Some of Paul Meany’s first memories are of learning to play music. After reading a Time Magazine article on U2 as a youngster, the Mutemath singer realised playing music was all he wanted to do.
“I remember reading an article about U2 the first time they were on the cover of Time Magazine when I was like eight or nine years old. It was about this rock band from Ireland and it was simply amazing, they were taking over. I was intrigued by what I was reading and I think the seed got planted at that point. I wanted to aspire to something like that, I wanted to find this brotherhood of other guys who were willing to travel the world and make music together. It just seemed like such a romantic idea,” Meany says.
Towards the end of the ‘90s Meany met Darren King (drums) and the two of them created an “electronic experiment” that started what would later become Mutemath.
“Darren was a fan of my former band, one of my first bands I was working in, and he would send me demos of stuff he was working on and I was really impressed so we actually started working via mail — he would mail me a CD and I would work on something and mail it back to him. The band I was in was breaking up, and he moved down to New Orleans … that kind of laid a foundation as we put the band together. It started out as me and the drummer doing electronic tracks,” he laughs.
“We thought we should start playing some shows, it was more fun when we had Greg [Hill] our guitarist join us for a show and we were a three-piece for a while which was really good. Then we finally started having a bass player and it felt complete, like we were able to pull off the ideas we were trying to create. When Roy [Mitchell-Cárdenas] joined in 2005 it felt right, and it kind of evolved into this hybrid of a rock band that we’ve become.”
Despite the tumultuous recording of their second album, ‘Armistice’, that culminated in the departure of Hill, Mutemath is currently finalising their fourth studio album set for release by the end of the year.
“I think the second record took its toll on our band, the writing was on the wall for us at that point and when we got to the end of that touring cycle we just didn’t want to go on. We realised there was too much tension and it was just time to split. I mean, it was amicable. He finished doing some shows with us, it wasn’t middle fingers flying, thankfully, and we were able to end things civilly. I think that was it, he was just ready to do something else and it was causing tension. But we just let it go, it was tough, it’s crazy ‘cause now he’s been out of the band almost three years and when I think back I can’t remember one bad thing, I don’t remember why there was tension,” Meany says.
“All I remember are the times we were laughing our ass off or we’d just had a great show and we were on a high. Maybe over time your brain just functions to remember the good stuff. I don’t know why he’s not in the band anymore, but we have a great time with Todd [Gummerman] our new guitar player and it’s wonderful. So I’m still hopeful that our time with Greg isn’t over, one day maybe something will happen, he was a good guy and we had a great time with him.”
Their latest musical offering has led the band to work on redefining what a Mutemath song sounds like, raising the bar for themselves both instrumentally and lyrically.
“We’ve never written so many songs for a record before. We really are trying to exhaust the tank and we’re really searching for the ten best songs we can possibly find. We just want to push this record, we’ve raised the bar for ourselves and we’ll hopefully reach new heights with how things come across and push the show further.
“I know that the last record was really just about capturing live energy and making a record that was all about that and perhaps I might not have pushed a chorus of a song as far as I should have writing wise ‘cause there was such a great drum beat going on, it’s things like that. The attention that we’ve given in the past to the rhythm section and drum beats, we want to bring that equal amount of attention and even more to what the song is saying, what it’s doing, and so we’re really trying to push that on this record,” he says.
The New Orleans four-piece will be debuting some of these new songs when the band visits Australia at the end of the year for Harvest Festival. While they’re down under Meany is looking forward to seeing more of the music Australia has to offer, as well as checking out the other international acts that will join them at Harvest.
“The thing that we didn’t realise when we were at Groovin The Moo was that we were going to get somewhat of an education on a lot of the music that was happening in Australia that we had no idea about. I’m looking forward to that and getting to see other bands, that’s the easiest and the most convenient way for us to get to see other bands play. When you’re travelling and you’re doing your own shows it’s hard to catch someone else’s show. The festivals kind of bring that together so I’m always looking forward to that,” he says.
Despite the inevitable ups and downs that come with making music for over a decade, Mutemath’s love for music hasn’t gone anywhere.
“We’ve always said if the sparks aren’t there anymore we should do something else, you just hope that they still happen. When we play together or we put music together it still feels like something important is happening so we just go with it. For as long as it lasts you just chase it but it’s certainly something that we don’t try to force,” Meany says.
“It was just kind of this dream and I feel pretty fortunate that I found some guys and we get to play music.”
Mutemath play Harvest Festival Sunday November 17 at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens.
