The Mother Hips are divinely inspired by the four great (North) American B’s: The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, The Band and The Beach Boys – Rolling Stone
Let this be known...I'm stepping way out of my comfort zone with this post. I am not a writer. I am not a musician. I am not a wordsmith but I am a lover of the music experience.
The fine folks here at 3DD need to know about the Mother Hips. I know some of you already are a fan of the band but I'm sure there are others out there that will jump on the wagon. For 17 years, this band has been a constant in my life, many memories are associated with their songs, reminding me of a simpler time.
Future Farmer website wrote:Formed in Chico, CA, in 1991, earthy pop jam rockers the Mother Hips moved up from bar band status through a series of regional tours and built a sizable fan base in California. Songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Tim Bluhm, guitarist Greg Loiacono, bassist Isaac Parsons, and drummer Mike Wofchuck met in the dorms of Chico State in the early '90s. Loiacono and Bluhm's harmonies and country-tinged melodies honored California's musical past -- from Merle Haggard to the Beach Boys to Neil Young. Their 1992 album, entitled Back to the Grotto, caught the ear of American Recordings, which released 1995's Part-Timer Goes Full and 1996's Shootout. This relationship led to high-profile slots on tours with Johnny Cash, Wilco, and the H.O.R.D.E. tour. Drummer Wofchuck was replaced by John Hofer for 1998's country-rock Later Days. Three years later, the band released the more pop-oriented Green Hills of Earth. As soon as the album gained notoriety, singer/guitarist Greg Loiacono decided to take a break from the group, leaving the band's status in question. In 2005, Bluhm, Loiacono, Hofer, and new bassist Paul Hoaglin resumed playing music and released the Red Tandy EP on Camera Records in 2006 and followed it up with the full-length Kiss the Crystal Flake in early 2007.
I moved to Chico in 1993, when the Mother Hips had already established their roots as our local college band. It was immediately apparent that this group of guys, especially the dynamic between Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono, were the real thing. The harmonies between Tim and Greg are outstanding and their songwriting is beautiful. California Soul is what their sound has been labeled, a perfect soundtrack for warm, boozy nights (and days).
Daytrotter website wrote:It's interesting when music can make you forgot where you are in time. And that's not to mean that you're set adrift on memory's bliss or dragged into some sort of neo-nostalgia that's not really being spoken by your own insides. It's to mean that there's an actual disconnect between now and a not so distant past - one that maybe happened and was happening 50 or 60 years ago, when our grandparents had beautiful figures and the Great Depression was still something that came up a lot in conversation as a "remember when" subject. The Mother Hips remind us of a time when something like the Pacific Ocean was new to each of us - not new to the earth - but just to our own actual eyes as we set them upon the coastline there against the salty piers of San Francisco from a distance and with an awe choking our throats. They remind us, with their jammy-like feel and cool compress of a way with autobiographical and anecdotal story lines, that love of love and love of life come in lots of different forms and that standing there, a bit away from the water and looking down at the Pacific ignoring our own presence and just pushing, shoving and loitering in its sparkly way as it always would, is a good way to observe.
Now I hate to use this disclaimer but I think it holds true for most bands... You need to experience the Hips' live show to really get the message. So without getting bogged down with their history or how they make me feel, I thought I would try to find some performances of some of my favorite Mother Hips tunes. They are grouped and listed in order of their discography.
Sit back, turn up the volume, and experience the Mother fuckin' Hips!!
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Back To The Grotto (1992)
Hey Emile -
If you hear hymns and waltzes in you head
and you haven't been out dancing since your daddy joined the dead
don't let anyone tell you they can try to fix your head
Put on your ballroom gown, Emilie, instead.
Two Young Queens -
Stepped up on my roof and I was feeling so much stronger
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Part-Timer Goes Full (1995)
Stoned Up The Road -
Thank you brother for the load
But I guess that all my stuff is stowed
I guess it's time for me to go
To get stoned up the road, I get stoned on
Stoned on up the road
Magazine -
Like every preacher needs a sinner and the gangster likes the sub-machine,
experts get paid by the beginners
and the bombshell needs her magazine.
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Shootout (1996)
Can't Sleep At All -
Bright sunlight
Come and open up my eyes
Cause they're closed
but I'm not sleeping
Whiskey On A Southbound -
Whiskey on a southbound
bound for Angel Town
Let those diesel engines pull me down
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Later Days (1998)
Gold Plated -
There's some boys I know
Who play that rock and roll
They've slept on a lot of floors
To get that California Soul
They've got that California Soul
Esmeralda -
Tell me what is wrong
And I’ll put it in a song
And I’ll play it on the stage
Show me where it hurts
and I’ll write it down in words
and I’ll play it on the stage
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Green Hills Of Earth (2001)
Singing Seems To Ease Me -
When I start to lose the grin,
I have to put some music in.
Channel Island Girl -
She comes from sunny Santa Barbara where the seaweed sways and waves are green and glassy.
She is so unique, she is a mountain peak.
She's tiny but she's classy.
Rich Little Girl -
I dunno about no rich little girl
walkin' around like her papa got some money
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la OHH, YEAH!
Smoke -
Wilco was up on the stage
A cigarette, a straight-edge & a jet plane
You, you and I
Must be high
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Kiss The Crystal Flake (2007)
White Headphones -
Here she comes, she’s walking down the Judah line.
Look how’s she’s walking, she’s got nowhere to be, she’s just taking her time.
She’s making me move, I’m a man who never did.
Time Sick Son A Grizzly Bear -
Did you see the river flow
clear down to Baja Mexico?
John Wesley Powell most certainly did.
I read about it when I was a kid.
Time-sick son of a grizzly bear.
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Pacific Dust (2009)
White Falcon Fuzz -
I woke up in the middle of the night,
with the words from a song in my head...
Third Floor Story -
God Damn, you neighbor man, you're knockin' on my roof with a broomstick in your hand
You lazy punk, I said you gotta wake up at 6am,
well don't you know I don't take my rest 'til then
I have to do you in
Pacific Dust -
I've been lost in the thought bank for a week and a half
Diving deep in the think tank for thoughts I don't have
I don't know where I am so don't even ask
I'm just deep in the thought bank...
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Cover Tunes:
Kansas City Southern - (Gene Clark cover tune)
When I was a young man, and the evening sun went down
I'd walk along those railroad tracks and I'd listen for that sound
Kansas City Southern... man that's a lonesome sound!
Well I'd sit and watch those trains go by and I'd wish
That I was onward bound.
Down By The River* - (Neil Young cover tune)
Be on my side,
I'll be on your side,
baby
*They recorded Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere in its entirety.
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Some sample tunes and a recommended Live show:
An excellent soundboard show from 2000...
http://www.archive.org/details/mh2000-10-06
Some select tunes
Daytrotter session
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Discography:
1992
1995
1996
1998
2001
2007
2009
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Videos:
Beauty Rock - Live performance at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, CA, 2003
Stories We Could - a documentry of the band...
This Is The Sound - a collage of footage from every era of the band...
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Side Projects:
- Skinny Singers (Tim Bluhm and Jackie Greene)
- Ball-Point Birds (Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono)
- Sensations (Greg Loiacono and Paul Hoaglin)
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http://www.motherhips.com/home.php