The Mavis's: Pink Pills Still Thrills

Howzat! is The Music's long-running Aussie music column. Here, Jeff Jenkins catches up with The Mavis's ahead of their 20^th anniversary tour.

The final song on The Mavis's biggest-selling album, Pink Pills, starts: "It's true/You've been a long time at sea/What's new?"

It seems appropriate as much has happened since the band released Pink Pills in 1998. But the exciting news is that the Thomas siblings, Matt and Beki, have put the band back together to celebrate the album's 20th anniversary.

Listening to Pink Pills makes me happy, recalling the glory days of the '90s when the pop and rock world boldly explored electro sounds, and The Mavis's managed to combine all of it in a chaotic mix, shifting effortlessly from blissful to abrasive. They were like Marilyn Manson meets Agnetha and Frida, with sweet harmonies and savage guitars. One minute they were softly stroking your hair, the next they were smacking you in the face.

Howzat! had a brief stint working in A&R in the '90s and wanted to sign The Mavis's. But the Sydney bosses didn't share this columnist's enthusiasm and the band ended up finding a happy home at Mushroom's White Label.

Multimedia personality Jane Gazzo also loved The Mavis's - in fact, she has re-formed her '90s band Rubher to support the band at its upcoming Melbourne show. She recalls seeing The Mavis's for the first time around 1990 at South Melbourne's Wayside Inn. "They were shambolic to say the least," she smiles. "They kept swapping instruments and were a little all over the place, but you could tell they were having a lot of fun."

That sense of fun infected The Mavis's records, though they also had a dark side. "Looking back, I think we just wanted what was best for each song," Beki explains. "If it needed a metal guitar and death metal scream then it just happened naturally. Matt and I have always loved harmonies and artists like ABBA, The Go-Go's, The Roches and The B-52's - Matt was Cindy and I was Kate. I was also obsessed with Cyndi Lauper, so I think that influence came through a bit in my vocals and hair dyeing."

The Mavis's could arguably have been an A&R nightmare as they refused to be put in a box. But they delivered pay dirt with Pink Pills' first single, the summery, sugary, synth-pop gem, Cry, which Matt wrote with Barry Palmer, the guitarist in Hunters & Collectors and Deadstar.

Cry - which was inspired by Matt's relationship with Def FX's Fiona Horne - was the most played Australian song on radio in 1998. "I do remember once when Cry was big, I kept turning the dial and it was playing on every radio station," Matt recalls. "That was surreal."

Beki remembers hearing Cry on the car radio. As the band sang along, they looked across to see the car next to them also singing along.

Nowadays, Cry often pops up when Matt is doing his supermarket shopping. "It's a funny private moment because no one knows it's me singing."

Both Cry and Pink Pills went gold, and Gazzo has fond memories of seeing Daryl Somers present the band with a gold record on Hey Hey It's Saturday. But there were stormy waters ahead. Mushroom Records was sold to Festival and the band's champion, Eleanor McKay, exited the label. Matt and Beki say both external and internal factors impacted on the band. "There was some tension in the band," Beki admits. "There was definitely too many musical ideas at the time," Matt adds, "so perhaps some side-projects would have helped us all get that out of our systems."

The Mavis's made a third album, Rapture, but it didn't get the release or attention it deserved. A best-of, Throwing Little Stones, was released posthumously in 2002, but these days no Mavis's albums are available at JB Hi-Fi. The band will be selling a special CD of demos and rarities at the upcoming shows, and Matt is hoping that Warner, who now own the Mushroom catalogue, will release another compilation.

Beki has been living in the US for the past decade, where she has a recording project called The Fascinated, who will release a second album later this year. This tour is a homecoming in more ways than one, as it will finish in the band's hometown of Ballarat, where Matt and Beki's parents still live.

As well as the reunion tour, Matt is getting set to release a solo mini-album under the name Matt Doll and he also has a synth-pop band, VIDEO VIDEO, who released an album called Planet Of Storms. And he doesn't rule out making more music with his sister, hinting, "There may also be some unfinished Mavis's business."

Gazzo, for one, can't wait to see The Mavis's again. "What I have always loved about The Mavis's is they've done everything completely on their own terms. From starting out unable to play properly and swapping their instruments to going on to headline tours and shaping their unique pop sound. They are also one of the few bands you can honestly say have never been affected by their success. They still remain as excited today as they were as young kids starting out in the scene.

"And their fans have remained totally loyal through the decades. They're just that kind of lovable band and a great group of people."