The Sound “We wanted to create music that was simple and pure, but still rocks the fuck out,” is how it was simply put in an interview with CrashinIn.com. The band’s biography claims that “with stripped down drum loops, fuzzed out melodic bass lines, and trade off boy/girl vocals, Mommy And Daddy sound like a tag team steel cage match between Le Tigre and The B-52s on one side and Motorhead and PiL on the other.” The NME tells us that they make “a pretty sexy noise,” while BBCi go one step further claiming that recent single What Is The Function? is “the perfect soundtrack for an aggressive grope in the dark”.

The Line-up Mommy And Daddy consists of Vivian Sarratt, who plays bass guitar and sings, and Edmond Hallas, who plays the same bass guitar (so it says here) and also sings. Confused? Well, so say the band, “the formula is simple: when she sings and pushes buttons, he plays bass guitar. When he sings and hits the machine, she is on bass”.

The History The pair met in 1997 on a Philosophy degree course at George Mason University when Vivian asked Edmond, “So, did you get those tattoos in prison?” This unorthodox chat-up line worked and they have been together ever since, marrying in 2000. After working on several different projects, including “a poor man’s version of [Mommy And Daddy] with more layers, which ended up being really cheesy,” A Nick Cave-influenced project, and some “slower than Black Sabbath” doom metal, they hit the Mommy And Daddy sound in 2001.

Once they had settled on a style, they set about developing it. Having signed to Big Cat Records (Pavement, Jeff Buckley) in 2002, this culminated in their debut EP, Permed Past Her Prime, which was released in February this year. Following that came the single What Is The Function? and the album, Live How You Listen.

Other Items Of Interest Their name was inspired by their pet cat: “Don’t bother us, Mommy and Daddy are practicing!”

IF Recommends Live How You Listen (Buy it at Amazon)

Websites www.mommyanddaddy.com