ABOUT
The Band
Mimi Ferocious, as the name implies, is pretty but loud, progressive but poppy, sensitive but with balls. Led by songstress Stephanie St. John, the New York-based rock troupe includes bassist David Wilson, guitarist Michael Preston, drummer David Ross, and the Mimettes: Kim Winter and Michele Kantor.
The Album
The songs were all written by Stephanie except for "I Feel Love," the Donna Summer hit. David First helped arrange "Sister Barbara".
Someone named Brendan, whose last name we never knew, recorded David Silva's drum tracks. Shortly after the studio went under, Silva left the band to go to law school, becoming the first drummer in rock history with a law degree.
Early tracking was done at Pink Noise Studios in SoHo and Nolej Records somewhere uptown, under the eyes, or rather ears, of Steve Shirk and Agustin Crawford, respectively. Crawford played organ and tambourine on "Favorite Destiny" and recorded Victoria Leavitt's lovely cello part on "Rocket Song". Ross's drum tracks were recorded at Home Base Studios in Chatham, N.J., engineered by Joe DeVico. (Ross plays drums on "Sister Barbara," "Cab Driver," "The Best Ones," and "We're All Gonna Die.")
The rest of the tracking was done at Spin Music Studios in Long Island City. The superlative Nik Chinboukas, engineer and co-producer, was responsible for getting what had been a sputtering Millennium Falcon up to warp speed, so to speak. That's his awesome synth on the chorus and fadeout of "Chariot".
Kim Winter and Michele Kantor, AKA The Mimettes, lent their cherubic voices to four tracks. They also clapped and laughed a lot...that's Michele talking during the break in "Sister Barbara." David Wilson played the Roland 505, a kind of old school synth machine, on "I Feel Love." You can hear Greg Olear's voice on the gang vocal of the last track, his one-hand keyboard line on "Chariot" and his rollicking if simplistic piano on "We're All Gonna Die."
Chinboukas mixed the record, and it was mastered at Masterdisk by the legendary Roger Lian. David Wilson got to sit in a chair there recently used by Rush's Geddy Lee.
Art for the album was designed by Stephanie St. John and Greg Olear, as well as the anonymous art staff at Diskmakers. Tim Vierling did the Lunch Lady Records logo. Franklin St. John took the cover photograph and the one on the back sometime in the 1960s. Interior photography was shot by Malachi Weir. It was Michael Preston's idea to have the disc itself look like a 45.
Finally, the irrepressible Lance Monotone, inveterate friend of the Ferocious, helped do the Flash stuff on the new site.