WITH A LINE UP OF THREE WOMEN AND ONE MAN, THROWING MUSES COULD BE SEEN AS A BONEY M FOR THE '90S. ANDY COWAN DISCOVERS NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.

THROWING MUSES seemed to come from nowhere. Their eponymous debut album hit the racks in September '86 and had the critics fighting over the thesaurus to pin their praises on it. It seemed to seduce everyone who heard it with nobody really knowing why. Little was known about the band except they were three quarters female and had produced the year's best, most idiosyncratic record, effortlessly creating new life from the old two guitars, bass and drums format.

Still a very young band, Throwing Muses were formed by main songwriter Kristen Hersh and her step-sister Tanya Donnelly at the age of fourteen, later joined by a third member Elaine. From the outset, known simply as The Muses, the intention was to be an all-girl band. However the only drummer they knew was long time school friend David Narcizo, who'd played drums in marching bands and orchestras from the age of six.

David joined in '84 and it was the first time he had had a full drum kit. More often than not the band used to rehearse in his parents' attic. David takes up the story.

"At that time I was the only one playing a steady instrument. Tanya, Kristen and Elaine were trading off between keyboards, bass and guitar. Soon afterwards everyone picked an instrument and settled at that."

A year later Elaine left and was replaced by dreadlocked Leslie Langston from California. The band moved to Boston where they played at weekends for about six months before gaining a sniff of a recording contract. In fact it was Ivo, head of British indie label 4AD, who first recognised their potential.

"Our manager sent them a tape", says Leslie. "I guess we were shooting for a domestic but Ivo called us up and said 'Hey! I like your tape. I want to talk to you about making a record'." They played for a few more months before recording, linking up with producer Gil Norton (recently famed for his work with labelmates and friends The Pixies) to record their first album. It was a raw collection that immediately put the band in a league of their own, and they became a major talking point among magazines and record companies alike. Kristen was pregnant with her son Dylan at the time and the band's activities were delayed for six months.

"Afterwards we came over and did a short tour. Ivo said 'Do you have any new songs?' We had about four so we went into the studio and did the 'Chains Changed' EP and by the time we got home we had five offers from major labels on the basis of the first album and the pre-release of the EP."

'Chains Changed' was a more spacious record, that allowed the lyrical content to come through more clearly. The next nine months were spent being courted by the majors. They were eventually signed by Seymour Stein, the head of Sire in America, remaining loyal to 4AD in Britain. There was no fear of the Muses, compromising their unique sound though, David says their number one requirement was total artistic control. "Seymour Stein said that no other band had requested that, which really shocked me considering all the bands on that label."

The Muses were getting better and better. The first fruit of the new deal, the Mini-LP The Fat Skier, featured six new songs and an elongated reworking of 'Soul Soldier' from the debut album. The sound was still initially difficult but after a few plays the seemingly arbitrary melodies and counter melodies refused to let go. It was followed by last years House Tornado which was a less immediate record, although it possessed a more mature and distinctive sound, revealing a new depth to Kristen and Tanya's songwriting and the band's overall playing ability.

This progression was continued by 1989's critically lauded Hunkpapa . As their first fully realised pop vision, it still sounds unequivocally like Throwing Muses and if critical acclaim counted for anything, the accompanying 45 'Dizzy' would have set the charts alight. Did Sire put any pressure on the band to change their sound?

David: "I wouldn't say pressure, I'd say they got much more interested when they heard the demos for Hunkpapa. I don't think they really understood us earlier on and just left us to continue. But when they heard the demos they went 'Oh! We get this' and all of a sudden they had all these ideas. We got a lot of suggestions but I can honestly say there was never one instance where they put any pressure on us. I think if they wanted to make us a pop band they wouldn't really have signed us. There's much easier bands to mould into the Top 40 than us."

David and Leslie put it down to a Darwinian theory of evolution.

"There's no two ways about it, Kristen and Tanya are inevitably going to keep on honing their craft as songwriters. They're getting better at structure and becoming more direct. In my own humble opinion they're retaining a lot of integrity. They have the same inspiration as before but can now say things much simpler."

Leslie: "David and I helped out by straightening things out and not following everything they did, rhythmically or musically."

"Right now I'm more into seductive drum parts," David expands. "Before it was just out of control, really neurotic drumming. I can create a rhythm that people can get into, so if the song is a little difficult they've at least got somewhere to hang out for a while and figure it out. Previously all the elements were, apparently, confusing. I mean, it never took any effort on my part, I'm just speaking from what I've heard other people say. It's always been very easy for me and totally natural for us. I really think it does come natural to other people but too many things get in the way and they think 'Oh! This is weird music'."

That seems to be a tag they've had to bear, an image partly created by the weeklies struggling to find suitable epithets to describe the band. One journalist went as far as to compare them to "a thousand pea-green sea horses floating past your window, upwards." One thing they have escaped is the burden of being labelled an all girl group, possibly because they're not, but also because it's the last thing you think about when you hear them.

"I'd say it's worked for us much more than it's worked against us", David agrees. "So much so that I can't even think of an example. Even if people are drawn to the band because they think it's a 'chick band', as soon as they get in there and Kristen starts screaming at them they're either going to leave or maybe they'll see some women who can be sex symbols and human beings at the same time."

"And musicians", Leslie adds, significantly.

So how do they build the songs, at what point do they add their own parts?

Leslie: "Kristen or Tanya bring in the guitar and the vocal part, basically the one they're going to use on the record - it's usually very solid. David takes that and moulds his part then I usually go last because I need to hear what David does so I can bridge the gaps between the others."

But what if someone doesn't like what the others are doing?

"We're not very good at giving out criticism to each other", David says. "We definitely walk on egg shells around each other. It's democratic but in a really sensitive way. Nobody says 'this is the way something should be done' but people's feelings are really easily hurt in this band. Like, I'll say to Tanya 'I don't know if that guitar part works' and two minutes later I'll hear her say to Kristen 'Well David hates my guitar part so I'll have to figure out something else to do'."

"I don't mean to be sexist but whenever I'm in bands with women in them it happens", Leslie adds. "In bands with men in them it's more direct like 'That guitar part sucks, I really don't like that'. 'Well **** you, I don't like that either', and they'll just fight it out. It's more underhand here."

"We're getting closer to that."

"Yeah, the more we're on the road."

As we talk, the band are a few days from finishing a five month live jaunt, two of which were spent supporting New Order in the states as well as slots with REM and at Glastonbury. They both agree that playing live is their favourite part of being in Throwing Muses although "it can be a nightmare sometimes." Is control important when playing?

"Sort of both", says David. "It's hard to say because I'm definitely out of control a lot of the time. A lot of our songs, particularly the old ones, are very structured, just constantly changing into something else. In that sense we have to be in control, I don't feel as if I am though.

"I get really weird on stage sometimes. I make really weird facial expressions and the longer we're on tour the weirder they get because they're really physical songs and I have to push my body to get there. It reminds me of an autistic person sometimes, the way I am on stage. I don't wear my glasses so I can't see the audience and I just enter my own world. I see videos of myself and I think 'I'm just going to sit there and I'm not going to move'. I look really stupid."

The band have made four videos to date although the medium, they say, does present certain problems. "I don't like pretending that I'm playing when I'm not. I hate faking it", says Leslie.

"It's a big catch 22", David agrees. "I prefer performance videos because you're not just putting images there. Even when people talk about what songs are about I don't like it. I remember reading an article about REM and I had these completely different ideas that I was totally in love with, and then he started talking about these real specific political things, like Agent Orange, and that really spoilt it".

Politics are not something they're keen to talk about or use the band for, although it's always implicit in their work. David elaborates: "We all have the same beliefs - not so specific, but we're on the same side I think. But we don't know how to use slogans without making the music seem cheap or sounding stupid or being pretentious. We work at music and we don't want to make it a political pamphlet although some people do it and all power to them. The Clash were the best with it because they made heavenly music."

The band list a wide spectrum of influences and say Punk was very important. Leslie's mother even kicked her out of the house when she was fifteen for being in the infamous Ray Pist And The Hatchets. How do they feel about mainstream music now, over a decade later?

"Really conservative", says Leslie. "I can't even listen to it anymore."

"In America some weird things are breaking through which is a good sign, it seems to be on the brink of something," says David. "MTV helps because it totally exaggerates how monotonous music is. It's bad enough that most music is bad, but you only have to turn on the TV to see how monotonous it is. I think that's helping make people really tired of it. I personally don't like Edie Brickell And The New Bohemians but the fact they had a number one record in the United States is a good sign. That probably could've happened at anytime."

In their own words the Muses now earn enough lolly "to pay the rent so we don't have to be secretaries or vacuum cleaner sales people" and intend to slow down a little before their next move. After all, they've put out five records in the last two and a half years.

"We decided to curb ourselves this year," explains David. "We could easily put a record out now, we have enough songs. We've just done that too many times before and ended up putting out songs prematurely and songs that weren't perhaps good enough. Now we're going to take our time, practise in the summer and in the fall before the next record." Hunkpapa is their favourite record to date, but the next one should surpass it.

"I know most of the songs," David says. "I kind of sing myself to sleep with them and my drum parts. It'll be different but I can't say how. We try not to plan our albums a lot, just let them flow...."

How far, then, do they see Throwing Muses going?

"Take it as far as we can. I would never envisage an end," asserts David.

"We're not like 'Sod the mainstream, I never want to get there', y'know," Leslie continues. "It would be nice to get there like a worm and eat it from the inside out."