| Mute Math | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Origin | New Orleans, Louisiana, USA |
| Genre(s) | Indie rock Synth rock Post-rock |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Label(s) | Teleprompt Records Warner Bros. Records |
| Associated acts |
Earthsuit MACROSICK Club of the Sons |
| Website | http://www.mutemath.com/ |
| Members | |
| Paul Meany Darren King Greg Hill Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas |
|
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| Keytar The Atari Rhodes |
|
Mute Math is a Grammy Award nominated American rock band from New Orleans, LA that formed in 2003. They combine diverse elements like rock, new wave, electro, psychedelia, and jazz with ambient vocals. The group consists of Paul Meany on Rhodes piano, bass, keytar, keyboards, samples, vocals, and more recently, guitar, Darren King on drums, samples, and programming, Greg Hill on guitars and vocals, and Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas on bass guitar, upright bass, and bass drum.
Contents |
History
Formation
Mute Math started in 2001 as a long distance collaboration between Paul Meany in New Orleans, Louisiana and Darren King in Springfield, Missouri. The two had known each other from their work together in Meany's previous group Earthsuit. Occasionally Paul would receive instrumental demo CDs from Darren King. Fairly impressed with his efforts, Paul contacted Darren and asked if he could mess with the demos a bit, adding some ideas of his own. Darren obliged and the two would set in motion a sort of songwriting ping-pong match that would carry on for several months until Darren was asked to return and replace yet another drummer for Earthsuit as the band began to quickly dissolve. After Earthsuit finally disbanded, King moved to New Orleans and began to talk of a possible collaboration with Meany. The two worked on demos and played a handful of shows under the moniker "MATH". With the recruiting of guitarist Greg Hill, the trio worked in their New Orleans home studio writing and recording a whole new collection of songs. Paul immediately played the demos for longtime friend and producer Tedd T, who fell in love at first listen. The trio continued to work on demos with Tedd T for a possible EP while playing shows with another Earthsuit alum in Adam LaClave's art-rock group MACROSICK.
Reset EP
After months of considering different options for their new venture, the group decided to do things on their own and officially changed their name to "Mute Math" after discovering that "MATH" was already being used by another group. Meany recruited Tedd T and lawyer and former Earthsuit manager Kevin Kookogey to form Teleprompt Records as a way to independently control Mute Math releases. Teleprompt entered into an agreement with Warner Music Group in 2004, releasing Mute Math's debut Reset EP that fall. The band left MACROSICK to begin touring to promote the release, using popular social networking sites like MySpace to spread word of the group. As their fan base grew, it began to see its shows sell out in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Houston, Dallas, and Phoenix. They chronicled their shows and updated their video blogs on a nightly basis and finally recruited permanent bass player Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas, another Earthsuit alum, in the winter of 2004. The band sold over 30,000 copies of Reset EP before the album went out of print in 2006.
Mute Math
| “ | For us, we just try to keep it simple. We're obviously a band; that's really all we ever wanted to be from the very beginning without catering to any particular genre or political or religious agenda. We just want to make music with no barriers. | ” |
In January 2006, the band set out on a tour in support of their recently released self-titled debut album. It was independently released in response to Warner Music Group's decision to distribute and promote Mute Math primarily to Christian retailers through its Christian label Word Records, a breach of the contract that was forged with Teleprompt preceding the release of Reset EP. (see Teleprompt Controversy for more details).
The special edition of the album was only available as a "tour-only" release until it hit the Internet on Teleprompt's online store, selling more than 10,000 copies in its first month. Mute Math landed on the covers of Billboard and Pollstar[1] being featured in Alternative Press[2], Paste[3], and Spin[4] as well as on the MTV News program 'You Hear It First'[5]. The group continued to tour vigorously, playing shows to crowds of thousands at festivals such as Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Van's Warped Tour, V Festival, CMJ Music Marathon in New York City, and Voodoo Music Experience in their hometown of New Orleans. After months of legal wrangling with parent label Warner Bros. Records regarding marketing and representation, Teleprompt settled litigation out of court in August 2006 with a re-negotiated contract with Warner. WBR re-released the band's debut album Mute Math on September 26, 2006. The fully remastered album features reworked tracks from their Reset EP[6] and a bonus limited-edition live EP. The album debuted at #17 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart.[7] The band returned to the road in early 2007 with opening dates for The Fray, Wolfmother in various cities and a brief headlining tour in Europe. Flesh And Bones Electric Fun, an exclusive live DVD was released on March 20, 2007 with an accompanying 43-city North American tour that ran through the first of May. The band also received some unexpected publicity on American Idol when contestant Chris Sligh sang "Typical" on the show's Top 24 episode.
"Typical"
Mute Math's first music video, for "Typical", premiered on YouTube on March 21, 2007. The video was directed by Israel Anthem and features the band performing the song backwards. The video made it on the New York Post Hot List[8] and registered more than 100,000 views in less than four days[9]. "Typical" was also released as Mute Math's first radio single on April 10, 2007. As of late June, the single started receiving major airplay in Modern Rock and is quickly rising up the Mediabase Alternative chart jumping from #115 to #65 and was also the second most added song on Alternative stations the week of June 13, 2007. The single then jumped to #36 the first week of August 2007, a position it held for six weeks before it moved to a peak position to #35.[10]
The group appeared at various summer festivals in mid-2007 in order to work on writing and recording material for an early 2008 release of their follow-up LP. The band's debut performance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival coincided with their second appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. The group appeared on Transformers: The Album, released on July 3, 2007, performing the "Transformers Theme" in conjunction with the live-action film directed by Michael Bay and made a television appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman on July 17. The group was in the running for MTV2 and Virgin Mobile's Book The Band vote to open for the US Virgin Festival in Baltimore, Maryland in August (Aiden won the Book The Band contest). Mute Math's debut album reappeared on Billboard's Top Heatseekers Chart on August 4, 2007 at #28, while the single "Typical" debuted at #39 on Billboard's US Modern Rock Chart the same week.[11] The band hit the road in support of the single in September of 2007 with support Eisley, which included two television appearances. The first was September 19, their second appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The show aired a taped performance of the band recreating the video the single "Typical" that was taped in front of the studio audience and then played back in reverse for the broadcast. Their second television appearance was their debut on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien performing "Break the Same" for the first time on television on October 17.
Current Status
The group is continuing to write and record new material for their forthcoming album in their free time. "Control", the second radio single from Mute Math is set to be released January 15, 2008. On November 12th, Atlantic Records announced that the band will join Alanis Morissette on Matchbox Twenty's Exile In America Tour which kicks off in Hollywood, FL on January 25, 2008. Their second album is scheduled to hit stores sometime around the end of September 2008, almost exactly two years after the release of Mute Math and four years after the release of Reset EP.[12] On December 6, 2007, the group was nominated for a Grammy Award for their short form music video for "Typical".[13] The winners will be announced at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards on February 10, 2008 on CBS.
Discography
EPs and albums
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Singles
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Compilations
- "Chaos" Aware 11 -Aware Records
- "Transformers Theme" Transformers: The Album - Warner Bros. Records
Charts
Albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| Billboard Heatseekers [15] |
||
| 2004 | Reset EP | - |
| 2006 | Mute Math | 17 |
Singles
| Year | Title | Album | Chart positions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Alternative [16] |
US Modern Rock [17] |
Hot Video Clip Tracks [18] |
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles [19] |
Hot Adult Christian Contemporary [20] |
Hot Adult Christian Contemporary [21] |
|||
| 2004 | "Control"*[22] | Reset EP | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2005 | "Peculiar People"* | Reset EP | - | - | - | - | 32 | 35 |
| 2007 | "Typical" | Mute Math | 34 | 33 | 7 | - | - | - |
| 2007 | "Transformers Theme" | Transformers: The Album | - | - | - | 20 | - | - |
| 2008 | "Control"[23] | Mute Math | - | - | - | - | - | - |
* See Notes
Notes
- "Control" and "Peculiar People" appeared on CCR formats and charted for a short time before they were pulled from the CCM market.
Awards and Nominations
Awards
- Dove Award 2005 Best Modern Rock Song - "Control".[24]
Nominations
- Grammy Award 2008 Best Short Form Music Video- "Typical".
Filmography
- Flesh And Bones Electric Fun (Teleprompt/WBR, 2007) — DVD Release
Tours
- Spring 2005 - SXSW & The Reset Tour with Mat Kearney
- Fall 2005 - The Music Is Much Too Loud Tour with Mae and Circa Survive
- Winter 2005 - The Album Release Tour with Vedera
- Spring 2006 - The Album Release Tour (Second Leg) with The Working Title
- May 2006 - The Album Release Encore Tour featuring Under The Influence of Giants, Lovedrug, and other guests
- Summer 2006 - Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Vans Warped Tour, V Festival
- Fall 2006 - Fall Tour with Shiny Toy Guns, The Whigs, Jonezetta, and Club Of The Sons [25]
- Fall 2006 - Voodoo Music Experience & CMJ Music Marathon
- January 2007 - Winter College Tour opening for The Fray
- February 2007 - Headlining European Tour
- Spring 2007 - SXSW & Flesh And Bones Electric Fun Tour with The Cinematics, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, and Club Of The Sons
- June 2007 - Headlining European Tour
- Summer 2007 - Street Scene, Bluesfest, Bonnaroo, Virgin Festival (Toronto & Vancouver) & Reading Festival (United Kingdom)
- Fall 2007 - Headlining Tour with Eisley, Voodoo Music Experience & CMJ Music Marathon
- Winter 2008 - Exile In America Tour with Matchbox Twenty and Alanis Morissette
Television appearances
- February 3, 2006 - CBS - The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
- Notes: Television debut. Performed "Chaos".
- September 19, 2006 - MTV News - You Hear It First
- November 9, 2006 - MTV Canada - MTV Live
- Notes: Live show was only broadcast in Canada.
- December 1, 2006 - ABC - Jimmy Kimmel Live
- June 14, 2007 - CBS - The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
- Notes: Performed "Typical". (2nd appearance)
- July 2007 - MTV - Discover and Download
- July 17, 2007 - CBS - The Late Show with David Letterman
- Notes: Performed "Typical".
- September 18, 2007 - ABC - Jimmy Kimmel Live
- Notes: Live "backwards" performance of "Typical". (2nd appearance)
- October 17, 2007 - NBC - Late Night with Conan O'Brien
- Notes: Performed "Break The Same".
References
- ^ Pollstar HotStar: Mute Math. Pollstar (August 7, 2006).
- ^ 100 Bands to Watch in 2007. Alternative Press (April 2007).
- ^ 4 To Watch For. Paste Magazine (2006).
- ^ Mute Math: Artist Of The Day. Spin Magazine (September 28, 2006).
- ^ You Hear It First: Mute Math. MTV Networks (September 2006).
- ^ See Differences in new Mute Math album for details.
- ^ Mute Math Chart History. Billboard.
- ^ "HOT LIST". New York Post (April 1, 2007).
- ^ "Typical". YouTube.
- ^ Mediabase Alternative Charts. Mediabase (June 13, 2007).
- ^ Billboard Chart History. Billboard (August 4, 2007).
- ^ Exile In America Press Release. Marketwire (November 26, 2007).
- ^ 50th Annual Grammy Award Nominees. Grammy.com (December 6, 2007).
- ^ Exile In America Press Release. Marketwire (November 26, 2007).
- ^ Mute Math Chart History. Billboard.
- ^ Mediabase Alternative Charts. Mediabase (June 13 2007).
- ^ Billboard Chart History. Billboard (August 4, 2007).
- ^ Billboard Chart History. Billboard (July 21, 2007).
- ^ Billboard Chart History. Billboard (July 21, 2007).
- ^ Billboard Chart History. Billboard (June 25, 2005).
- ^ Billboard Chart History. Billboard (June 25, 2005).
- ^ Dove Award Recipients for Modern Rock Recorded Song of the Year. GMA Dove Awards. Retrieved on 2007-10-17.
- ^ Exile In America Press Release. Marketwire (November 26, 2007).
- ^ GMA 2005 Press Release. Gospel Music Association (April 13, 2005).
- ^ Review of Mute Math show. Birmingham Weekly (October 26, 2006).
- ^ It Takes A Secure Man To Destroy A Stage With A Keytar. Rock Insider (December 6, 2006).
- ^ Mute Math performs "Typical" on Jimmy Kimmel Live. ABC (December 1, 2006).
External links
- Offical website
- Mute Math at MySpace
- Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas' Personal Blog
- Official Flesh And Bones Electric Fun Tour/DVD Mini Site
- Mute Math at All Music Guide
- Mute Math at Last.fm (song popularity graphs and music samples)
| Mute Math |
|---|
| Paul Meany - Darren King - Greg Hill - Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas |
| Discography |
| Albums: Mute Math EPs: Reset | Live at the El Rey Singles: "Typical" - "Chaos" DVDs: Flesh And Bones Electric Fun |
| Related articles |
| Teleprompt Records | Earthsuit | MACROSICK | Club of the Sons |
