Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

Ear to the Ground: The Muffs' “Up and Down Around”

Kim Shattuck’s getting fired from the Pixies was the best thing to happen to fans of the Muffs—the band is releasing its first new album in a decade.

Founding Muff Kim Shattuck replaced Pixies bassist Kim Deal in June 2013, but only lasted for part of that year’s summer tour. She was purportedly fired because of an enthusiastic moment when she jumped into the crowd at a Los Angeles show. The band’s manager apparently told her, “The Pixies don’t do that.”

But it turns out this was a good thing for fans of the Muffs, because now we’ve got Whoop Dee Doo—the Muffs’ first full-length in 10 years. Shattuck got the name from Pixies frontman Frank Black’s quote to Yahoo! about the firing incident: “There’s been a shift in the lineup, big woop-dee-doo…as far as we’re concerned it ain’t that big of a deal.”

“Up and Down Around” is the first song leaked from Whoop Dee Doo, and it’s rife with plenty of Shattuck’s ’90s-flavored guitar crunch and raw singing—though it’s balanced with a playful performance and a slightly sultry vocal style. And the slow-burning, single-string solos and ’60s girl-group backing vocals make the tune a perfect fit for in the Muffs’ new home at Burger Records. themuffsband.blogspot.com