The day of the MST3K Turkey Day Marathon seems like the perfect time to tell folks about Mary Jo Pehl‘s (aka Pearl and so much more from MST3K, as well as Cinematic Titanic) Kickstarter for Awesome Music For Awful Movies. This is a project she has planned to record (as described by her) “an album of original songs that pay homage to bad movies of Mystery Science Theater 3000 . . . The songs will be written by veteran Twin Cities musicians Michael Warren, Claudia Hankin, and Tony Balluff, and performed by yours truly in a variety of genres such as power pop, ballad, pop-country”. There are seven days left in the Kickstarter, which seemed like the ideal time to chat with her about her plans. I consider myself fortunate enough when I get to catch up with Pehl.
Tim O’Shea: When and how did you decide you wanted to team with Michael Warren, Claudia Hankin, and Tony Balluff to pursue this project?
Mary Jo Pehl: Over the past several years, many people came up to me after Cinematic Titanic shows and told me how much they loved “When Loving Lovers Love” from “Overdrawn At The Memory Bank.” I’d been trying to come up with a new project that might push me past my comfort zone, and let me work with people who were smart and funny and whose work I admired.
Last spring I casually bounced it off Mike Warren, an old theater/comedy friend from the Twin Cities who is also an accomplished musician. I had sort of this rough idea for one song - a sincere, “imagined” theme song to an MST3K movie. Mike seized upon it, totally got what I was trying to do, we started brainstorming, getting really excited about the possibilities and it started to take shape. I knew I wanted to sing, but I needed songs and musicians because I know nothing of those things - and I was only thinking of one song. Mike hooked me up with Claudia and Tony, and it started to get bigger.
How hard was it to narrow down the songs you wanted to record?
Welllllll… we’re still doing that! We’re reviewing some of my favorite and fan favorite MST3K episodes, and talking about how they would lend themselves to an original, imagined theme song. It’s narrowed down at this point, but we’re still hammering out a few things.
Speaking of the range of movies covered, you are focusing on Mitchell, Space Mutiny, Eegah, and of course, Manos, The Hands of Fate. What criteria are you using to decide if you want to do each song in either a power pop, ballad, or pop-country style?
I think it’s more instinctual than anything. Mike Warren will say, “What do you think about this style for this movie?” and it just feels right. Or it’s just our best guess! Some songs just lend themselves to a certain manner of song, so we kind of feel that out, too.
Can you hint at who the duet might be with, or that’s a reveal for later?
Later, my friend, later.
Am I right in thinking that this project is a precursor to you performing your solo show more often?
I hope to incorporate one or two songs in my solo show, which I debuted in Austin at FronteraFest in 2011, and have been working on since then at Austin’s Sketchfest and Out of Bounds Festival, etc. It continues to evolve, and yes, I hope to perform it more in 2014.
Were you surprised at how quickly you exceeded your goal, or did you set yourself a conservative goal in hopes that you would be assured it would likely be achieved?
Yes, I’m surprised - and humbled - at how quickly we exceeded the goal. I’m on a huge learning curve with Kickstarter as much as I am a project of this scope. And here’s what I learned: with Kickstarter, contributors can pull out at any time during the campaign. So we’re not quite out of the woods, really. I appreciate people still contributing, as who knows what might happen.
I started considering Kickstarter a few months ago because I wanted people to be compensated for their participation, and I just didn’t have that money laying around, much less money for actual CD replication, studio time, etc. I had very little idea what I was getting into, but, again, I was ready to get past my comfort zone.
One thing that I was not prepared for with Kickstarter was the outpouring of support and affection from friends and fans. Just way way cool. It has really helped me honor the project more, in terms of “hey, I’m accountable now - I want to make this great.” When you just have a creative “to do” list a mile long, and you start on some, then lose focus or start doubting yourself, it’s easy to move on to the next thing and put the project away.
You realize that as much as you believe in your project, other people believing in you goes a long way.
What am I forgetting to ask you about?
My dog. You know what? Just forget it. Never mind. The fact that you didn’t even ask about Seymour, well, that hurts beyond belief.
