Miranda Cordelia Susan Josephine Wiggs (born 26 February 1963) is an English multi-instrumentalist rock musician, best known for her work as bassist in the alternative rock bands The Breeders and

The Perfect Disaster The Perfect Disaster were an English alternative rock band from Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire, England, formed in 1980. They released four albums before splitting up in 1991. The only constant member was singer/guitarist Phil Parfitt. History Th ...

. She has also formed multiple side-projects, including her own bands

Honey Tongue Honey Tongue were an alternative rock band formed by former member of The Perfect Disaster and The Breeders Josephine Wiggs (vocals, guitar, cello) and The Perfect Disaster/ Spacemen 3/ Spiritualized drummer Jon Mattock. The band later record ...

, The Josephine Wiggs Experience, and Dusty Trails.

Early career

Wiggs was born in Letchworth, Hertfordshire.Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books; , p. 318 Wiggs is the daughter of Richard Wiggs, a teacher of handicapped children and founder of the Anti-Concorde Project. Wiggs studied philosophy at the University of London, earning a BA degree, going on to get an MA in

continental philosophy Continental philosophy is a term used to describe some philosophers and philosophical traditions that do not fall under the umbrella of analytic philosophy. However, there is no academic consensus on the definition of continental philosophy. Pri ...

from the University of Sussex.''The International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Routledge, 2002, , p. 542 She studied cello for ten years. She joined

in 1988 as bass guitarist, playing on the albums ''Asylum Road,'' (1988) ''Up'' (1989) and ''Heaven Scent'' (1990) before going on to form The Breeders with Kim Deal and Tanya Donelly in 1990.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 452 Wiggs played cello on the Spacemen 3 album ''Playing With Fire''.

Career with The Breeders

In 1988, Wiggs met Kim Deal when Perfect Disaster supported the Pixies in London. In 1989, Deal asked Wiggs to join her and Tanya Donelly (of Throwing Muses) in making The Breeders’ first album ''

Pod Pod or POD may refer to: Biology * Pod (fruit), a type of fruit of a flowering plant * Husk or pod of a legume * Pod of whales or other marine mammals * "-pod", a suffix meaning "foot" used in taxonomy Electronics and computing * Proper ort ...

''. Deal, Wiggs and Slint drummer Britt Walford rehearsed for a week at Wiggs's house in Bedfordshire, and for a further week with Donelly in London, before driving to Edinburgh to record the album with engineer Steve Albini. The album was released in 1990 on record label 4AD. In 1992, Deal visited Wiggs in Brighton during her time off from the Pixies, and they worked on the song "Safari", recording it in London with Wiggs's friend Spacemen 3/ Spiritualized drummer

Jon Mattock Jonny Mattock is an English drummer and percussionist from Northampton, England, who was a member of, or played with, Massive Attack, Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, The Perfect Disaster, Slipstream, Lupine Howl, Cranes, Baxter Dury, The Breeders ...

. This recording became the title track of The Breeders' second release, the ''

Safari A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an importa ...

'' EP. From 1992, alongside Deal and Wiggs, The Breeders' second incarnation had Kim's twin sister Kelley Deal on lead guitar and Jim Macpherson on drums. This line-up recorded the album '' Last Splash'' in 1993, which featured the hit song " Cannonball", which opens with Wiggs' highly-recongisable bass riff. The video for "Cannonball", much-played on MTV, was directed by Kim Gordon and

Spike Jonze Adam H. Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze, is an American filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes commercials, film, music videos, skateboard videos and television. Jonze began his ca ...

. The Breeders supported Nirvana on their '' In Utero'' tour, and ''Last Splash'' achieved platinum sales. Wiggs' last record with the band (before rejoining in 2013) was the EP, ''Head to Toe'' whose title track was written by Wiggs. After playing the 1994 Lollapolooza Tour, The Breeders went on indefinite hiatus following the well-publicized drug problems of guitarist Kelley Deal. Kim Deal released a solo album, the Amps, '' Pacer'' in 1995, and she resurrected the Breeders' name in the late 1990s, but neither Wiggs nor Macpherson were members of this line-up. In November 2005, Wiggs played two shows with The Breeders in London, at an event commemorating the 25th anniversary of record label 4AD. On 21 August 2009, with one day's notice and no rehearsal, Wiggs played three shows with The Breeders after then-bassist Mando Lopez had to fly home because his girlfriend had gone into labor. These shows were at the

Black Cat A black cat is a domestic cat with black fur that may be a mixed or specific breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular breed. The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) recognizes 22 cat breeds that can come with solid black coats. The Bombay b ...

in Washington, DC, Diesel in Pittsburgh, and at Newport Music Hall in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. In 2013, Wiggs had officially re-joined The Breeders for the bands' "Last Splash" 20th Anniversary World Tour, to coincide with 4AD's release of LSXX, a limited-edition seven-disc vinyl box set, and three-CD package of the band's 1993 hit album ''Last Splash''. Since then, Wiggs and Jim Macpherson have returned to The Breeders full-time for the tour and release of the 2018 album ''

All Nerve ''All Nerve'' is the fifth full-length studio album by American alternative rock band the Breeders, released on March 2, 2018, 10 years after their previous album ''Mountain Battles'' (2008). A '' Stereogum'' article in June 2016 reported that the ...

'', the band's fifth album overall, and the first album to reunite the "Last Splash" line-up (Kim, Kelley, Josephine, and Jim) since 1993.

Other work

In 1992, Wiggs had collaborated with

and released an album, ''Nude Nudes,'' under the name

. In 1995 Wiggs and Luscious Jackson (and original

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

) drummer Kate Schellenbach formed Ladies Who Lunch, releasing the 7 inch vinyl ''Kims We Love'' (an homage to Kim Deal and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

's Kim Gordon, played entirely on Casio keyboards) on the

' label, Grand Royal. This was followed by the 7 inch vinyl cover of the

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They are regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independen ...

song ''Everybody's Happy Nowadays.'' In 1995, Wiggs recorded and co-produced the album ''Klassics with a K'' for the Kostars, featuring Luscious Jackson's Jill Cunniff and Vivian Trimble, and toured with them playing drums. In 1996 Wiggs collaborated again with

releasing ''Bon Bon Lifestyle'' on Grand Royal as ''The Josephine Wiggs Experience''. Wiggs sang vocals, played guitar and electric and acoustic bass, and recorded and mixed the album. Jon Mattock played drums, other percussion, and keyboards. Audu Obaje played guitar and helped Josephine record and mix the album. In 1997, Wiggs started a writing and recording collaboration with Luscious Jackson keyboardist Vivian Trimble under the name Dusty Trails. Their eponymous 2000 album on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

included a track written for, and sung by,

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...

. They also wrote music for '' Happy Accidents'', a movie by Brad Anderson (writer/director of '' Next Stop Wonderland'') starring Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio. In addition, they collaborated with internationally acclaimed New York-based Brazilian choreographers chameckilerner, writing and recording full-length scores for ''Poor Reality,'' 2001, and ''Exit'' 2007. They also provided the soundtrack for chameckilerner's short film ''Flying Lesson,'' (which premiered at Lincoln Center, 2008) and for their short film ''The Collection'' (2011). In 2009, Wiggs recorded the soundtrack for chameckilerner's ''Conversation With Boxing Gloves,'' one of eleven short films that make up ''Vita Futurista Redux,'' a re-imagining of the lost 1916 film ''Vita Futurista,'' commissioned by Performa 09 and which premiered at SFMOMA. In 2012, she wrote and recorded a piano-based score for the documentary ''Built on Narrow Land,'' a film about Bauhaus-inspired modern houses in Wellfleet, Cape Cod, which premiered at Provincetown International Film Festival and was included in the Architecture and Design Film Festival, New York City, 2013. In 2013, she wrote and recorded the score for the first feature film by writer-director Desiree Akhavan, ''Appropriate Behavior'', which premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

, in 2014. Her first solo album "We Fall" was released on 17 May 2019. All tracks were composed, performed and recorded by Wiggs, with additional drums/electronics by her former

bandmate

. She released the music video for the album's first single "Time Does Not Bring Relief" on 20 March 2019.

Personal life

According to a 1994 ''Rolling Stone'' profile of The Breeders, Wiggs is a lifelong vegan who's never eaten a piece of meat in her life. Wiggs is lesbian. During a relationship with drummer Kate Schellenbach, the two were featured in an article in ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * ''The Advocate'' (LGBT magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States *''The Harvard Advocate'', a literary magazin ...

'', a national LGBT magazine published in the United States. They formed the short-lived band Ladies Who Lunch, and Wiggs recorded and co-produced Schellenbach's side-project Kostars.

Discography

The Perfect Disaster

* ''Asylum Road'' (1988 album), Fire Records * '' Up'' (1989 album), Fire Records * ''Heaven Scent'' (1990 album), Fire Records

The Breeders

* ''

'' (1990 album), 4AD * ''

'' (1992 EP), 4AD * '' Last Splash'' (1993 album), 4AD * '' Head to Toe'' (1994 EP), 4AD * ''

'' (2018 album), 4AD

Honey Tongue

* ''Nude Nudes'' (1992 album), Playtime Records

Ladies Who Lunch

* ''Kim's We Love'' (1995 7" vinyl), Grand Royal * ''Everybody's Happy Nowadays'' (1996 7" vinyl), Grand Royal

Dusty Trails

* '' Dusty Trails'' (2000 album), Atlantic Records

Solo

* ''Bon Bon Lifestyle'' (1996 album), Grand Royal (as The Josephine Wiggs Experience) * ''We Fall'' (2019 album), Sound of Sinners

References

External links

*
Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine at VH1

No Aloha transcript of Kurt St Thomas interview with The Breeders
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiggs, Josephine 1963 births 4AD artists Alternative rock bass guitarists Alternative rock singers Alumni of the University of Sussex English rock bass guitarists Women bass guitarists Living people Lesbian musicians LGBT musicians from England The Breeders members People from Letchworth Musicians from Hertfordshire The Perfect Disaster members Honey Tongue members Dusty Trails members 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people