The Mummies Biography
by Mark Deming
The once and future kings of budget rock, the Mummies did for garage rock what the New Bomb Turks
did for punk: stripped it to the frame, made it as raunchy as it
deserved to be, and reminded everyone what was cool and crazy about the
stuff in the first place. Of course, while the New Bomb Turks
were able to build a career out of their roots punk cross-breed, the
Mummies achieved their greatest notoriety after they broke up, but it's
difficult to imagine the rawest edge of the garage revival bands
existing without the guiding influence of the gauze-wrapped foursome.
Formed in San Francisco, CA, in late 1988, the Mummies consisted of Larry Winther on guitar, Maz Kattuah on bass, Trent Ruane on organ and sax, and Russell Quan
on drums; though it was sometimes difficult to tell just who was who
since the band performed in mummy suits that made them appear to be
wrapped from head to toe in Ace bandages. While the band found a home in
the West Coast garage/surf revival scene alongside like-minded bands
such as the Phantom Surfers and the Untamed Youth,
the Mummies set out to be louder, cruder, and more obnoxious than
anyone; bashing out frantic and primitive versions of such classics as
"Justine" and "Shot Down" alongside middle-finger originals like "Your
Ass (Is Next in Line)," "The Thing From Venus," and "Shut Yer Mouth" on
cheap vintage gear rescued from pawn shops and garage sales. In 1990,
the Mummies' first single appeared (on the band's own Pre-B.S. label),
as did several 7"s on other labels followed, including Estrus, Planet
Pimp, and Rekkids; eventually, the band's early singles were compiled on
the LP The Mummies Play Their Own Records.
(The album appeared on LP only; the Mummies made no secret of their
antipathy for digital technology, emblazoning their slogan, "F*ck CDs,"
on the back covers of most of their records and refusing to release
their material in the format, though this changed with the dawn of the
21st century.
In early 1991, the
Mummies cut an album for Crypt Records, but the results sounded a bit
too clean and tidy for the band's liking, and the album went unreleased
(though the material was later pirated on the infamous Fuck the Mummies
bootleg); later that year, they took another stab at capturing their
lo-fi assault on tape, and the result was their first (and only) proper
Mummies studio album, the gloriously obnoxious Never Been Caught. After extensive West Coast gigging, a tour of the Northwest with Thee Headcoats (garage icon Billy Childish
called the Mummies his favorite American band) and a brief jaunt to the
East Coast, the Mummies threw in the towel in January 1992, shortly
before Never Been Caught came out. However, the group briefly reunited in 1993 when fellow San Franciscans Supercharger asked the Mummies to open for them on a tour of Europe; being big fans of Supercharger,
the Mummies agreed, and made enough of an impression on European rock
fans that they were persuaded to come back for a headlining tour in the
Spring of 1994. Since then, Ruane, Kattuah, and Quan have all played with the Phantom Surfers, while Ruane has also worked with the Untamed Youth; Kattuah finds time to play in the Maybellines; and the busy Quan gigs with the Maybellines, the Bobbyteens, the Count Backwurds, and the Dukes of Hamburg. Larry Winther, meanwhile, has recorded with the Orange Peels.
