Mute Math and the YouTube generation
30 October 2006
Paul Meany of Mute Math - Photo by Jerry B. Ray
I realized very quickly how a band with no radio play and very little label support could pack out The Roxy with such an enthusiastic crowd. Oh sure, the band got a brief interview on a local radio station here in the morning, but I’m not holding my breath to hear “Typical” or “Chaos” after every commercial jingle every hour on FM radio. Instead, I held the answer in my hand, a small digital camera with video recording capabilities. A quick search on YouTube reveals, as of this moment, 266 individual videos available for various songs live in concert, and the number grows by the day. Of course, it helps that the band is visually appealing enough to invite video recording. Paul Meany, Roy Mitchell-Cardenas, Darren King, and Greg Hill wander about the stage, playing any of the keyboards scattered about, or turning everything into percussion, from the upright bass drum to Rhodes synthesizer to the very stools they sit on. King and Meany in particular attract attention with King’s duct-taped headphones around his head bobbing madly as he plays drum and Meany doing handstands and jumping off of his keyboards with keytar in hand.
It also helps that the band plays innovative and original sounding music. When people ask, “what do they sound like”, I really can’t answer. They sound nothing like any band I’ve heard before. The band featured many of their songs from their debut self-titled album, but even indulged longtime fans with a version of “Peculiar People”. All of the songs are stretched out longer from their album versions, featuring jams on percussion and keyboards, guitar, and bass. Meany kept the crowd involved, singing along to many of the songs. The encore “Reset” brought the house down with instrumental entertainment including Paul Meany’s own homemade instrument that he bravely passed into the crowd to let them try their hands at it.
Mute Math has gone the opposite direction of big-label business and instead of constricting the live material that exists on the web, actually encourages it. The band has sent an announcement to their fans to show up to concerts with cameras in hand and post their videos to YouTube.com, the far-reaching web site that displays everything from classic reruns of 80’s television shows, to humorous shorts and gaffes passed along in e-mail forwards, to independent short films. The result is that much like bootleggers spread audio in earlier decades, Mute Math is getting free advertising on the Internet without compromising their music to the demands of any media outlet. In an era where fans have more access to video recording and cheap storage space on the web, the band is changing the rules for getting the attention of new fans and giving loyal fans more of what they want. As word of mouth grows, the popularity of the band slowly grows and grows, but after only a year, this band has already generated a loyal following. The crowd at the show knew all the words to the songs and reciprocated the love the band members showed from the stage.
Meany’s previous band, Earthsuit, enjoyed a reunion of sorts at the show also as one of the other members of the band, Adam LeClave brought his band, Club Of The Sons, for a surprise opening set at the beginning of the show. Decorating the stage with birds and flinging confetti and glitter into the air and into the crowd, the band featured an experimental sound that could be akin to a 70’s era David Bowie. The show was also supported by the energetic performance by Jonezetta and The Whigs, a band that got their start just down the road in Athens, Georgia.
Setlist:
Typical
Chaos
Stare At The Sun
Peculiar People
Control
Stall Out
Noticed
Break The Same
–
Reset
9 Responses to “Mute Math and the YouTube generation”
October 31st, 2006 at 7:04 am
[...] My latest article, a review of Mute Math at the Roxy this past weekend, is now online at The Corner Table. Enjoy! [...]
October 31st, 2006 at 10:19 am
Seriously - best concert I’ve seen all year!
October 31st, 2006 at 11:07 am
It was a great show. It didn’t totally rock my face like the first couple of Mute Math shows I saw (at the Loft back in the Spring, and at Cornerstone over the Summer), but it was pretty awesome, especially from right down front.
October 31st, 2006 at 12:04 pm
you know, i saw them on saturday, and while it was amazing, i wasn’t blown away like i was the first time i saw them. maybe with them, the first time completely blows your mind, breaks your brain, and what not….and then afterward, you’re going in knowing your mind is going to be blown and you’re going to see arguably the best live band out there right now.
i would go see them every night of the week if i could. i still find myself watching songs with my mouth open.
October 31st, 2006 at 12:08 pm
btw jerry, congrats on that picture! it has generated tons of comments on MM’s myspace!
October 31st, 2006 at 12:47 pm
You’re probably right, Scott - that was the first time that I’ve seen them, and it was freaking amazing. I think when you see a band that absolutely blows you away the first time you see them, it sets the bar really high for future performances.
That said, I’d go see them again in a heartbeat. And again. And again. And again. Haha.
October 31st, 2006 at 3:38 pm
Holy crap, that’s awesome that they used my picture! I always look at their pictures and think about how awesome they are and how I wish I could take one, and there it is in their profile.
(What’s funny is, while the pose is awesome, I was disappointed that it was kinda blurry and yet overexposed.
October 31st, 2006 at 4:27 pm
I think I’m the total opposite of scott on this one. Saturday was the best I’ve seen them yet. They’re experimenting and exploring their music like few other bands are doing right now. They didn’t play one straight album version during the whole set. You gotta love that.
November 30th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
[...] Jeff touched on the importance of YouTube to bands today, but some people just don’t understand, there are good videos and bad videos. Last night I saw a guy hold up both his camera and cell phone to take video…AT THE SAME TIME! I have picture proof! Neither was going to turn out well because he was not getting the whole song (he started late), plus he had the shakes and was pretty far back. If I want to see a video of Death Cab for Cutie performing, I’ll watch the videos that were shot from closer to the front, and have the whole song. Does anyone actually watch those 37 second videos of “Sound of Settling”? Then there’s the whole thing about how holding your arms up for 5 minutes looks to the people behind you…one video I can understand. People like to have memories of their favorite song…..but 8 videos? Think about it! [...]