By AMES FLAMES
LOS ANGELES – The Muffs were the first band I wanted to roadie for.
I saw them in 1991 and told my friend, “They are gonna make it, I want to roadie for them!”
Then I noticed they already had a roadie, and my dream was instantly crushed.
The next time I saw The Muffs, my friend and I videotaped the show. Between 1992 and 1995, I saw them several times.
As you may know, I was Bobsled’s roadie. We had a show in 1996 and on the bill was the Bianca-fronted Butt Trumpet, Sluts For Hire, and The Muffs. Lisa Marr, leader of Buck, was married to Ronnie Barnett of The Muffs and she was doing Muffs merch next to me, while I was doing Bobsled merch. This is where my story begins.
I was asked if I wanted to be their fill-in roadie when their roadie was on the road with someone else. Yes, yes yes!!! I ended up doing 16 shows, roughly four shows a year between 1996 and 1999. It was also after Melanie was no longer in the band and The Muffs were a 3 piece. As a fan, I really liked the band with Melanie in it. They were also the only band I worked with that were signed to a major label.
In late 1999, I was moving. I moved all day and was beat, so I crashed really early. As I lay there I thought to myself, “This is why the scene is shrinking, because people don’t take the time to do it anymore!” So I got up, got dressed, road my Harley to Long Beach to catch the final show of The Muffs tour. I wasn’t needed that night, or so I thought. I parked, paid to get in, took three steps inside, and Ronnie grabbed me and said, “Come with me, our roadie is MIA!” From this point on I would be The Muffs roadie. Being a Muffs roadie got me more street cred in the scene. It also exposed me to bigger shows and what that entails.
Kim was a great boss and funny to hang out with. We worked well together. I answered to Kim but I helped everyone. That is what helps the boss. That is always how I roll, I work for the boss. The original Muffs was Kim Shattuck on vocals and guitar, Melanie Vammen, Kim’s bandmate from The Pandoras on guitar, Ronnie Barnett on bass, and Criss Crass on drums. In 1994 Criss was out and Jim Laspesa filled in until they found Roy McDonald to be the permanent drummer. Then in 1995 Melanie was out. The band would remain 3-piece until the end.
The shows were also great. and the crowds were always into it. We did a run of shows with The Dance Hall Crashers and Buck, The Girl-O-Rama Tour in 2000. A couple of those shows Roy couldn’t do, so Quasar sat in. A very rare line up. Then we did a Warped Tour run. Roy couldn’t do that run at all and Jim Laspesa returned to fill in.
Sometimes you have to roll with the punches. I went to LA to meet up with the band and load up to leave for the tour. We were waiting for Kim, she was picking up the rental van. She went in, paid, and the guy says, “That takes care of the last one, now lets do this one!”
Apparently their previous manager neglected to pay for the van from the last tour. I crashed at Ronnie’s and Kim got the money together the next day so we could get the van. We finally got the van, loaded up, and made it to Baker and stayed in the now defunct Royal Hawaiian Motel. We did seven of the eight shows on The Warped Tour. Then we did three headlining club shows on our way home. We even stopped at Graceland.
After that the band was set to play at Y2K Fest at the Queen Mary. The staff ended up not getting paid so they quit and the show was cancelled. We were there and so were Muffs fans so Kim decided to give them free Muffs T-shirts. The band went into hiatus for two years. There was a 4-show run in 2002 and three spot shows in 2003. They had been recording the Really Really Happy Album. In 2004 they did a couple of LA shows. Then three shows back East, I was not there, but a friend of mine, Dawn, did merch at two of the three shows. Then they did two LA shows I missed while on tour with Texas Terri.
This brings us to the Really Really Happy Tour, 28 shows in 30 days. One of my favorite tours ever. Roy did do this tour. We would get two rooms and rotate who was with who. Sometimes I shared a room with Kim. One night I was on the floor making Muffs lighters. She came over, sat down on the floor, and asked me to show her how I made them. After three attempts she gave up but at least she tried. I said I can’t play guitar like you and you can’t make lighters like me, so what, that is what makes us a good team.
We did a few in-stores. A couple of them there wasn’t room for the whole band so Kim did it solo. I loved it. It was like hearing the songs how she wrote them. I told her people would pay to see this. She said she didn’t like playing without her band. In 2013 I saw her opening for, and then playing with Frank Black. That made me happy. Sometimes I wasn’t in the van. I ran into a friend who decided to tag along but I always made it to the shows on time.
In New York, Roy broke his snare and the back up was left in the van that was parked blocks away. I full on sprinted to the van, sprinted back, then I had to hold the snare over my head to make it through the packed the house. Roy set it up and it was showtime again. A few years later, the leg on Roys bass drum broke, so I held it in place for the rest of the set and the encore. Roy also used a hi hat tambourine that he would regularly break. I worked at a metal shop and made him a bullet proof one I called the Ring-Of-Fire. Sadly it got stolen out of his car.
We did shows in 2005 and 2006, a few in 2009, a couple in 2011, one in 2012, and four in 2013. The final show I worked was the show Melanie reunited with the band on stage. That made me really happy. While working with The Muffs I was also working with the Leaving Trains, and Melanie was in that band. I had done 89 shows with The Muffs over 17 years.
Being out of the circle I had no idea Kim was sick so I was shocked when she passed on. I only ran into her once after I left at a Punk Rock Karaoke show at the Viper Room. She sang Manny, Moe, and Jack and Anarchy In The UK. I sang Ace Of Spades and Search And Destroy. I never saw The Pandoras reboot or The Coolies. Kim and Melanie were both in those bands. The Kim and Melanie version of The Coolies never played live.
I had a good time working with The Muffs. I liked everyone and at shows things were automatic. It was the most sane band I worked with. One fun thing was in the van. They would talk about bands and argue who was good or bad. Ronnie was the expert, he knew of everything. Things Kim would talk about were hilarious. Especially if it was about body functions. There is a pic in the Kaboodle booklet that I took in the van with Kim’s hand wrapped in cassette tape. Someone gave her their demo tape. She put it in, hated it, pulled it out, ripped out the tape and wrapped around her hand, then chucked the tape and the case out the van window.
At a show Kim’s monitor kept kicking in and out. She dropped her guitar on the stage, ran up the stair, and sounded the sound man. The guitar was feeding back so I went to turn it off but I noticed that fans were actually watching the guitar so I let it go a while longer.
To me, Roy was one of the best drummers I worked with. He was like a main instrument and a rhythm guitar. His orchestrations were great. Sometimes he played so fast I couldn’t see the sticks. People would rock to his beats. Kim wrote catchy songs, played high energy guitar, and had a great voice. From sweet to shout, from subtle to in your face. Ronnie’s bass was the middle ground. Driving bass lines, he knew how to anticipate and play with Kim. He was also energetic and was always moving. All together they made the magnificent sound known as The Muffs.
Many bands I worked with cited The Muffs as an influence. They were top of the heap in the LA Scene. And I was their roadie. Because of that I got positions with other high profile bands in the scene. I documented and took pics at the shows. I have hundreds of pics. I also have the shirts, merch items, posters, and more. I went through my set lists and realized I have heard them play almost every sone they recorded through the Whoop De Doo album.
To me, the band had different eras. First the singles and the first cd with the original line up. Then came Blonder and Blonder and Happy Birthday To Me. Next was Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow. This was different. Slower pace, less screaming guitar, and only a couple of Kim screams. But the lyrics and vocals were more calculated and contained. Fans and critics didn’t like it as much, but I did. It was a more adult version of Kim.
Having said that Really Really Happy was a return to fast and loud in ways but incorporated the new lyric and vocal attack with screams. The best of both worlds. Unlike my other bands, my every encounter with The Muffs was at shows. We never just hung out. But at shows we clicked and that is what it was all about for me. My longest continuous post spanning over 17 years. It was a great run. I love the albums but I got to see and hear them so many times. When I hear the albums I can see them in my head live on stage.
Kaboodle is a Muffs compilation released in 2011. Most of the content came from Hamburger, a Muffs compilation released in 2000. The songs are songs that were released as singles before the first album was released. There are also some demos. Kaboodle took five songs off and replaced them with six songs. Both are worth having despite the duplicates. Some photos I took are in the booklet so I have photo credit as Ames Evil, my roadie name. The fact that Kim is gone is tragic. A huge loss to the LA Scene and beyond.
Donnie Popejoy was an announcer in the scene and almost always there to introduce the band. He even announced me a few times. When he passed on, at his memorial show, I did three Muffs songs and a Beards song, Sidewalks. Written by Lisa Marr, her bandmate in The Beards. The Beards were a side project that happened by chance. They only did three shows and I missed all three. Their CD is titled Funtown. It is a great album. The band was Kim, Lisa, and Sherri Solinger on drums, Lisa’s bandmate from Buck. In 2024, Lisa did a solo show in LA and I did Sidewalks with her to tribute Kim and Lisa G., Lisa’s former bandmate in Buck. Even Pepper Berry of Buck was in the house.
I was very happy we did that, it gave me closure. Kim was supposed to have a big memorial show but it got cancelled due to covid and was not rebooked. I am so glad I got to work with The Muffs and I enjoyed every show. I would do it all over again. There are some videos on You Tube but I suggest you listen to their albums. The band may be gone but the songs live on. It was great that I got to work with the band I originally wanted to work with. As usual these are my views of the band, you would have to ask the band members to see what it was to them. I do not speak for them. See you next month with another story about another great LA band I worked with.
Ames “Evil” Flames is known in music circles as “Roadie to the Stars,” and is a frequent contributor to U.S. Rocker. Read more about him and his work here.