1981–1997, 2002-Kristin HershVocals, guitar1981-
Tanya DonellyVocals, guitar1981-1991
Elaine AdamedesBass1981-1983
Becca BlumenDrums1981-1983
David NarcizoDrums1983-
Leslie LangstonBass1984-1990
Fred AbongBass1990-1991
Bernard GeorgesBass1992-
Throwing Muses are a Rhode Island band whose thorny, tempo-shifting songs and dual-vocalist lineup made them one of American college rock's most singular exports. UK indie label 4AD championed them early on, years before "alternative" broke into the mainstream on either side of the Atlantic. Fronted by stepsisters Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly, the band built tracks that lurched between whispered menace and jagged noise, skipping standard verse-chorus structure on principle.
Kristin Hersh was born in Atlanta, Georgia. "I learned to play and love records when I was growing up in Atlanta," she told Mojo magazine. "We moved to Aquidneck Island in the North East when I was six, the year I wrote my first song, called '22,' about living one's life backward. It was a passable song, but until I could play chords that reflected the colors I heard, I wasn't happy with anything I wrote."
That color reference isn't a metaphor: Hersh has synesthesia, explaining in interviews that specific chords appear to her as distinct colors, ranging from ochre to burnt orange.
Hersh and Donelly's friendship predates the band by years, and predates them becoming step-siblings, too. "I first met Kristin at school, or maybe Unitarian church, when we were about five," Donelly told Mojo. "We became friends and stepsisters when my father married Kristin's mother. Our parents were hippies, who listened to music non-stop."
Their introduction to guitar came courtesy of their fathers and a dose of Beatlemania. "Our dads bought Kristin and me a guitar, and after watching
A Hard Day's Night and
Help!, we started playing Beatles songs, then Kristin's dad's songs, and then made our own," said Donelly. "Kristin started right out the gate. '
Soul Soldier,' on the first album, the slow-quiet part was one of her earliest."
Hersh's songwriting drew others in once she started playing live. "I wrote songs alone, but I played around people," she said. "And when I played, I was struck by this strange effect: the people would pick up instruments and play alone or start singing. It's what people do, I guess. Especially teenagers, who have nothing better to do."
The band's earliest lineup came together through school friendships. "We were best friends with Elaine (Adamedes) through middle and high school, and she came on board, playing bass but also keyboards and guitar," said Donelly. "The first year of the Muses, we all switched instruments. Cindy, then Becca, both school friends, played drums."
Becca Blumen was later replaced on drums by David Narcizo, another Rogers High School classmate who anchored the lineup from then on.
A teenage head injury when she was hit by a car changed the way Hersh experiences songwriting. "I was compelled to make music after cracking my skull open,"
she told The Guardian. "And then my life was very upsetting. But at the same time, I had real listeners."
Hersh wanted the group to pick a name with some edge but lost that initial debate. "I wanted us to be called the Dogs, but the other girls didn't wanna call themselves something ugly," she told Mojo. "I thought that was the whole point: this is what human females do, and it's not a f---ing Barbie." They became Kristin Hersh and the Muses instead.
The full name arrived once the lineup shifted. "When Becca left to focus on her studies after graduating high school and Dave joined, it wasn't all women anymore, so we became Throwing Muses," Donelly explained.
Bassist Leslie Langston left the group in 1990 due to a medical condition. "She has a health issue with her skin where she couldn't play bass for decades," Hersh told The Guardian. "She didn't play on The Real Ramona, but then she came back for our next record, Red Heaven." Langston, whom Hersh calls "my hero," later transitioned into social work.
Donelly left Throwing Muses in 1991 to form Belly (after a stint in The Breeders alongside Kim Deal), and the Muses continued as a trio featuring bassist Fred Abong (and later Bernard Georges). They stepped back from recording in the spring of 1997 as Hersh pursued her solo career (which kicked off with her 1994 acoustic album
Hips and Makers and its hit single "
Your Ghost").
The members never considered it an official breakup, and the band reconvened in the early 2000s for a self-titled 2003 comeback album featuring Hersh, Narcizo, and Georges. Donelly returned briefly to contribute backing vocals, her first work with the group since 1992, and played a handful of reunion shows.
"Throwing Muses never split, we've worked continuously for 40 years,"
Hersh told Songfacts in 2019. "We just don't care who's paying attention. And honestly, if you want to attract attention, real music will leave you. Songs and ego erase each other."
When asked by Songfacts which three tracks best capture the band's identity, Hersh pointed to a specific era: "'
Sunray Venus,' '
Sleepwalking' and '
Glass Cats' from 2013's
Purgatory/Paradise, those are the band's three sonic vocabularies."
