Man…  out of all the local bands I caught back in the day I miss The Mimis the most.  My first exposure to the band was their opening slot at Bogarts opening for Blue Oyster Cult sometime in 1990-  first thought was…  who are these guys?  Second thought came midway through their set…  hey, these guys are pretty good!  Last thought as they played their final song of the night was…  damn, when are these guys playing again?  The set couldn’t have lasted more than 30 minutes and during that time I quickly became a major Mimis fan, eventually picking up their self financed release Fungusamongus and catching many a show during their all too brief run.

So how does a local band make it to #8 on my favorite albums list of the 90s?  Simple… these guys were literally a breath of fresh air; certainly the antithesis to what was popular on the radio at the time yet having certain elements that were starting to bubble up in the underground rock/metal scene of the time.  There was no guitar pyrotechnics, there was no banshee screaming, there were no ooey gooey bubble gum hooks…  no, this was a slightly darker, more atmospheric and open, often funky and groovy chunk of alterna-rock that crept into your pores, sunk its claws deep, and did not let go.  Hints of Soundgarden’s early material (think Louder Than Love) puts you in the ballpark, with maybe touches of guitar washes circa Love era Cult (Not Blue Oyster, but the Brit guys) and other grungier sonics yet all the while totally unique in its own right.

Listening to Fungusamongus is like a trip on the wayback machine-  it definitely takes me back to those killer shows at Sudsy Malones (bar in the front, laundry in the back), Shorty’s Underground, Annies, and wherever else I saw them.  The songs still hold up well regardless which version you listen to-  the original cassette has a different batch of songs than the CD that was eventually released in the late 90s or so, the first five on said CD includes some newish material that the band was working on at the time before singer/guitarist Mike Davis moved on to San Francisco to become a full time tattoo artist (check out his work at https://www.everlastingtattoo.com/mike-davis) with the last four coming from the previously released cassette.   Unfortunately, I can’t find my cassette of the original version because I’d rather use that fantastic Mike Davis drawn cover art so we gotta settle for the CD version instead, which took a band shot that was found in the inner sleeve of the cassette.  Oh well…

Oh yeah, the songs…  the original cassette was a great mix, featuring the tight and semi-funky riffery of “Wind Me Up”, the laid back stomp of “Patient Man”, the thunderously cool and slammin’ “Texas Wind” (featuring the cannon fire drumming of Bob Powers), and the downright funkiness of both “Pain” and “Mustard Pie”.  Mike Davis and Chris Donnelly provide some mighty fine and tasty guitar work and play well off each other, settling more for chunky rhythms and maybe more of a bluesier vibe with the solos, relying more on atmospherics and a “less is more” approach rather than guitar flash.  Bassist Karl Bach is solid too, content to provide an impenetrable foundation of rhythm to go along with the thunderous drums of sticksman Powers.  Newer songs that were added to the CD show off a slightly different vibe from the band, feature a bit of a bleaker yet noisier progression on cuts like “Big Money Jar” where Davis and Donnelly’s guitar tag team wrenches out multiple tones: caustic rhythms, thick sustain, wah drenched leads, all building into a massive sonic stew; and the driving and insistent “People Machine” with its screaming slide work at the tail end of the song.  Toss in more open and atmospheric songs like “Ten Feet Deep” and “Tight Rope”; both offering up different grooves, textures, and vibe between the two cuts:  the intro of the former shaped by Bach’s slippery bassline and Powers’ percussive touches builds into a heavier verse before idling back to the intro and eventually segueing back into another riffier section, while the latter builds off a swirling guitar intro and plays off the thump of the Bach/Powers backline with more fat and tasty guitar tones.

As with all of these songs the band does an excellent job on the tone spectrum, not just content to hit you over the head with the same riffs and ideas but concentrating more on sliding in and out of that rhythmically deep pocket with various shades, hues, and different layers of guitar, also leaving plenty of open space for Davis’ ultra cool vocals.  You can find the CD on Amazon and I highly recommend it.  As for the cassette…  it’s around the house somewhere-  I hope my Mimis T shirt is with it!