Guitarist Mary Timony—of Helium and Ex Hex fame—recently sat down for the "six questions" treatment. It went a little something like this.
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What inspired you to first pickGuitarist Mary Timony—of Helium and Ex Hex fame—recently sat down for the "six questions" treatment. It went a little something like this.
What inspired you to first pick up a guitar?
My brother played. He got a guitar for Christmas when he was like 15 and I was 13. I took viola lessons, but I was really bad and hated it! [laughs] But he was writing a bunch of songs and would teach me how to play them on guitar.
What was your first guitar?
The very first guitar I had belonged to my cousin. When she gave it to me it was already missing like two or three frets, and the braces inside the guitar were loose and knocking around. Then the body cracked and the whole back started coming off. It was basically the junkiest thing you can imagine. [laughs] For my second guitar, somehow I convinced my mom I wanted an electric.
She took me to a guitar store in D.C. and I got an Epiphone Sorrento. At the time, in like 1984, it was $200. I still have that guitar. It’s a ’64 and this pretty cool faded weird green sunburst color.
What do you remember about the first gig you ever played?
My brother’s band had a gig at a high-school party and their name was Moon Spew. [laughs] I started this band with a few friends, and our name was...oh my god, I can’t remember my band name! Anyway, we played at that high-school party which was in my friend’s basement. I think I was in ninth grade. It was fun.
Ever had a nightmare gig? How did you get through it?
I’ve had a lot of nightmare gigs. One time we were playing at some college, and we were competing against a bingo game.