Biography
Despite a comparatively modest list of recorded works, Lisa Mychols generated considerable attention within Los Angeles’s 1990s pop underground, above all through her group the Masticators. After the turn of the millennium, once that once-hidden scene had risen into wider view, she had matured into one of its most skillful songwriters, channeling a deep attachment to 1960s and 1970s AM radio into material tailored for a fresh cohort of pop/rock devotees.
Beyond idly drumming Gene Pitney numbers on her junior-high desk, Lisa Mychols first handled an instrument in her early teens, mastering bass guitar through hours of MTV viewing. That ability quickly secured her a place in the all-girl outfit the Mozells, which secured airtime on the popular cable-access program It’s Happening; on that dance show Mychols, performing under the wide-eyed alias Jasmine Wilde, also appeared as a dancer. (Domenic Priore, the writer and critic later celebrated for Look! Listen! Vibrate! Smile!, founded the program, which spotlighted little-known 1960s tracks and groups from the city’s Paisley Underground.) The same show introduced Mychols to Darian Sahanaja; the pair developed a friendship over subsequent years and periodically taped home recordings, several of which later appeared on her debut solo album.
Although several years passed before she devoted herself fully to music, Mychols, by then also competent on guitar, began composing her own material. This pursuit produced her first recording, Lost Winter’s Dream, a set of holiday songs modeled on classic seasonal collections by artists such as Peggy Lee and Lou Rawls. Assisted by Sahanaja and Nick Walusko, both then active in an early incarnation of the Wondermints, she issued the album in limited quantities near the close of 1991. Word-of-mouth gradually elevated it to cult status on the Los Angeles circuit, culminating in a brief Japanese release.
As the Mozells wound down, Mychols entered another all-female group, the Beatbirds, which led to her participation in Dreamworld and contributions to their self-titled 1995 album; she departed that project in 1997 to form her own band. Brief tenures drumming for Not Lame act Receiver and for Sparkle*Jets UK followed, after which she resumed writing songs, playing solo shows to promote them, and seeking collaborators. Through pop enthusiast Robbie Rist—then fronting Wonderboy and also performing with the Andersons—she recruited bassist Severo. Drummer Thom Sullivan of the Exies and former Plimsouls guitarist Eddie Munoz joined next, yet both departed because of competing commitments; Patrick McGrath, guitarist from the recently disbanded Wonderboy, and Rist on drums completed the lineup. Now called the Masticators, the quartet performed throughout Los Angeles to widespread acclaim, attracting producer Steve Refling (Cockeyed Ghost, the Negro Problem, Natalie Merchant), who later recorded their debut album Masticate! alongside Rist. Esteemed critic David Bash invited the group to the annual International Pop Overthrow festival, while Gary Pig Gold and Shane Faubert presented their music via the Unsound series on To M’Lou before issuing Masticate! on that label in 2000.
Work on a second Masticators album commenced the following year, yet by summer 2001 the band had fractured with only half the record finished; they opted to remain inactive for the balance of the year, thereby scrapping a planned East Coast tour. During this period Mychols joined the Waking Hours on bass and simultaneously assembled a rotating cast of supporting players to launch a solo career. She supplied tracks to numerous tribute collections devoted to Stiff Records and George Harrison while collaborating with Sahanaja on the reissue of Lost Winter’s Dream. In autumn 2002 she released a split CD sampler with backup singer Gail George as a preview of the forthcoming full-length Sweet Sinsations.
Beyond idly drumming Gene Pitney numbers on her junior-high desk, Lisa Mychols first handled an instrument in her early teens, mastering bass guitar through hours of MTV viewing. That ability quickly secured her a place in the all-girl outfit the Mozells, which secured airtime on the popular cable-access program It’s Happening; on that dance show Mychols, performing under the wide-eyed alias Jasmine Wilde, also appeared as a dancer. (Domenic Priore, the writer and critic later celebrated for Look! Listen! Vibrate! Smile!, founded the program, which spotlighted little-known 1960s tracks and groups from the city’s Paisley Underground.) The same show introduced Mychols to Darian Sahanaja; the pair developed a friendship over subsequent years and periodically taped home recordings, several of which later appeared on her debut solo album.
Although several years passed before she devoted herself fully to music, Mychols, by then also competent on guitar, began composing her own material. This pursuit produced her first recording, Lost Winter’s Dream, a set of holiday songs modeled on classic seasonal collections by artists such as Peggy Lee and Lou Rawls. Assisted by Sahanaja and Nick Walusko, both then active in an early incarnation of the Wondermints, she issued the album in limited quantities near the close of 1991. Word-of-mouth gradually elevated it to cult status on the Los Angeles circuit, culminating in a brief Japanese release.
As the Mozells wound down, Mychols entered another all-female group, the Beatbirds, which led to her participation in Dreamworld and contributions to their self-titled 1995 album; she departed that project in 1997 to form her own band. Brief tenures drumming for Not Lame act Receiver and for Sparkle*Jets UK followed, after which she resumed writing songs, playing solo shows to promote them, and seeking collaborators. Through pop enthusiast Robbie Rist—then fronting Wonderboy and also performing with the Andersons—she recruited bassist Severo. Drummer Thom Sullivan of the Exies and former Plimsouls guitarist Eddie Munoz joined next, yet both departed because of competing commitments; Patrick McGrath, guitarist from the recently disbanded Wonderboy, and Rist on drums completed the lineup. Now called the Masticators, the quartet performed throughout Los Angeles to widespread acclaim, attracting producer Steve Refling (Cockeyed Ghost, the Negro Problem, Natalie Merchant), who later recorded their debut album Masticate! alongside Rist. Esteemed critic David Bash invited the group to the annual International Pop Overthrow festival, while Gary Pig Gold and Shane Faubert presented their music via the Unsound series on To M’Lou before issuing Masticate! on that label in 2000.
Work on a second Masticators album commenced the following year, yet by summer 2001 the band had fractured with only half the record finished; they opted to remain inactive for the balance of the year, thereby scrapping a planned East Coast tour. During this period Mychols joined the Waking Hours on bass and simultaneously assembled a rotating cast of supporting players to launch a solo career. She supplied tracks to numerous tribute collections devoted to Stiff Records and George Harrison while collaborating with Sahanaja on the reissue of Lost Winter’s Dream. In autumn 2002 she released a split CD sampler with backup singer Gail George as a preview of the forthcoming full-length Sweet Sinsations.
Albums
Singles
