Three Kims inspired the name of L.A. up-and-comers Kim Theory: Deal, Gordon and Shattuck. On the band’s debut EP, Bitch Scene, you can hear the influence of all three indie icons. The punk spirit of The Muffs lives on “Child Star Teenybopper,” where the legacy classic Pixies albums, as well as the Breeders, echo on “GrowingUp” and a noise rock dirge reminiscent of Bad Moon Rising Sonic Youth opens “Wish You Were.” 

Kim Theory’s own story begins when Audrey Cymone, Lula Seifert and Zoey Su were in middle school, which wasn’t all that long ago. Cymone and Seifert performed one cover from each of the famed Kims for Seifert’s Women’s History Month school assembly. Su, who was in the crowd that day, recalls one kid proclaim, “Oh my god, they’re playing Sonic Youth!” when the girls busted out a cover of “Kool Thing.”