This isn't what I expected. I'd come over to Providence with Tanya Donelly, Kristin's half-sister and former guitarist with Throwing Muses, searching for the story behind her (and bassist Fred Abong's) recent departure from the band she's played with for pretty much all her adult life and I'm greeted with stories of jacked-off ostriches, the latest grisly murders, "lobster boils," and how David nearly got brainwashed on a recent trip to New York. No recriminations, no harsh words whatsoever.
It almost seems as though the split (which occurred just before February's "The Real Ramona" album and tour, but was kept quiet on both sides, so as not to affect sales) was completely amicable, and this fact-finding trip is a waste of time: as far as meeting three such delightful, talented folk could ever be considered a waste of time.
The last ever Tanya Donelly / Throwing Muses interview takes place in a fish restaurant 10 minutes drive from Kristin's house. They aren't upset or maudlin or sentimental. They're precisely the opposite, in fact, excited at seeing one another again.
Does it feel weird without Tanya in the Muses anymore?
"Nothing feels weird about the Muses anymore," Kristin replies. "Throwing Muses seems to be a name for music now, instead of a name for a number of people. So much horrible stuff has happened to us, that none of us wanted to be in this band anymore. We all wanted to start afresh, but to give up the name Throwing Muses had earned for itself seemed almost self-indulgent."
(The horrible stuff Kristin's referring to is both business and personal: their old manager, her "bi-polarity," a former lover who was suing her for both money and custody of their son, and so on. Tanya also split from a long-term boyfriend earlier this year.)
Did you feel that the Donelly incarnation of the Muses had naturally run its course?
"Mmm," replies Tanya affirmatively.
"Yeah," reply David and Kristin simultaneously.
"It's not even musical differences," explains Tanya. "It's not even that dramatic. It's more like, direction. I want to do my own songs, but Throwing Muses is Kristin's band. In the beginning, that wasn't a problem. I'd write four songs a year as opposed to Kristin's 28, but now she's come down in quantity and I've gone up a little, so we're kinda equal."
What made you decide to finally leave, Tanya? Did you wake up one morning and think, "That's it. I'm no longer a Muse?" Did Kristin's solo dates (towards the end of last year) have anything to do with your decision?
"No," she replies. "It had been coming for a while. The decision was made before 'Ramona,' but I love that record and didn't want to sabotage it in any way. It was the kind of thing where you can't figure out what's wrong and then you realize it's because you want to do your own stuff."
And The Breeders is Kim Deal's thing, right?
"Yeah," the guitarist replies. "I always end up getting involved with strong women, and of course people like that are attracted to each other. But then it turns into a mini-struggle, and it's too bad it happens, but it's unavoidable really."
Was Kristin expecting it?
"I think so," Tanya replies, "She was great. Of everybody, she was the most understanding. Me and Kristin grew up together, we've been through familial upheavals that are far worse than this. My friendship with her and my sisterhood with her are far more important than this. We were fine about it; it was everybody else who got all emotional."
Does it feel strange, no longer being a Muse?
"No," she says. "If I'd quit at the end of the tour, then it might have done, because it would have been such an amputated experience. This way, we all had time to get over it. And the tour was amazing, because we knew it was our swan-song, and it was fun because it was our secret."
What was the high point of the Muses for you all?
"Probably the final year," Tanya replies. "It was so chaotic and so emotionally-charged, but it was also the most fun I had in the band. I'm a complete believer in change now, so much that I could see myself going overboard in that respect. There's something that's so freeing about it, and I've always been a person petrified of it."
Do you feel "Ramona" was your best album?
"No," replies Kristin. "It's very realized, and that's a great thing. But I really like 'House Tornado' for that reason too: it had very appropriate production, the songs are very realized and stylistically, they're very intricate."
From: https://eyesore.no/tfdi/tm/mm1191.html
