Lynda Mandolyn Throughout my six years online I've been fortunate enough to meet a lot of cool people. One of the most important relationships I've gained is one with fellow Detroit native Lynda Mandolyn. Although Lynda and I only crossed paths after her move out to San Francisco, I feel as if I've known her all my life. As a smart, talented and determined musician, I've admired Lynda since before we first met in person in Detroit during one of her rare solo shows at the now-defunct Gold Dollar (for more on the Gold Dollar's closing visit my Detroit @ Nite column soon). The rest of Detroit was first introduced to Lynda long before that, during her days with the city's memorable all-female heavy rock group, Inside Out. For those of you not fortunate enough to know Lynda yet - here she is: Melody: Tell us when and why you started to play music? Lynda: Hmmm, let's see. Ever since I found out about the Beatles at age 2. Them and the Monkees were my first musical world. I went out and bought "Meet the Beatles" at age 3 ¸. I started playing music in high school, I met a really rad bass player girl and I wanted to play with her so bad, but I didn't know a note! I took guitar lessons for a few weeks at age 14 and just got frustrated, and that's when I started writing my own songs. What were your first few bands like - including Inside Out? Inside Out was way ahead of our time! We were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Inside Out was a cluster fuck of rock, pop, experimental, jazz fusion, thrash and all that thrown into one with three crazy mixed up girls, while other normal people were going to college, I was touring in a band at 21 and 22 and recorded my first record at 20! Inside Out was really my first band. I did some basement gigs before I met Karen Neal (Inside Out's bass player and currently fronting Detroit's Queen Bee) at age 16 (she was 18). Meeting her really changed my life for the better. We inspired each other, got to know cool music though each other, etc. We weren't normal teenagers in any way not compared to today's. They like all that fake, plastic beauty shit and we were into the ugly and weird the more fucked up the better! How long after Inside Out broke up did you move out of Detroit? Why San Francisco? Ya know Inside Out never officially broke up, we just faded away. I actually recorded with them 2 weeks before I left for San Francisco. So we were together right up Œtil I moved. I was such a mess in Detroit, drinking and drugs 24-7. I really thought I was gonna have a heart attack! At the time I had formed my own band, Loomer a real departure from the Inside Out din. I wanted to make swirly, pretty music and Loomer was the answer. We were always bitching about Detroit and how moving somewhere new would be cool. San Francisco appealed to me very much. The music scene was always cool and the people were so liberal. I literally left Detroit with some belongings and $400 in my pocket. I never looked back and have been out here now for six years. I don't regret my Detroit musical upbringing though; it made me tough as nails and I met and played with some of the best people I've ever met. There are many special people in Detroit. I still love coming back and seeing all my friends. It's a great place to visit, but I wouldn't wanna live there. Oh yeah, I found the best group of girls to play with (in San Francisco) we're called Fabulous Disaster, but that's a different story. Can you give us a little comparison between Detroit's rock and roll scene and that of San Francisco? Well one thing's for sure there are great bands coming out of both. Where do I begin: from SF we have the Flipsides, Film School, Hell Fire Choir, just to name a few. In Detroit there's Radium, Gore Gore Girls, Queen Bee. Seems like there's a lot more female talent emerging from Detroit. I love that, when I started in the scene there was only a select few! How do you feel about the recent attention Detroit has been receiving because of artists like Eminem and Kid Rock? What about artists like the White Stripes? Personally I don't like Kid Rock or Eminem, overrated hype if you ask me. There are so many more rap artists that came before them that deserve wider recognition. White Stripes are cool! I guess the guy (his name escapes me) used to be in Goober and the Peas? Wow, they are really great at what they do and boy do they have a media blitz going on right now! Tell us about your relation with Evil Eye Records and how it came about. Me and my husband Serge started Evil Eye Records in 1998. We've put out 5 or 6 releases to date. It's really hard doing music, working full time and trying to keep a record label going. For us it's been a slow process, we do it as a labor of love and so far have gotten great feedback! Do you plan on signing more bands to Evil Eye in the future? We hope to definitely! The money thing has been kinda tight as of late. And since Fabulous Disaster got signed to Pink & Black/Fat Wreck, we've been nonstop busy, completing a 10 week tour in May!! One thing is for sure we'll always put out mine and Serge's zillions of other side projects. We love all different kinds of music and usually don't believe in sticking to one thing! What's going on with Fab D right now? Good question! We kind of took the summer off and played shows locally. We'll be doing a week mini tour of Vegas and California in Sept. I think we might record a Fat Wreck single of the month when we return. We've been busy writing new songs too. We had the opportunity to get on some good tours but they fell through at the last minute. We might play a few shows with NOFX, and we might do a small club tour of Europe this year with us headlining. But you never know, things always change. We definitely will be on the Warped Tour next year on the big stage! We had a chance of being on it this year, but on a stage called "The Ladies Lounge." We and our boss Erin declined saying that we don't have to be segregated from the men. We can play with the big boys just as good on the main stage, ha! What kind of gear do you use and why? Marshall's baby! I swore I would never play through one, now I'll play through nothing else. For Fab D I have a JCM 800 head and cab plus I just bought the new 2000 series which is actually pretty damn good. I needed something sturdy to go on the road with as we tour so much. I am also a pedal fanatic! I have tons but mostly BOSS, with the Fabs I use Blues Driver for distortion, Phaser, Analog Delay, and my Tremelo. I just bought an in-line tuner, which is great to have! With my solo stuff I usually use old shit. Farfisa organ, old 60's projector mic's, my old Les Paul and strat. We've also been using the Nord, which gets great analog synth sounds! Tell us a little about Fabulous Disaster's trip to Europe. Oh god, it was crazy! We first toured with the Mad Caddies, and they're called Mad for a reason! I really grew to love those guys and their music. We were on a 5 weeker with them doing the UK, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Belgium (where we played with Less than Jake). Then we came back to the UK and did 5 weeks with the Ataris - what fun. We also played Scotland. Almost all the shows on both tours were sold out. Kids went crazy for the Fab D - especially in Europe. There were at least 80 stage divers. We were engulfed by young German kids - it was great. People would see us on the street and start singing Flesh and Bones (from the Fat Wreck Comp). They really love punk over there, we can't wait to go back! What would you be doing if you weren't in a band? I'd either be dead, be on drugs and almost dead, work in a meaningless office job or be painting more or doing film stuff. Your solo projects seem to be really laid back and mellow, but Fab D's sound really tears down the house! How do you find the time and energy to be so diverse and write for two different projects? I just can't stand doing just one thing. I think I secretly have 20 different personalities and they're now starting to come out. I love Fab D for the fact that we rock, it's fun, we jump around and get crazy and you can release so much good energy. With my solo stuff I can concentrate on building soundscapes, improvising, coming down a couple notches. I enjoy both immensely. I can never just sit around. I need to be working on something at all times it seems. Karen Neal was your cohort in Inside Out, but you two also were in Lickitty Clit together. How did that come about, and will Lickitty Clit fans see anything more from you two ever? Well like we say, "Never say Never" Ya never know what we'll pull out of our ass for Lickitty Clit, hahahahaha. It all started back in 92 when someone said "Hey I hear Inside Out has a new EP coming out called "Lickitty Clit." We couldn't stop laughing and vowed we do a disgustingly sexual side band called Lickitty Clit when we come home from Europe after tour. We started recording 8 songs then and it just sat on the shelf for years. Then Karen came out to California right after I moved out there and we wrote 7 more new songs for L.C. It sat around some more then I finally released it on Evil Eye in 1998. It was our first release. It's not for everybody but it sure is damn funny and offensive :) For more Lynda-related stuff visit www.evileyerecords.com, www.fabulous-disaster.com, www.pinkandblack.com. You can e-mail Fabulous Disaster at fabd9@hotmail.com - Detroit @ Nite columnist Melody Licious