Day After Day #245: Pat's Trick

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Pat's Trick (1995)

When it comes to underrated guitar gods, Mary Timony has to be on the list. She definitely doesn't get enough respect, despite putting together a near 30-year career. Granted, she's never been a mainstream artist, but give the woman her props. Timony can shred. Not in an Yngwie Malmsteen or Eddie Van Halen way, but in a confident and cool indie rock way.

Timony grew up in Washington, D.C. and started playing in the band Autoclave in 1990 before she went to Boston University.  Timony replaced Mary Lou Lord on vocals and guitar in the band Chupa because Lord didn't want to use electric instruments. After releasing a cassette, guitarist Jason Hatfield (Juliana's brother) left the band and the group changed its name to Helium, with Timony, bassist Brian Dunton and drummer Shawn King Devlin. The group released an EP called Pirate Prude in 1994, after which Dunton left and was replaced by Polvo guitarist Ash Bowie on bass.  

The new lineup released its full-length debut, The Dirt of Luck, in April 1995 on Matador. Timony's vocal delivery was monotone and '90s-cool, but it was her noisy guitar playing that really made the band stand out. It was a good time for rock bands with strong female vocalists: PJ Harvey, Bjork, Courtney Love, Alanis Morissette, Shirley Manson, et al. Timony had a quieter vocal presence, but it was offset by her guitar prowess. 

The opening track on The Dirt of Luck was "Pat's Trick," which got some buzz courtesy of its video being featured on Beavis and Butt-head. That's where I first saw it, but later it was included on the What's Up, Matador? compilation, which I picked up in the late '90s and really enjoyed. 

"Creepy and sullen and running out of room/In my little tomb, my little tomb/I'll plant a seed there to remember you/At the may fair with your long-ass curly hair/We had a pirate band, a tear for every grain of sand/And I was fighting with my hands/This one is wilted and looks like you/'Cause it never grew, it never grew/This one is scrawny, it looks like me/'Cause it's dirty and I'm so dirty too."

The song chugs along with a fuzzy guitar/bass riff that just grabs your attention.

"We had a pirate band, a tear for every grain of sand/And I was fighting with my hands...over you/Beautiful thing, you are the most beautiful thing/Flower of life, bird of spring, you are the most beautiful thing/Locus flower, locus flower, out of bounds, out of bounds/Locus flower, locus flower, out of ground, out of ground."

Timony's laconic delivery and guitar-driven gave Helium a sound that ventured into Sonic Youth and Pavement territory, which was right in the sweet spot of what I was digging in 1995 (and now, really). I saw Helium open for Hole in 1995 at the Orpheum in Boston.

"Some say it's like a beautiful flower/Some say it's a terrible power/I'll meet you at the ending hour/I want to use, I want to use that power/Feed me, feed me, feed me/You are the most beautiful thing/You are the most beautiful thing/Flower of life, bird of spring/You are the most beautiful thing."

For Helium's second album, 1997's The Magic City, the band leaned on an electronic sound with synths and drum machines, a 180 from their previous album. Helium split up after a 1998 tour. Timony moved back to D.C. and began a solo career, releasing four solo albums over the next decade. In 2009, she formed a band called Pow Wow, which later changed its name to Soft Power. 

Then in 2010, she teamed up with Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney (which was on hiatus at the time) and Rebecca Cole of the Minders to form Wild Flag. The group released a kickass self-titled album on Merge in 2011 and toured shortly afterward. I saw them at the Paradise and the show was great. After that group split up, Timony formed Ex Hex with Betsy Wright and Laura Harris and released Rips, a 2014 album that was full of power pop rippers that recalled late '70s garage rock. I saw them open for Rocket from the Crypt in 2014 and then later as a headliner. A second album, It's Real, followed in 2019. That group has been on hold lately as Wright has been touring with Superchunk and Timony has played bass with D.C. post-punk act Hammered Hulls and released an excellent solo album, Untame the Tiger, earlier this year. 

Timony continues to make great music and has inspired a new generation of excellent female guitarists including Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz and Lindsay Jordan of Snail Mail.