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Martha and the Muffins
Insect Love / Suburban Dream - 7"
Muffin - 1979
Michael Panontin
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By the time of their debut single, the self-released Insect Love / Suburban Dream, Marthas Johnson and Ladly and company were busy elbowing their way onto the more punk-friendly Queen Street circuit in Toronto. They were formed a couple of years earlier by Mark Gane and David Millar, adding singer Martha Johnson (of schlocky cover band Oh Those Pants!) not long after. The Muffins went about solidifying their line-up, with Millar stepping aside to work the sound, and Gane's brother Tim on drums, keyboardist/singer Ladly, saxophonist Andy Haas and bass player Carl Finkle coming in to round things out.
These hopelessly obscure sides show Martha and the Muffins at their DIY stage, with Ladly's tentative keyboards and Gane's quirky guitar in need of some studio clean-up. Still, the record provides a brainier alternative to the brawny Toronto punk scene at the time, clearing the way for countless new wave acts to follow. Both songs were re-recorded for the U.K. singles market, with Insect Love (b/w Cheesies and Gum) issued the following year as the band's first UK single, and Suburban Dream (b/w Girl Fat) showing up in the summer of 1980. Neither record troubled the charts, but it hardly mattered as the Muffins' massive-selling 'Echo Beach' in 1980 would carve them a place into the annals of pop history.
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Martha and the Muffins
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