photos + stories / Jena Cumbo
Miranda Zipse and Kim Sollecito started Miranda and The Beat in a small town in California, a bad girl duo with a penchant for penning hits. After playing locally the two decided to visit New York City in 2018 and tried their chops playing gigs around town. When their friends and local legends, The Mystery Lights, went on tour, the two shacked up in their apartment and simply decided never to leave—giving up all their possessions and sacrificing a tawdry normal existence to lead a true path of illuminated rock n’roll.
Kim and Miranda shared a bed, looking for work and honing their craft. They met their Farfisa player Dylan Fernandez when he delivered weed to a guy Miranda was dating at the time in their apartment. A few years later they added Dylan’s little brother, Alvin Jackson on bass after the departure of Kate Gutwald. The band played around New York City mixing their witchcraft with true gut-wrenching R&B and writing what would become their debut album. Recently when Kim moved on from the band, Ethan Glenn stepped into the fold on drums. They are about to embark on another tour with The Black Lips in Southern California this December 2023.
Miranda and the Beat is:
Miranda Zipse – vocals & guitar,
Dylan Fernandez – Farfisa and guitar
Alvin Jackson – bass
Ethan Glenn – drums
Jena – Tell me about the new record you’re working on!
Miranda – We released our self titled debut record earlier this year and recorded a second record directly after a tour of Europe in the Spring. We wrote and recorded it in five days at a compound in the middle of Germany with King Khan at the helm producing. We just finished mixing it with Paul Millar, who’s truly a wizard of all things audio, and hope to have it out by Spring next year!
JC – That sounds amazing. How did you get connected with King Khan? He works and performs with members of the Black Lips too, right? Will he be involved in your tour with them?
MZ: I met King Khan in the woods of upstate New York while tripping on quite a few substances. I was lost in the woods and across the clearing I saw King Khan also tripping on mushrooms. Ever since he has been our psychedelic guru.
JC – Wow that’s incredible! I love that…That also sounds ideal to have a focused number of days in a row to work on the album.
MZ – It was great, we were in a small secluded Village in Germany of 500 people so there was nothing around to really distract us except ourselves. King Khan’s home is definitely the Addams family house of the village. At one point we all tried on his old stage costumes and ran around the town and the neighbors were peeking out of their windows like “of course that’s what the people who live in that house look like!”
JC: What was a highlight of your time in Germany recording?
MZ: the whole time spent recording was so much fun, complete with nightly barbecues cooked by Mama Lil Khan, and King Khan showing us his favorite records over a few bottles and joints. Here’s a crazy story though. The compound we recorded in was a combination of a 18th century house connected to another house that was built in the 70s. Alvin and our recording Engineer, Felix, had to sleep in the haunted part of the compound and in the middle of the night a 6 foot long painting fell on Felix while he was sleeping and shattered glass everywhere. German ghosts absolutely played a role in writing this record.
JC -I think the ghosts probably wanted in on your new lineup and to get on the record 🙂
How long has it been the four of you in this new line up?
MZ- Ethan is our newest member. He comes complete with a pilots license and loves to shuck oysters at soundcheck. We just played our first string of shows with him (late October 2023) and it’s been sick.
We are going on tour with the Black Lips in Southern California this December!
JC – Awesome, what venues/cities are you all most excited about visiting?
MZ: We are super excited to play at Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneer Town! If you hear about a group of people wearing ass-less chaps and having a shootout in the streets that’s us.
JC- Any local shows coming up?
MZ- We are playing November 30th at Our Wicked Lady for Abby Jeanne’s Jukebox Club Residency
Stay tuned for more releases and some music video teasers for the new record!
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