Who is Molly McGuire? The name sounds familiar, but maybe you can't quite place it... She's played on some of your favourite records and toured with some of your favourite bands. Still not ringing a bell? I'll give a few hints: She played on Queens of the Stoneage's "Songs for the Deaf", The Mark Lanegan Band's "Here Comes That Weird Chill", Brant Bjork's "Local Angel", and Mondo Generator's "A Drug Problem That Never Existed" and "Live at the Troubadour." You may have seen her playing bass with Mondo Generator throughout 2003 and 2004. Early next year will see the release of her band Yellow #5's debut record, "Demon Crossing", through Scat Records in the U.S. and through Cargo Records in Europe. I caught up with Ms. McGuire via email for a quick Q&A about Palm Desert, Yellow#5, and her newest band, The Spores. Words | Neddal Ayad How did a nice Canadian girl get tangled up with the Palm Desert crowd? MM: It's funny that you phrase it this way because someone asked me a similar question after a show we did recently in Holland. We were doing some old stuff like 'Allen's Wrench', etc. and someone from the audience asked me how I was able to play the stuff so well, being so young. Like it was something so beyond my years that I could never relate to. I'm actually older than Brant, Nick and Josh by at least a year or two. I met Dave Catching in New Orleans. I was inducted into his band "Gnarltones" before we even met. Now how I got tangled up with THAT bunch of freaks is the real question. How did Yellow #5 come together? MM: I used to have a two piece band called Rhudabega. It was myself on bass and Tyler Deneau [my boyfriend at the time] on drums. We lived and played together for ten years and then had a very sudden split. The songs on 'Demon Crossing' were all written within the first year of our breakup. There was a new bar in New Orleans at the time called the Circle Bar, which still exists. The vibe in there is dark and ambient. I decided to start a lounge band that would fit the venue. Not too loud, even a little understated. More like background music to a nice din of drunken forgetfulness. Hence Yellow #5 was born. The vibe on the Yellow #5 disc is surprisingly mellow, especially for someone coming to it from the Mondo Generator discs. Does the music come from a different place? MM: I've been playing 'in your face' rock music from the get go. Nick hired me to play in his band, but I never wrote any of the material. Yellow #5 is all me exorcising my demons. Tell me a little bit about The Spores MM: My latest muse. I'm very excited about this project. Writing this music is a process that is entirely new to me. My partner, Greg Biribauer, is a Pro Tools genius. He's also a phenomenal musician, so the combination is an amalgamation of whatever mood we happen to be in at the time. Seeing as neither of us are limited to any one musical genre, it's like a sick game of dress up every time we sit down and write together. We've recently formed a live incarnation of this act and have started performing locally and in New Orleans. How does your visual art tie into your music? MM: Sometimes my puppets perform the songs. What's with the puppets? What can you tell me about Arugula? MM: Arugula is a German death glam core puppet band that auditions human drummers. No one as of yet has been worthy of the position as the almighty backbone even after more than 200 drummers have been auditioned. The Arugula trailer is on 'Videos by Reject' DVD available through The Spores web site. This includes some of the other puppet performances and music videos by various desert artists. What else do you play besides bass and accordian? MM: I sing, I dabble with keyboards. I'd love to get an upright bass. What's the status of Mondo Generator? There was a rumour going around that you and Dave Catching had left the band. MM: It's true. What's in your stereo right now? MM: Inbred Bipeds. What's on the horizon? Getting ready to release Yellow #5 'Demon Crossing' here in the U.S. on Scat Records early in the New Year.