Kristin Hersh performing with Throwing Muses at Primavera Sound, Barcelona, Spain. “Seymour came to see us and fell asleep but still made an offer.” In the end they signed in the US with Seymour Stein’s Sire records, with 4AD looking after all other territories. “It was a feeding frenzy from the majors,” says Narcizo. The band’s concoction of crunchy guitar and seamless melody - along with Hersh’s distinctly personal yet obtuse lyrics - initially had American labels thinking the band were the next big thing in the late 1980s. But Throwing Muses predated all that, says Narcizo. The common narrative of the era is that Nirvana exploded and major-label A&R folk came waving their chequebooks at any underground guitar band, marking a decade where oddballs such as Butthole Surfers and Jesus Lizard wound up with mainstream deals. It was a genuine community of bands.” Their tour mates Pixies soon followed them in signing to the label, then came the explosion of alt-rock and grunge. “They were so sincerely involved in what we were doing. “The label was like family,” says Narcizo. Nevertheless, the band slotted neatly into 4AD’s roster, merging pleasing harmony with riotous discordance. Drummer Dave Narcizo’s preference for omitting cymbals from his drum setup – due to his teenage marching band background – resulted in deeply rhythmic compositions with erratic time signatures, punctuated by Bernard Georges’ throbbing, twisting bass lines. Until 1991 it was also embellished by the melodic harmonies and spiralling second guitar of Donnelly, before she left to form Belly. Their idiosyncratic sound is led by Hersh’s voice, which can shift from a broken-glass gargle to a tender croon. That supposedly psychotic debut album remains a greatly adored piece of work and it set the band off on long career melding post-punk, indie, college rock, pop and alt-folk.
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