Magnapop - NME Interview

Pop Will Treat Itself

Writing the perfect pop song is awesome enough. Having Michael Stipe ask to produce it is practically heaven. Welcome to the shiny happy world of Magnapop.

The quartet are here as an alternative to the American grunge overload and the Cock Rock bands of their home town, Atlanta, Georgia. We're here because 'Merry' - the lead track from their debut EP 'Sugarland' on Belgian label Play It Again Sam - is a sublime piece of pop supremacy that parallels The Lightning Seeds' 'Pure', Soho's 'Hippychick' and The Blake Babies' 'Out There'.

Magnapop are an exceptionally genuine band, they're the kind of people you'd love to be best friends with (and not because they'd introduce you to REM). Gathered in a pub near London's Waterloo, there's lofty bassist Shannon Mulvaney in his bright red Noddy hat, bubbly guitarist Ruth Morris and golden-haired vocalist Linda Hopper. Only drummer Dave McNair is absent, he's busy coming on all romantic with his wife in Paris.

"Go on, ask the Michael Stipe questions first," drawls Shannon, an infectious grin on his face, "let's get it over with." The 'Pops have good humouredly become accustomed to the same tedious enquiries: the Stipe connection and the questions about the girls.

"Sometimes it feels like your whole gender betrays you," says Linda wearily, "People freak out when they realise Ruth is the only guitar player in the band. We wanna ignore the fact that we're girls but at the same time we wanna tell other girls it's OK to be who you are."

"People always laugh at me and say, 'Why do you wanna play with girls?'" sneers Shannon. "So one night I wore a skirt and hair curlers on stage."

"The only problem was," giggles Ruth, "he thrashed around so violently he started projecting the curlers like lethal missiles into the crowd. At the end of the night he only had one left in his hair."

Further adventures awaited those people who witnessed Magnapop sharing the bill with Nirvana, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr at the recent Rocking Kolonia Festival in Maastricht.

"We'd never played to more than 500 people before," enthuses Shannon, "so it completely freaked us out. It was totally mad, like the first time we saw the equipment was when we were sent on stage. It took us ages to figure out how to switch the expensive amps on and all the crowd started shouting, 'BORING', I looked out and thought, 'Oh f***'."

A few months later, 'Sugarland' is nestling in the Netherlands Top 20, Magnapop are making a guest appearance on their equivalent of TOTP and a thousand Dutch people have beat the rest of the world to recognising the groups brilliance. Back in the real world, the trio have avoided the inevitable for long enough; so let's talk about Michael.

"I went to art school with Michael, we've been friends for about ten years," beams Linda in a casual 'I had cornflakes for breakfast' kind of way. "In our first art class we immediately gravitated towards each other. He had a blond afro and wore mirrored shades at the time, he was incredibly groovy and really stood out. He came to see our first show in Athens, it was Ruth's first gig and he came up to her after and asked if he could produce the first record."

"I was completely freaked," says Ruth. "I've always been a huge REM fan."

So what was he like to work with?

"Wonderful," says Linda breathlessly. "Michael is a total diffuser and a total diplomat. He's so funny too 'cos I'd be in the studio singing and I'd see his little face peering through the window, grinning and cheering me on. I guess he's got a licence to be goofy but he was nothing short of inspiring."

Bright, startling, adorable and charming, Magnapop are the sound of summer.

Gina Morris
July 4, 1992