MIMI FEROCIOUS
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MIMI FEROCIOUS

Band Alternative Rock

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Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"they’ve saved the best for last"

Closing night of indie-fest M.E.A.N.Y. verifies that they’ve saved the best for last: Murphy becomes the radio while MiMi Ferocious give their Romeo Void update one last whirl before taking a pregnant pause. Afterwards, sneak over to the Lounge to catch Cecilia rock the closing if you can. (MCCOMBS) - The Village Voice


"she's back with the superbly named band Mimi Ferocious"

Stephanie St.John made her solo debut with "Cinderella's Dead". Now she's back with the superbly named band Mimi Ferocious. This record is energetic alternative rock with cool riffs and memorable tunes. Opener "Tupperwhere Sky" has a furious guitar riff from Michael Preston and a lively vocal by St.John. "Chariot" is poppy and sweet. I'm reminded of Juliana Hatfield in her early nineties phase. "Cab Driver" is a cute little song with a nice chorus. "The Best Ones" is a lovely ballad with a strong vocal. The cover of Donna Summer's "I Feel love" is unexpected and works surprisingly well. In all it's a strong debut for Mimi Ferocious, it wont make you feel like you've overdosed on sugar despite the title.

Collected Sounds, Anna Maria Stjärnell - Collected Sounds, Anna Maria Stjärnell


"Excellent Alanis/Kate Bush style lyrics, vocals, and superb band support"

Excellent Alanis/Kate Bush style lyrics, vocals, and superb band support make this song an absolute must for anything that can play it back loud!
Watch how this song unfolds... it's an amazing thing... truly amazing lyrics... amazing arrangements... makes me wish I lived in NY (just next door!)

--Colin Lynch, Besonic - Colin Lynch, Besonic


"This NYC girl is as vibrant and energetic vocally as her songs are through either headphones or speakers."

Stephanie St John has almost written enough songs to be able to have an anthology published. This NYC girl is as vibrant and energetic vocally as her songs are through either headphones or speakers. With her band 'MiMi Ferocious' the girl is proving to be quite a handful of extraorindary talent with equally talented musicians. It's only a matter of time before we can flick through her CDs in the stores with the same kind of excitement you'd attribute to choosing an album from an accomplished best selling mainstream artist. It takes a lot of hard work and a passion for your art to be able to get to where she's going.
--Colin Lynch - BeSonic - Colin Lynch - BeSonic


"250 Times Sweeter Than Sugar goes a long way toward earning its title"

Stephanie St. John’s post-goth vibrato and lilting guitar were clear even as a singer-songwriter and avant-collaborator. She brings her cover of “I Feel Love” to local prog-pop foursome Mimi Ferocious, whose 250 Times Sweeter Than Sugar goes a long way toward earning its title.
--Chuck Eddy, THE VILLAGE VOICE - Chuck Eddy, The Village Voice


"Genre of geek chic retro girl rock where everything 80s is new again"

Mimi Ferocious embodies that genre of geek chic retro girl rock where everything 80s is new again. If campy song titles are any indication for success, the way Flaming Lips went mainstream with Vaseline and Buddy Holly was Weezer's money shot, it just might be possible that Mimi Ferocious gets lucky with their opening track, Tupperware Sky. Mimi Ferocious is all Bangles and Blondie. In tribute to Debbie Harry, the band does a fierce job at covering I Feel Love on the album. Lead guitar on Sister Barbara is hypnotic. Songwriting leans toward the figurative language of the urban artist variety, i.e. lots of talk of sleeping with cab drivers and the like.
--Womanrock Magazine, Carrie Crespo - --Womanrock Magazine, Carrie Crespo


"Sidesteps around the gritty, atonal vocals of the riot grrls with enough daintiness to be at home among Lilith Fair enthusiasts"

The frontwoman of New York’s Mimi Ferocious, Stephanie St. John, sounds like the kind of girl you don't want to mess with. She sidesteps around the gritty, atonal vocals of the riot grrls with enough daintiness to be at home among Lilith Fair enthusiasts. But don’t let that daintiness fool you. Behind it lies brass that betrays St. John as a spark-plugging, venturesome chica. You know the kind -- the pretty girl in a dress who smiles sweetly before kicking you in the shin......
--Amanda Lee Anderson, Indie-Music.com - --Amanda Lee Anderson, Indie-Music.com


"Praise for MiMi Ferocious - "250 Times Sweeter Than Sugar""

"As a preliminary taste of …Sugar, Stephanie's uncommonly pretty voice carries the shimmering pop ballad Chariot to new heights in her already impressive cache of accomplished songwriting. An established flare for whimsical lyrics shows up again on the breezy Tupperwhere Sky" a reworking of the song "Soul River Tight" from Cinderella's Dead. "Tupperwhere Sky" features a distinctively New Wave influence permeating Michael's inventive guitar riffs, and Stephanie's finely integrated admiration for Blondie and Deborah Harry are in full evidence."
--Gail Worley, StarPolish

- Gail Worley, StarPolish


Discography

250 Times Sweeter Than Sugar - MiMi Ferocious (2004)

Cinderella's Dead - Stephanie St. John (2001)

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

MIMI FEROCIOUS, as the name implies, is pretty but loud, progressive yet campy, the bridge between sloppy exuberance and sugar pop.

The dramatic vocals of Freddie Mercury and the flair of PJ Harvey, the intricate song structures of Joni Mitchell and the pop sensibility of Elvis Costello, the progressive edge of Rush and the fun campiness of Blondie fuse into a cohesive, addictive and distinctive sound.

Led by songstress Stephanie St. John, the New York-based rock troupe includes bassist David Wilson, guitarist Michael Preston and drummer David Ross, as well as backing vocalists Kim Winter and Michele Kantor.

“Our songs don’t aspire to fit into any particular genre-of-the-moment,” says Preston. “We focus our energies on crafting and performing exquisite four-minute pop/rock marvels that can—and should—be listened to over and over again.”

The MIMI FEROCIOUS story begins in 1998, when singer St. John, then an acoustic-guitar-wielding “folkie” in New York’s anti-hoot scene, recruited Wilson to play bass on her three-song EP. Wilson infused the record with “The Brown Sound,” a tasty bass groove you can feel in your innerds.

“David saw more rock potential in my songs,” St. John says. “We started jamming together and an entirely new sound came out, a sparse yet rhythmic sound that was all new.”

The two took to the studio in 2001, recording a Stephanie St. John solo record, Cinderella’s Dead. The debut drew praise from Indie Music Review, BeSonic.com, LARGEREGO.com and The Female Musician, which listed St. John among its Top Ten Female Musician’s of 2002.

Chuck Eddy of The Village Voice raved: “Fuller post-Goth vibrato than the Lillith norm; more guitar, too, sometimes approximating an Arabian lilt. And better words, too…Stephanie insists she's not just another damn folkie. Between covering Rush live, helping out alt-rock bands and avant-garde composers, maybe she's right.”

Meanwhile, Preston was playing guitar in the Brooklyn-based funk band SHAGG. The band had achieved critical acclaim, and in 2001 he won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. He joined forces with St. John and Wilson the next year.

Says Preston, “My goal was to take Stephanie’s sound in a more rock direction. MIMI FEROCIOUS combines all of our experience and rock know-how under a single, pulsating roof.”

All they needed was a drummer. They found him in Bruce Springsteen’s home town.

Manhattan native David Ross played the Lillith Fair tour with the band Jabber and was looking for a new band with similar pop sensibilities. He enlisted in 2003, and MIMI FEROCIOUS was born.

The band’s debut album, 250 Times Sweeter Than Sugar, steps off from the eclecticism of Cinderella’s Dead to a dare-we-say sweeter pop/rock expression.

"The new material is characterized by the same drama, the same theatrical elements that make Cinderella's Dead so compelling,” explains drummer Ross.

“MIMI FEROCIOUS is very much a collaborative effort,” says St. John. “I have no idea what will happen to my songs when I bring them to the band. I never fail to be completely floored and amazed at what the boys add.”

Here’s what critic Gail Worley has to say about demo tracks off the new record:

"As a preliminary taste of …Sugar, Stephanie’s uncommonly pretty voice carries the shimmering pop ballad “Chariot” to new heights in her already impressive cache of accomplished songwriting. An established flare for whimsical lyrics shows up again on the breezy “Tuperware Sky,” a reworking of the song “Soul River Tight” from Cinderella’s Dead. “Tuperware Sky” features a distinctively New Wave influence permeating Michael’s inventive guitar riffs, and Stephanie’s finely integrated admiration for Blondie and Deborah Harry are in full evidence.

The band’s transcendent version of Donna Summer’s classic disco anthem “I Feel Love,” the album’s penultimate track, is featured in the indie film Veronika’s Birthday, which premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2003. Says Worley, “Although covering this song might seem a daunting task to any singer less vocally gifted than Stephanie, she pulls it off beautifully—paying homage to Summer’s immortal performance while truly making the song her own.” Not to mention Wilson plays the bass part, a synthesizer in Summer’s original, manually.

Produced by St. John Nik Chanboukas, and 250 Times Sweeter Than Sugar was recorded at Spin Music Studios, Long Island City, NY, and mastered by Roger Lian at Masterdisk. Look for it in spring 2004.