The Mother Hips

The Mother Hips are a rock band based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

History

Formation and Debut

Tim Bluhm (vocals/guitar), Greg Loiacono (guitar/vocals), Isaac Parsons (bass) and Mike Wofchuck (drums) met in 1990 while attending California State University-Chico, living off campus in Bradley Hall. They jammed and played some original songs at a party or two (once billed as Pippi Longstocking and the Trunk-of-Funk), but soon Isaac and Mike were lured away by the prospect of playing Led Zeppelin and Jane's Addiction covers at big parties as the rhythm section of the Keystones. Meanwhile Tim and Greg played their acoustic guitars and sang to whoever would listen, and wound up backing up songstress Ali Weiss in the mellow trio Ali and the Cats.

These bands played throughout 1990, but in early 1991, Tim, Greg, Isaac and Mike got back together and got serious about being a rock band. It didn't take long to step up from parties to local Sacramento Valley area watering holes like LaSalles and Juanita's. They began playing original songs rather than covers. The band released Back to the Grotto in February 1993. It was produced by the band with a mutual friend, Paul Hoaglin (who would join the band nearly 10 years later when bassist Parsons left.)

Major label

The Hips were courted by major record labels and almost signed with MCA. Music producer Rick Rubin signed them to American Recordings even though they were still students at Chico. The Hips then became labelmates with Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, and the Black Crowes (whose Chris Robinson helped the band to sign with American.)

They did more recording and mixing on Back to the Grotto for its American re-release (March 1995) and set out to record a follow-up. Released in August 1995, Part Timer Goes Full was that second album, including new songs as well as tunes from the back catalog. "Shut the Door" was a song that American decided would be the single, but this decision did not go down well with some fans who thought the song was not representative of their sound. The song didn't top any charts, but the fanbase grew due to touring, and in Chico they were selling 2,400 tickets to a show at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds. They were also headlining major venues like the Fillmore in San Francisco and appearing at festivals like Laguna Seca Daze and the HORDE tour.

They recorded Shootout in early 1996 and American released it in October. American Records failed to promote the album, dropped the band from their roster, and then folded.

Changes & Later Days

Their music shifted direction around 1997, with shorter, radio-friendly songs, instead of longer multiple sectioned songs. They started to get into basic country-ish songwriting, but it didn't fit with drummer Mike Wofchuck's style, so they replaced him with John Hofer, formerly of the Freewheelers. In early 1997, the band moved out of the Chestnut Street house in Chico, to the bay area, where the Hips have been based ever since.

They recorded the stripped-down Later Days album and released it on their own in May 1998. They kept on playing gigs frequently, focusing mostly on California cities, with occasional jaunts to Utah or the Pacific Northwest. They self-recorded another album, the more pop-oriented Green Hills of Earth. Indie label Future Farmer liked the album and released it, but the album did not promote the band to their desired popularity. Bassist/father Isaac Parsons left the band in March 2002, desiring more time with his son. Shortly after, multi-instrumentalist Paul Hoaglin, co-producer of Back To The Grotto and Part Timer Goes Full, stepped into Parsons' place. But later that year Greg Loiacono, lead guitarist, decided he needed a break too and the band went on indefinite hiatus after two shows at Slim's in San Francisco in February 2003.

Hiatus

During the hiatus, Tim Bluhm was the most active musically. He enlisted the Southern California band Five Foot Tuesday as backup, but played to smaller audiences. Greg also formed a band, the Sensations. Also in 2004 two documentaries about the Mother Hips were completed, Patrick Murphree's Stories We Could Tell, a detailing of the history of the Mother Hips, told by the Hips themselves, friends, and family, and Bill DeBlonk's This is the Sound, a compilation of footage from the band's entire career. (A third movie followed in 2006, Dave Schwartz's chronicle of a 2003 Santa Cruz show, Beauty Rock.)

Post-hiatus

Toward the end of 2004 the Mother Hips reunited and started playing shows again. They recorded an EP, Red Tandy, followed by a full length album, Kiss the Crystal Flake, released in April 2007. The song "Time We Had" from the album was in November 2007 featured in the music video game Rock Band, and two songs, "Red Tandy" and "Time Sick Son of a Grizzly Bear" were made available as Downloadable Content for the game on the week of April 29, 2008.

The band released their seventh album, Pacific Dust, in October 2009. The album was recorded at Mission Bells Studio in San Francisco with co-producer/engineer David Simon-Baker.

Discography

See The Mother Hips Discography