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Mute Math
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HQ: New Orleans, LA NOW PLAYING: Mute Math (TELEMPROMPT/WARNER BROS.) WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: Ever wondered what it would sound like if a keytar-toting Sting fronted Minus The Bear? Well, here's the answer. YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE? The Police / U2 / Muse In the pantheon of geekiness, keytars rank somewhere between pocket protectors and the World Of Warcraft costume contest. Just ask Mute Math vocalist/keytarist Paul Meany: "There's a scene in Meet The Parents where Ben Stiller is in the bathroom looking at the g-string he just put on and he's chewing gum and pacing back and forth," Meany explains. "That's how I felt in the dressing room before the first show I performed with the keytar." That said, when Meany's Christian rock band Earthsuit broke up and he began a Postal Service-esque collaboration with Springfield, Missouri, drummer Darren King, it only made sense to keep the keytar in the mix-even if everything else was up in the air. "When we first started, we didn't have any idea of what was going to happen," Meany says. "Once my old band broke up I was so burnt out on the industry thing; when Darren and I started writing music, it was all about trying to get back to that 8-year-old kid who just got his guitar and would write songs because it's all he could do." Eventually, Mute Math recruited guitarist Greg Hill and bassist Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas and began introducing samplers and electronic accents into their pop songwriting formula to come up with music that is a unique combination of organic and synthetic elements. Oh, and you can dance to it. "I think we're still working on defining what the Mute Math sound is," Meany explains, citing seeming disparate acts the Police and A Tribe Called Quest as early influences. "I think sometimes people assume we're going to be some left-of-center experimental noise art or something; but really we're just writing pop songs with hooks and hopefully messing with that a little bit." Although the band initially recorded their self-titled debut in 2005, Warner Bros. kept the album in limbo for over a year while figuring out how to market them. ("The one thing I was finite on was that I did not want to work with a Christian record company anymore," Meany explains.) However, instead of waiting for the album to be released, the band self-released the disc with a friend, toured the country seven times, and used the internet to tirelessly promote their self-titled debut-all of which has apparently paid off, judging by the deafening buzz surrounding the band these days. Despite all this, Meany is trying to keep the band's gradual ascent in perspective. "The most important thing for us is that there's some group of people out there who enjoy what we do-and that's more than enough for me," he says. "If we get to play some shows every now and then, we'll be happy." -Jonah Bayer UNDER THE INFLUENCE: "I didn't really like his latest record, but when DJ SHADOW came out with Entroducing, that was a life-changing moment for me," says Mute Math vocalist/keytarist Paul Meany. "It was one of those records where you look at the world differently from that point on." ALT |
