Some Kind Of Muffin

 Lia, Ramona, Paul, Tyler. Mittens! Yes, Mittens. What do you need to know about them aside from what is in the interview? That they are awesome and if you don’t like them and fall instantly in love you are dead inside and I hate you.

How did Mittens form and how long have you been together?

Lia: Ramona and I had been playing together for a long time, trying to get our songs together and find members that were a good fit. After a while of searching Ramona decided to look on Craig’s List where she found Paul. We spent a little time as a trio learning each other’s songs till we felt comfortable enough to begin auditioning drummers. Ramona went back on Craig’s List where she found Tyler. And finally Mittens was born. We’ve officially been together since around February or March of 2012.

What’s the meaning behind your name?

Lia: 42 ¹

How has the band been received?

Ramona: In the short time that we have been playing live, we have had a really positive response! We assumed our fans, at least in the short-term, would mainly consist of our friends and our mascot (Paul’s cat), Butters. So, we were pretty stoked to have other bands and venues contact us to book more shows so shortly after we began playing live. We’ve also received some positive emails from a few fans around the states. We’re happy if our music makes people smile. 🙂

What is your song writing process like?

Paul: What’s our songwriting process anyway? One person comes up with song, tells people, hey, here’s a new song, or hey, Ramona, finish my song?

Ramona: What’s really neat is we have three song writers in the band. Paul, Lia, and I each have a unique flavor in our song writing, which helps keep our music on its toes. Basically, one of us will introduce a song and together the four of us will Mittenize it.

What has been your favorite live show so far?

Lia: I think our favorite show was at the Tin Can Ale House with the Red Starts. The Tin Can is always a fun venue and the crowd was really great that night.

One of the things that stands out for me is your gear. I noticed you use Daisy Rock and the Hello Kitty guitar. Was that an aesthetic choice or a budgetary one?

Paul: Daisy Rock builds guitars for people with smaller builds and hands, and Ramona and myself certainly fall in that category, and the sparkles don’t hurt. Most of our instruments, such as the Mustang Bass and the Hello Kitty, are undersized. While our Hello Kitty guitars are at least part stage prop, they are personalized and modified and have made it to our recordings. My first guitar was a Hello Kitty Strat; I love those things.

What are your plans for the future?

Lia: We’d like to keep playing around, getting a bigger audience is always going to be a goal. I think our main plan is just to keep writing songs and becoming better musicians. Practice Practice.

I know you have recorded some songs. Can you tell me a little about that process and if you plan to release a CD?

Paul: We’ve mostly done recordings in my garage, getting as much as possible recorded in one take, so as to minimize overdubs and time requirements. It’s been a good way to get the first few songs recorded, but we will probably spend a bit more time and do more multi-tracking on our demos from now on.

As for releasing anything, I think it’s best for us to wait on it for now. Although I think we sound pretty good together right now, I’m still somewhat new at guitar and vocals and feel that I still have much progress to make, and I think some of my fellow Mittens also feel a little green at their craft as well. So while we want to continue to do recordings, I think we’re content for them to be demos for now. As we get more live appearances and rehearsal time under our belts, we will start feeling more and more confident about making a release that’s truly compelling.

Why should people come to see you live?

Paul: Well, we smile and harmonize. Most bands don’t bother.

If you could become any non-human animal, what would it be?

Lia: Unicorn

Tyler: Velociraptor/Platypus!

Ramona: Duh, Butters. haha

Paul: Meow

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