"Shout Above the Noise" Radio Show

An interview with Caron Maso of The Little Girls
by Dave Getzoff

The Little Girls are pop perfection. They are best known for the songs "The Earthquake Song" and "How to Pick Up Girls". "The Earthquake Song" was featured on the Rodney on the Roq Vol. 2 LP, and there was a music video for "How to Pick up Girls" on MTV in the early eighties. The Little Girls are back and will be releasing a new album soon. Here is an interview with Caron Maso of the Little Girls.

Dave: How and when did the Little Girls get started?

Caron: We are sisters, and we used to do a lot of schticky kinds of comedy routines at family gatherings, etc. Sometimes it would involve choreography. We had both taken a lot of dancing lessons, and we both liked music a lot. When I started dating Mick Walker (co-wrote "The Earthquake Song"), Mick thought we were a riot and asked us to put something together for his birthday party at the Sherwood Oaks Experimental College on Hollywood Blvd. It was 1979. We had his band back us up for a parody of "Anarchy in the UK" by the Sex Pistols, which we called "I Wanna Kill My Mommy", and called ourselves "The Sex Blisters". Someone at the party liked it and asked us to call him. His name was Michael Sehnert, and he was a vendor of pinball machines among other pursuits, so we called him "Michael Pinball". He put us in front of a video camera to backing tracks of a band who were friends of his. I wrote "Can't Get Rid of You" and taught it to the band, and they recorded backing tracks and we did videos of "Can't Get Rid of You", "My Boyfriend's Back", "Summertime Blues", and "I Wanna Kill My Mommy". Then Michael named us The Little Girls. At that point, Michele and I were completely into it and I was writing more songs. Michael's musician friends were not hugely interested in backing me and Michele, so I needed to find a band. Peter Laird, who was talking to Mick Walker about managing his band, loved the idea and got some of his musician friends from Ohio to back us up. He and his girlfriend Debbie Fletcher were our first managers. They booked some gigs at clubs like Blackie's and The Hong Kong Cafe and Madame Wong's, made a mailing list, sent out flyers, and that was the beginning of The Little Girls.

Dave: How did recording with Clem Burke and Nigel Harrison from Blondie come about, and what was it like recording a record with them?

Caron: That was in 1985. Actually, our one rehearsal with Clem and Nigel and our one recording session with the duo (basic tracks) both took place in November 1983 (yes, that early: just after Jeff Fair and John Gerlach left the band). Earlier that year, we had released Thank Heaven, which was produced by Liam Sternberg and Ed Stasium. Our current manager at the time was Toby Mamis. Toby had worked with Suzy Quattro, Joan Jett, and Blondie. Toby often said of our relationship: "I got involved with the Little Girls very early in their career - a little too early." But I always believed he was the one to help us become famous. He was very creative and original and quite a personality. His company was called, FTM, which stood for "Famous Toby Mamis". Toby contacted Clem and Nigel to do the next record because we thought it could be a killer mix, our songs with that solid, killer, pop rhythm section, and of course, he was right. I think we did the backing tracks with them in one session. They were very professional and polite and did a great job on the recording. It wasn't a big party or anything; it was just very professional and we were in awe and very grateful for their help!

Dave: What were some of your influences when you first got started as a band?

Caron: My greatest influences were The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and The Who and The Kinks, and my parents' music collection which consisted of Simon and Garfunkel, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Jefferson Airplane, and a lot of Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Schubert. We had music playing in the house all the time on my dad's reel to reel and the record player. Michele liked a lot of the same music, but you could interview her for more accurate answers. Kip was really into the Beatles, The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, The Raspberries, Badfinger. Some contemporary influences were The Plimsouls and The Heaters (another sister band, I used to go to their shows and I loved them). I loved The Pretenders and Blondie, but I would have to say the bands and music I mentioned above are really what made music important to me. I started playing guitar when I was 11 on my mother's guitar, and got my first guitar for my 12th birthday.

Dave: I saw a couple of Little Girls music videos on YouTube from 1982-83. I saw videos for the songs "How to Pick Up Girls", "The Earthquake Song", "Bandana", "Part Time Love Affair" etc. Where these songs used for MTV and other television shows? The "Earthquake Song" video looks like it may have been used on a television show.

Caron: Surprisingly, for whatever reason(s), we never made an official music video for "The Earthquake Song". The "How To Pick Up Girls" video was filmed in early April 1983 at the now-defunct Music Machine rock club in West Los Angeles, and debuted on MTV the following month (May 9). Most of the others were live shows that were taped. Some were aired on TV. One was the USA cable show USA Hot Spots, which was taped live March 29 at the Club Lingerie on Sunset, and debuted on that network the same day as the premier of "How To Pick Up Girls" on MTV (May 9). Another, for an unknown local cable-TV show, was taped April 11th at the Rumbleseat Garage in Long Beach. The YouTube site featuring this rare archival footage (nobleavenue) was put up by our guitarist, Kip.

Dave: How have the recent Little Girls shows been going?

Caron: The recent shows have been fine and well attended, but we have not done a lot of shows. We spent a year recording a new full length LP and have only played select dates. We're looking forward to going on the road in June!

Dave: What are some of the future plans for the Little Girls?

Caron: We're doing a five-night tour of the west coast playing with Nikki Corvette and the Stingrays and new RAMO recording artists, Thee Make-Out Party. The first night is in Los Angeles at the Echo, June 21st with Josie Cotton. Then on to San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver. The Riff Randells will join us in Seattle and Vancouver, and our old guitar player, Steve Sicular, who was playing guitar with Kip in all the videos, will join us onstage for a few songs in San Francisco. Our new LP will be released in the fall, or maybe winter. I hope we'll tour more to support the record, which I think is really good! I'd like to take the group to Europe (Spain seems to be a great candidate for some live shows) and Japan. I'd love to do some more recording.

Dave: Sounds cool, those bands are the perfect type of bands that the Little Girls should do shows with. It would be cool to see your band on the east coast as well. Any plans on playing in Philadelphia, NYC, Boston etc?

Caron: No plans yet, but we have friends in NY and Boston, so I'd love to. We'll see what happens as The Clear Album gets around and when we release the new record.

Dave: What are some of the current bands that you like?

Caron: I'm sure everyone in the band would say different things, but I love the White Stripes, System of a Down, Bad Religion, Queens of the Stone Age, Deathcab for Cutie, The Shins, Veruca Salt, Nirvana (before I heard everything 10,000 times!) The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Peter Case. Kip and Marty like Wilco. Kip likes Morrissey. Michele loves the Beatles too. She also likes girl bands a lot. She loves Veruca Salt, Sheryl Crow. Michele's influences were the Ramones and the Phil Spector sound with all his girl groups. You can definitely hear this in her song "Come Back To Me", which you can hear at sonicbids.com/thelittlegirls . She and I both also love X, Devo, and Elvis Costello, especially his early stuff.

Dave: What bands did you play shows with in the early '80s?

Caron: Billy Idol, The Plimsouls (w/Peter Case), Paul Collins Beat (Case's former bandmate in the legendary band, The Nerves), The Boomtown Rats (w/Bob Geldof), The Pandoras, The Unclaimed, Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs, The Call, Agent Orange, Channel 3, B-Movie ("Nowhere Girl"), Dream Syndicate (w/Steve Wynn), The Pretenders, Doll Congress (w/Sean Penn's older brother, Michael Penn), Bow Wow Wow, Tonio K, The Textones (w/Carla Olson), The Halibuts, Davie Allen & the Arrows, The Kingbees, The Busboys, Felony ("The Fanatic"), Rubber Rodeo, The Heaters, Chequered Past (w/Clem Burke & Nigel Harrison), Naughty Sweeties, Brooklyn Brats, What Is This (featuring future Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea & Hillel Slovak), Candy (featuring future Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke), Boy (Originally called the Nu-Kats, then later Boy Next Door; (in attendence was Boy lead singer Freddie Moore's wife, future superstar Demi Moore), all-girl rockers Vixen and Precious Metal, Lynn Carey, Toni (Childs) & the Movers, Joey Harris & the Speedsters, The Weirz, American Girls (w/Carole King's daughter, Louise Goffin). (Wow! - L.R.)

Dave: Have you been in any other bands or musical projects beside the Little Girls?

Caron: The first band I was in was with our bass player, John Baker, in Broomfield, Colorado in 1975. I don't know what we were called if anything. We only rehearsed, but we rehearsed a lot. I was the rhythm guitar player, and he was the lead guitar player and wrote all the songs. John is a really great singer, guitar player, and songwriter, in addition to being a great bass player. He usually leads his own bands (very different stuff than what Little Girls does). Kip was in Shock, and a band called the Good for Nothings with Neil Weiss, who now leads the band Weed Patch. Marty Rosamond, our drummer, and Kip met in Weed Patch. Marty's been in many bands.
After Little Girls broke up I played a lot of solo acoustic shows. That was a great experience for me, and I still like to do it from time to time. In around 1997 or '98, I put a three piece power trio type of band together which I called CM3P (stands for Caron Murray 3-Piece). I asked John Baker to play bass, and we had a couple of different drummers. Ralph Herrera, formerly of Suicidal Tendencies, did several shows with John and me and recorded several songs with us too. That was very different from the Little Girls and a lot of fun too. I could send you a couple mp3s if you are interested in hearing any of that.

Dave: What do you like the most about being in a band?

Caron: What I like most about being in a band is that I love to get on stage and rock out and express myself through my songs! It's easier and more fun doing that with a band to back you up, but I enjoy the solo thing too.

Dave: What do you like least about being in a band?

Caron: I think what I like least about being in a band is dealing with everyone's different schedules and preferences. I can't just decide for everyone, "We're rehearsing this day or that day and we're doing these 10 songs". It's about compromise and collaboration, and in that way it's a lot like being in a family. There are more personalities and egos, and you can't take anything for granted. That being said, I'd rather consider everyone else's preferences and compromise than be completely on my own. I like family life as opposed to living alone, and I prefer being in a band to doing a solo project. But any of those alternatives can be very satisfying.
Interview by Dave Getzoff, May 2007

(originally posted on Now Wave Webzine on March 2007)