Whatever happened to the all-female indiepop combo The Maulies? Back in 2000 they released their one and only 7″ “On Holiday with The Maulies” on Maryland’s Hub City Records and it was such a promising record!!

Last year when I was in Stockholm I had the chance to DJ at Debaser with Tommy Gunnarsson, who ran the Heavenly Pop Hits Records and was part of the brilliant The Gentle Smiles. I remember the first song he played was Dolly Mixture’s “Everything and More”. Then he played a song I had never heard before. It sounded a bit like Bunnygrunt. It sounded a bit like Cub. But it wasn’t them. “Who are they? They are really good!” – I asked. “The Maulies” -Tommy answered. “Who???”. “They only released one record, and this song is really good isn’t it?”. He was playing “Rude Limey”, the A-side.

I met Tommy two days after, on a cold Stockholm Monday, for a record shopping day. The first couple of stores we visited didn’t have anything that was worth our attention or our wallets. The famous Record Hunter was such a letdown. Tommy rang Nicke from Delicious Goldfish Records to see if he would open the store for us that Monday. No luck. He couldn’t: “come back Wednesday”. “Sadly I can’t, I leave tomorrow”. Where else to go? There’s one last stop: Nostalgia Palaset.

My expectations were quite low at that time. I got some money from the DJ gig and I wanted to burn it on records. What else would I do with krönor? I needed to get rid of them! We asked the clerk to show us the “indiepop” 7″ boxes they had behind the counter. We started browsing. First record that caught our attention was one marked “Norway C86″. It was by a band called Naive. Later I will learn that it was marked wrong, this band is Danish. Anyways. Let’s keep browsing.

Something really useful about this store is that you can listen to the records. There is a nice turntable with a pair of headphones. We started putting records on a side, and then listening to them, enjoying them, and then figuring out if they would still be on a side or back into the 7″ box. The Painted Word, The Pastels, Young Marble Giants, and more. The selection of Nostalgia Palaset is really good! Never seen so many nice indiepop records in a store! And if you are up for coincidences, you know what I found? Yeah, The Maulies 7″! I couldn’t believe it. Two days later I was talking about this band with Tommy. We were listening to it. Two days later we find it in a store in Stockholm. And this band is from Austin, Texas. What are the chances?

I paid 80 kr for it. I don’t know how much is that in dollars, and maybe it’s better not to know. I also got 7″s by My Favorite, Gits, Lucksmiths (not for me, it’s clear I always fall asleep to them, but a gift) a Benno Presents Various Artists (including Nixon and the underrated Cat Skills), and a Feverfew flexi. You can imagine the huge smile I had after leaving the store.

Fast forward many months. Today. I’m playing the record a couple of times. I wonder where are these girls? I always wonder where the girls are. Clearly not in Miami. But where did The Maulies go? I read the lovely insert written by Tina and Jeff from Hub City Records. They compare some turtle to Totoro, from the movie “My Neighbor Totoro”. Oh! I like that movie a lot! Also on the insert there’s a little press release about The Maulies:

There comes a time in every girl’s life when she has to decide: should I continue to allow the boys to get all the glory, or should I form my own all-female indiepop combo and kick ass? June 2000 sees the release of The Maulies debut single. Hailing from Austin, TX, the Maulies write punka pop tunes in the vein of such legendary all-girl bands as Thee Headcoatees and Tiger Trap with a touch of the British Invasion thrown in for good measure. The single’s A-side features “Rude Limey”, a savage rebuke of an arrogant Brit and his eveil ways, as well as “Gotta Take the First Plane Home”, a Kinks cover that’s been given the full Maulies treatment.

I think they are closer to Cub or Bunnygrunt, but sure, Tiger Trap is a good comparison! The first lines reminds me of a friend in Sweden that, tired of being the girl in the back in every band, decided to start her own all-female indiepop band just some months ago. Hopefully more news on that later this year, could fit nicely in the Cloudberry catalogue. But back to the Maulies.

It’s funny that on the press release they don’t mention the B-Side. They do mention both A-Sides, by no B-side. The B-Side is called “Tofu π” (smart? Tofu pie). This one is an instrumental track, and well honestly, I’m not a big fan of them. Nothing personal Maulies!

Among other interesting facts are that this record was produced and recorded at Sweatbox Studios, Austin. A place where tons of independent bands have recorded. And yes, the band lineup, that was Amy on bass, Carole on guitar and vocals, Jennifer K on the SK-1, tambourine and vocals, and last, but not least, Jennifer L on drums and vocals. No last names on the sleeve, so, impossible to google them.

Would you ever wish someone that their green card gets revoked? Tough! I think that’s the nastiest thing to wish! But that’s what Rude Limey is about. They sing to a Brit: “He’s always playing cruel jokes/I wish he’d get his green card revoked,” and “We use to call him our favorite British import/But now we call him Satan’s cohort.” Tough girls, right? Now have a listen yourself.

And of course, if anyone else knows or wants to share anything else about The Maulies, please do so! Would be great to know whatever happened to these girls!

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Listen
The Maulies – Rude Limey