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Arts & Music

Gimme Five! Mimi McLaughlin of Magnolia Collective

 

photo by Mike Benson

What happens when members of Gambling the Muse, The Pnuerotics, Whiskey Smugglers and Red Collar come together? Sadly, “dance-off” is the wrong answer. Fortunately, Magnolia Collective isn’t. Coalescing their talent and love of Americana music, Daniel Snyder, Rich McLaughlin, Jason Butler, Zach Terry, Mimi McLaughlin, Jonathan Truesdale, and Andrew Mayo have formed an all-star folk rock revue of “bootgazers.”

They’ll celebrate the release of their debut EP Ghost Stories this Saturday, Dec 3rd at the Local 506. So sure, they’re off to a good start, but can one of their own survive our five-question beatdown first? See for yourself after the jump.

1. If you band were a cartoon character, what sort would it be?
Our cartoon band persona would be a robot cowboy on a real unicorn named Maggie who lives on Lucy Lane. Cowboy robot carries a guitar and has sonic laser guns that make cool sounds that make people dance and sound like zoink bzoink, sometimes twoong twoong, twing twang, depending on the size of the mirror ball in the room. His voice is hypnotic and people find themselves happy and euphoric when they he is around. He is heroic and one time slayed a vicious dragon that was terrorizing Carrboro. He was really disappointed when he was not selected for Oprah’s love show.

2. When did you decide it was time to share this music?
We realized that it was time to share the music live from the moment our band formed. With 3 prolific songwriters there is an over-flowing pot of material and songs from which to choose. After many requests from our friends and fans for recorded music, we picked 6 of our favorite original songs that showcase unique qualities and strengths of each of our songwriters. This is our first release, an EP we are calling “Ghost Stories.” We recorded this in Daniel’s un-air-conditioned living room, and mixed it ourselves. We have plans to keep on playing live locally and to record a full-length early next year.

3. Describe the last time you felt really lucky.
You know we have a song called “Lucky.” We are very lucky that the Southern Rail in Carrboro gave us the opportunity to start the monthly Americana Revue at the Station and become Magnolia Collective. During this year and a half residency we had the good fortune to play with many of the best local bands in the triangle. We also felt pretty lucky when we caught a leprechaun at our Pogues tribute on St Patrick’s Day. We made it rain Lucky Charms that night.

4. Who/what might be a few inspirations or influences that would really surprise people?
With seven people playing in the band, it’s tough to pin down influences. Our band is clearly influenced by Americana staples like Gram Parsons and Townes Van Zandt. And if you’ve come to the weekly show at the Station, you’ll hear songs by Jay Farrar, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Shane MacGowan and other classics. But google this quirky list of influences: Edith Piaf, Iron Butterfly, Chopin, JP Sousa, Slayer, Manowar, Moondog and Harry Partch. Huh, who?

5. What did you dream of being when you were a kid? (how ’d that turn out?)
Our band has a collective childhood dream of someday being a robot cowboy on a unicorn. Eventually there will be a song about this.

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Do’si’do down to the Local 506 this Saturday, Dec 3rd to help Magnolia Collective celebrate the release of Ghost Stories. And by all means, give Mimi a high five when you see her!