ACID) listening to maggot Brain at six o clock in the morning. The sun was just coming up and the stereo was at full volume. I haven't had such an eye opening experience since I heard "Funhouse" on acid when I was twelve. But, That is a completely diferrent story(and record).

      Sadly, I only have Maggot Brain. It's hard to find that shit up here in the desolate North. Although I hear great things about them all.

God bless Detroit, man. And Eddie Hazel too.

Dropping acid at twelve? C'mon! I didn't find that stuff til I was like 16!!

Now that I think about it the acid probably came later but I had "Funhouse" at the time although I was was a little young to understand it. At the time my favorite record was "Raw Power", "Funhouse" wasn't catchy enough for my tastes of the time. I do acknowledge "FunHouse" as the Best and most accomplished Stooges album, although personally I like the first one the best. I love the John Cale production so dearly. To me that is the heaviest peice of wax ever. I really never understood Ron ASheton til I first dropped acid. Then it all made sense and my life was forever changed. Man, I fucking love Ron Ashton.

You ever heard the old Seger stuff? The pre-"Live Bullet" stuff"

Yeah...never heard any Bob Seger stuff I like. It's all pretty Lamo Radio crap. I have heard Scott Morgan from the Rendevous be compared to him though. I assume whoever said was meaning the early stuff. I work (worked, last day today) at an Ice-Cream shop. They got Fuckin old rock n'roll on the jukebox. Some Dumb cheerleaders from the Hillbilly

school come in once a day and play that song. Goddamnit! I think I've been scared for life, I don't think I have a chance a appreciating anything he's done because of it. Even if it is good.      I'm assuming that Ya did them Amboy Dukes right? I know this pedofile that works in the basement of the local music store (the one EVERYBody works at cept me.) He takes care of the Classical music section and is a real fucking music snob. Like one of those people that still considers the Beatles to be ruckus. you know. Anyway, he hates all pop music right. One day Matt (other guitar) was playin the Dukes in the store. Jerry (the pedofile) must've heard it cuz he comes running up the stairs and throws his hands up in the air. "Amboy Dukes" he screams! He frantically inquires as to who put on the record. Apparently besides Mozart, Bach, Debussey, Brahms, and Beethoven the only band he likes isthe Amboy Dukes.

Is that not odd? That guy still confuses me.

Yeah! The SILVER BULLET BAND stuff doesn't do much justice to the stuff he did before it. Though that is the stuff the represents his Blue Collar image. I think stuff like CCR stands up way better than his stuff when defining "Everyday Joe" Rock-n-Roll.

I think Creedence is the only American band that even came close to the Rolling Stones for putting out hit blues based "hits". Yeah, they rock. They were kind of hard for me to get into because when I was a kid (80's) My folks used to play those John Fogerty solo records that were coming out at the time. Y'know, like "Centerfield" and all that crap. That was my first exposure to them. Kind of soured me for a while.

One thing about "the blues" that gets me is that though it's an age old genre it still can be twisted into unique forms. I'm not talking about boring middle age white guys with gear that costs more than a new car but like how T. Rex took it , put his own weirdness in it and turned it upside down to where the elements and feeling are there but it sounds like no-one else.

I think "Tanx" is my favorite Rex record. It's not as catchy as "the Slider" but record's with too many hooks tend to get on my nerves over time. Thats my problem with "Electric Warrior." Not that it isn't a great record. The singles collections rock also. I like Bowie quite a bit also. I was a Velvets geek in high school. I would scribble things in art class and hand them in. The fun part is, trying to convince your teacher it's genuine. Blue Cheer, Radio Birdman, the Damned, MC5, the KINKS, Neil Young. Dictators all good bands. I did take a year off of high school for Robert Johnson though. Mott The Hoople. Big Star, T-rex. John Coltrane, CharlieParker, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, NEW YORK DOLLS, Dead Boys, Zeros, REPLACEMENTS, The MOnkees. the BYRDS

It seems that people in the midwest are deranged in a different sort of way than the rest of the country. I don't  if it's the weather or the small town uptightness of most of it or what...  

Yeah there ain't much to do here. The older folk entertain themselves with rock shows at bars and us Chillun jus take acid and wander around the woods. There is one All ages club it's pretty cool. Attendance is really bad. I'm one of the 20 people that go to shows. The DirtBombs played there. Green Bay has been described by a million and one passers by as the largest small town ever. Really abnormally convervative too. In fact the city has basically shut down the all ages venue  this past December. They put a ban on all Basement shows. Even if they are dry and over before 9:00. Yep, t'aint much to do here, jes alot of sitting,

drinking and records. Ever see that movie "Strange Brew?" Same scenario applies to most of Wisconsin. We are only two hours from Milwaukee and we can buy a 30 pack of Old Style for 10 bucks y'know. Yeah ,really aint much to do here. Started on grass when myself was Eleven. Started fucking girls at 13. It's funny because I've calmed down quite a bit since then... years of heavy sedation I guess. I'm just waiting for my friend to get off  work so can go over to her house and drink. I'm living with my Mom for a few weeks and she doesn't let me drink in the house. It gets to about 20 below zero here for about 5 months of the year. The sun only comes out for a matter of hours. It's really terrible. Everybody goes insane for a while. Everybody hates everything until spring. Just drinking to keep warm I guess.

  Being born and raised in a rinky dink midwestern town myself I completely understand. Even now, I still get flustrated with "the kids" thinking SAVES THE DAY have anything to do with "punk rock" other than loud guitars and weird colored hair.Their so clueless and instead of diggin' back any farther than Green Day's "Dookie" they go to mall and by shit at Hot Topic and think they're SOOO subversive. They have no concept of dynamics and don't really care. They just think they're different than everyone else in their High School because they don't listen to Moby or Slipknot.

It is true what you say about many of the current bands imitating and doing it badly. I don't think you can really acheive another's sound just by listening to them. You have to study what they listen to. For instance, If you wan't to sound like the early Stones ya gotta copy Jimmy Reed and Elmore James, that's what they were imitating. Most of everything current makes me sick to my stomach. There are a few here and there but like you said "no lulls-no Peaks". Especially that poppunk(weinerpop)shit. There is a Mr.T record that just got reissued. Since I've got back home I've heard italmost fourteen times (not by choice mind you). I FUCKING HATE that band. When bands like that get popular it makes everybody else dumber. All I

know is that the trend of poppy bands ruling over Punk Rock is almost over. A Change Is Gonna Come. The Youth will have to realise the errorsof their ways sooner or later. It's all about the Rythym and Blues man. Rock and Roll!!!

    And I hate Emo Too. Whinny little sissies. Rich kids is all they are. Anyway the Mystery Girls are just high schoolers trying to write songs like Muddy Waters and those who came after him.

Would you say that having a Rock-n-Roll band has help you from going crazy and not falling into the rut of the status quo and mass marketed rebellion?

In Green Bay all there is to do is drink and have jam sessions. I Know that term "Jam Session" has negitive connotations in the world of punk sheiks. I don't Care, it's what we do. We go to the Blank House in town and we play guitars and Harmonicas till the sun comes shining through. Green Bay is a cultural pocket outside the Fad-Obsessed World. Nobody here cares about Old Navy. Punk these days is a fashion and not a music Every big band that comes through town are all made up worse than the Dolls in a not so literal sense. I see all the big ripoff names come through and they all look and sound the same. It pisses me off what about individuality? isn't that punk? I don't have spikey hair but I go to more punk shows than most who done the leather clad cretin look. Fuck em' I don't care what they say about me. I think the temptations are the best vocal group ever and could care less what the punkers say. And trust me the do voice their opinions.

       Rock and Roll is the most Beutiful thing in the last fifty years, but folks understand anymore. If you wanna play rock-n-roll you gotta understand people like Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, Hound Dog Taylor, James Brown, Slim Harpo, Son House, Big Joe Turner, Memphis Minnie, Duke Ellington, James Cotton, Big Bill Broonzy, Buddy Guy who all were rockin houses before Chuck berry even got his first guitar. I been listening to John Lee Hooker since I was but a Boychild. People like that you gotta not just dig, but understand before you can even begin to shake your hips. They say the key to playin the blues is fingering the jagged grain of your personnal existance but most these so called rock-roll bands are just fingering someone elses existence. People say we say we sound like the Mc5 it's only cause we have the same musical goals. The facts are simple, We are white lowerclass Americans who dig more than anything else the Blues. It's almost a fact that white people can't sing the blues. They are too over indulgent and got terribly stale and unmotivated voices. It seems the only solution is to put your amps on 11 and shove it down your audience's throat hoping to turn them on to Robert Johnson. Thats what the Stones did and the MC5, Cream, Pretty Things, Faces, Yardbirds, Sonics, Flamin Groovies, New York Dolls. If you wanna get spacey and really invent you throw in some Jazz. Coltrane, Bird, Monk, Jazz messengers, Max Roach, Sun RA, Miles. Rock-n-roll is real fuckin simple...so fucking simple folks just don't get it here in the Video Generation. People don't spend enough time backtracking to really grasp the music they revere in their own musical sainthood. It's easy just go to your library and pick up a book on american roots music. You understand that and you've not got the silver, you've not got the gold, You've got the whole fucking diamond mine!!

    I first experienced to noise of the Mystery Girls in late July of 2001. I had booked "The First Annual Trash Nationals" at the Gold Dollar that weekend. My whole idea was to bring some REALLY GOOD rock-n-roll bands to town all in one night. The Panic Buttons came up from Alabama way, the Mighty John Waynes hicked in from Indiana and Algoma, Wisconsin's Strong Come Ons came down and their friends the Mystery Girls offered to tag along and play for free. Unfortunately, it was the evening of the Cavestomp in NYC that was all about Detroit. AND the Forth Street Fair. No one was gonna be wandering down Cass save for some hookers and winos. Luckily, the club was not comletely empty because everybody brought somebody.  Before the bands started to play I started asking around about who wanted to go on when. Both the Strong Come Ons, who were their friends, and the Panic Buttons, who played with them the night before, made it clear they didn't want to follow the Mystery Girls.

The Mighty John Waynes were not present yet...so they were placed. "Hey you're late. Apparently, none of the other bands wanna follow up the Mystery Girls. Yeah! It is a crummy name. No! I haven't heard them." Holy shit. Neil the Gold Dollar's storekeeper was not too enthused about doing this show. He had already annouced that the club was closing in less then a month later and there was no way this was gonna help pay off the debt. He let the show go  on telling me "I've always enjoyed most of the things you've brought in here." He kept saying to me "too bad we couldn't have done this with..." when the Panic Buttons and the Strong Come Ons played "That would've been a really good show"  and  adding to both "It's been worth staying open tonight."

    When the Mystery Girls hit the stage his jaw dropped as much as much as

mine. I mean, the Gold Dollar was THE place the last few years.  A lot of good

shows happened there. "Man! This is GOOD! They're doing what a lot of bands

THINK they are doing!!" he said.

    "Fuck! I wanna kill 'em." I replied "They're not even suppose to be in this place!

Half this band are still in high school and the one's that aren't just graduated

in June. They're way too good." We tried to laugh it off

cuz they were from Wisconsin. "That 70's Show" is set in Wisconsin. The Mystery

Girls looked like the were straight from the period...but without that "I paid $30

for the haircut and $40 for the shirt" vibe that some "Hi-Energy Kick Ass

Rock-n-Roll" bands today put across.

 

  

THE MYSTERY GIRLS

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Let's not forget about Kim Fowley's sage advice for the Mystery Girls

Check out a rave review of the Mystery Girls live show by clicking here

Download a  song by the MYSTERY GIRLS  here.

Todd Trickknee released the first MYSTERY GIRLS album on his label Contact him!!! He's also put a song by 'em on the 920 Blues comp. BUY 'EM BOTH!!!

Bancroft Records also released their first 7 inch and have a new one by them coming out soon.

The Mystery Girls latest album is on In The Red records.

To contact the band directly write 'em here!