5 Questions with Sean and Ralph of Muckie Mittens
by Dwight Easter
DE - You each played in 2 of the most iconic Norfolk Bands. How did you find each other in Newburyport?
SEAN - When I was 14, 15, 16 years old, I worked at Friar Tucks, cleaning the kitchen and washing dishes. I remember watching Ralph play bass with The Unknown and seeing the 8x10 glossy photo of them hanging on the wall. I never expected to run into him at a grocery store here in Newburyport, Massachusetts, decades later. I think it was the cereal aisle. We're both a little gray these days, but Ralph pretty much looks the same as he did back in his Starving Artists days.
RALPH - Sean spotted me buying diapers for one of my kids in the local supermarket. It took one or two nights of drinking before we decided to start playing music together.
DE - How best would you describe the Muckie sound?
RALPH - Sometimes I think it’s a mild 80’s Post-punk mixed up with Shoegaze and Americana. Mostly I don’t know what to call it.
SEAN - I've always thought of us as an 80s influenced indie-pop band. We started as a three-piece, releasing our first EP "Prickly" in 2013. When Ralph and Bob Hoffman joined, they brought a new energy. Ralph likes to call it "Psyco Lounge."
DE - Would each of you share a great Norfolk performance moment from your time in the area?
SEAN - There were so many great shows and great local original bands. The Psychedelic Furs at the Virginia Beach Dome, The Ramones at the Boathouse, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers at the Kings Head Inn. I think Antic Hay killed it when they opened for Echo and the Bunnymen. The Daily Planet and the Naros at the Taj. Elvis From Hell, The Boweevils, The Mockers, Thin Lads, etc... at The Corner. So much great music and a genuinely supportive community.
RALPH - Well besides being a veteran of the infamous 1982 Amnesty International concert in Northside Park, I once witnessed a sex act being performed on the manager of The Corner - on stage during a set. Maybe not Norfolk's greatest performance, but it’s the one I first thought of when I read the question.
DE - How have you evolved as artists from your Norfolk Roots to your Muckie Mittens work?
RALPH - I use a lot more effects.
SEAN - I was 18 when Paul, Billy, David, and I started Waxing Poetics. Playing with those incredibly talented and imaginative musicians (I have to include Chris Hite, too) really opened up my view of what was possible. Back then, we played 4- 5 times a week. When we weren't playing live, we were rehearsing or out seeing other bands play. That was my music education, and those were my first teachers. Music has been a passion of mine ever since.
My main instrument has always been bass. That's what I played in Waxing Poetics and in every other band that I've been in, until the Mittens. I wanted a new musical challenge. I started Muckie Mittens 8 years ago with my partner Deb Valenti (bass & vocals). I wanted an outlet for my songwriting. I wanted to sing, play guitar and front a band. Ralph and Bob have completed our sound and expanded creativity. "Lulu" is our latest collaboration.
DE - If you could add a third member from your Norfolk days to collaborate with, whom should it be?
SEAN - I really love Gary Ziroli's voice and his songwriting. He has been an influence. But if I was going to add another instrument to our sound, I think it would be a synthesizer—someone like Mac Quayle.
RALPH - Mole the sound engineer with his van full of equipment. He would set it up and break it down every night. Both Sean & I had the pleasure of working with him during our years in Norfolk.
About Dwight Easter: Digital folk artist, family man and bread merchant. Some of the best moments in my life are experiencing the power and influence of great art. I came up in the Norfolk era of the M80’s, Buttsteak, and Antic Hay.