Interview

Pictures

In early October, myself and a couple of friends had the chance to interview Mute Math. We watched the sound check and were then able to sit down with the band on their bus for a quick ten minute chat. Not only was the show that ensued electrifying (as you can imagine, any band that can recreate that kind of sound on stage is pretty remarkable), but the guys were wonderful as well.

EP: The first thing I want to talk about is the deal with Teleprompt and then moving over to Warner. When did they start getting interested in you? Was it after the album was released...did they want to see how it did first?

Paul: Yes. It was right after we put the record out ourselves, which I guess would be at the beginning of the year. It just so happened that the A&R guy who dropped us, who told us that we sucked, came to the show that night just because he saw a promotional thing online and thought, ‘Oh, I’ll just go check it out.’ So he came to the show in LA, fell in love, he bought the record, took it home and called us the next day and said, “Alright, how can we work this out?”

EP: That’s pretty cool.

Paul: Yeah, it’s kind of strange. It took us awhile to get through the emotional baggage of being rejected and wanting back in. So, it finally worked out, I think. It was in the middle of the summer and we were just able to throw the old contract out the window and just create a new one…the right one.

EP: So they re-released it pretty quick?

Paul: Yeah, they got right to it. Much to their credit, they got on the move.

EP: Sounds like a good situation.

Paul: Yeah, it was nice. Good timing!

EP: I’ve read that you and Darren played in a band previously, before this…

Paul: We did play in a band before this. Roy was in it too, actually. In fact, Roy was part of the foundation of it. Darren came in around the tail end of it. Once Darren came on board we were pretty much done with that band anyways and we wanted to start something new. That was in 2002. Darren and I just started writing, and those songs ended up becoming Mute Math songs.

EP: The music you guys write is incredibly original, so it’s not really apparent who some of your collective influences are.

Paul: You’re saying it’s not apparent?

EP: Right. I don’t think it’s that easy to say Mute Math sounds like…

Paul: Yeah, I mean, it is definitely different for everyone who listens. Let’s see, who are some of our collective influences? I guess we would all definitely agree on the Police.

Darren: Radiohead.

Paul: Um…maybe.

Darren: Really?

Paul: Yeah, I don’t know.

Emma: Never had this discussion?

Paul: Yeah we’re in uncharted territories right now. No, I do love Radiohead. I guess they show up every now and then.

EP: You guys played some huge festivals this summer, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza (which we saw you play at). How did you book those? Is that something your booking agent tries to book for you, or do these festivals approach you?

Paul: Well what happened was that there was a promoter who was booking our shows in Austin, and wound up being the same person that books for Lollapalooza. We didn’t even know that. So, we had a few good shows in Austin and they thought, ‘Whoa, lets try to put them on Lollapalooza,’ which wound up being huge for us. It was incredible. We never even knew that was possibly in the cards. That dropped on us during the album release tour, we played an Austin show and it sold out and all that stuff.

[Greg enters, introductions]

EP: I wanted to talk a little bit about the songwriting process. The songs are really developed and complex, so I’m thinking it’s not the standard deal where the songwriter starts writing and then you all add on to it? Your process seems as though it might be different than most…

Paul: I think it depends on the song. But yeah, for the most part, at least on this record, it started a lot with Darren just kind of making tracks, instrumental tracks, and sorting through them and possibly being inspired with some kind of vocal idea. We’d re-record it, re-demo it, give it to the band, we’d play it. We would reinterpret electronic things with more organic instruments. Usually a song goes through quite a few rough drafts.

EP: Yeah, I can imagine.

Paul: We hope to get more efficient because it can be quite time consuming.

EP: You guys have been getting a lot of recognition lately. I heard about the MTV spot (You Hear It First).

Paul: Yeah, and Lollapalooza.

EP: Yeah, absolutely. I’m sure you guys may have saw it coming, but is it finally great that your name is getting out on a large scale?

Paul: Yeah, what has been exciting is the chance to keep doing this. Word has been spreading and it seems like people are digging it, coming back to the shows and buying the music. I mean, that’s the dream. I’ve been through five or six bands since I have been in high school just trying to make music. That’s what I love to do. But at some point you hope other people will like it and give you the chance to do it for a while. So it seemed like finally when these guys came together and we got this group of songs, stars began to align for us. It has been a very good past two years for us.

EP: Wonderful. One of the last few questions…You just played V – Festival over in England. How did those crowds receive you over there?

Paul: Darren, what do you think?

Darren: V-Festival was pretty special. People throw stuff a lot. It’s probably not true of all of them, but the ones I ran into, the people I met, were not afraid to engage in conversation by any means. They talk really fast. It was fun, but we were tired. Our flight was delayed, and this was right around the terrorist threats in England. So, our flight was cancelled, and we had to wait nine hours at the airport. We got to V-Fest just fifteen minutes before we were supposed to play. It was a blast. Wonderful crowd, they were very kind. We ate chicken and beef potato chips, all kinds of British stuff. Rufus Wainwright made fun of our band’s name.

EP: Oh really?

Darren: Yeah, Roy overheard it. We didn’t quite hear what the insult was. Roy heard Rufus say “Mute Math? Or is it…”, and then it got scrambled and we didn’t hear it.

EP: That’s kind of fun. The last question I like to ask at every interview is about what you guys are listening to right now.

Roy: I was just given the new Mars Volta, which I’m a fan of. So, I’ve been listening that. I know they’ve gotten criticism for this latest record. I remember reading something where the title of the review was, “How do you say boring in Espanol?”, which I though was funny. But I don’t think it’s boring, it’s just kind of what they do and you have to be in the mood for that.

Darren: Speaking of, Greg just pointed out, what business does a guy named Rufus have to make fun of anyone else’s name?

EP: That’s a good point.

Darren: He was handsomely dressed though.

EP: Did you guys get to watch him play?

Darren: We didn’t get to, we had to leave. I wish I could have.

Roy: He has a wonderful voice.

Darren: Yeah, an angel. But he has a stupid name! Rufus...or is it doofus?

EP: Haha, well thanks guys. I really appreciate it. Usually I only get one or two members, but you all showed up. Thank you!

Paul: Yeah, absolutely!