BENGALURU: The alternative rock band from New Orleans, Mutemath played the headlining act at the two-day NH7 Weekender festival in the city. We spoke to keyboardist Paul Meany about the band’s history and their time in India.
How did a second India tour come up? What made you choose the Bacardi NH7 Weekender as a platform?
The first trip was such an incredible experience, we all but begged for a chance to come back. India holds a very special place in our heart now and this time we’re planning on spending more time to see the country and do some writing as well.
How has the journey been for Mutemath? Especially after Greg Hill left the band, how was the gap filled?
We’ve gotten to experience more in the last 10 years than we ever could’ve expected. As soon as we got into a rehearsal space to play the first batch of songs we had only constructed in computers, we all began to feel we might be on to something. There’s always been a fire in our band to share this intangible feeling with as many people as possible.
You began as an electronic duo. What would you say your genre is now? Where do the sound influences come from?
I think every album we do comes with its own inherent theme. However, after having done a few albums now, we are beginning to see the common thread that tends to tie all of it together. At our core, we’re still an electronic duo encased in a four-piece rock band. But I think the constant interplay of the two is what makes us sound like we do.
With no involvement from record company executives in production of Odd Soul, what was the process like and how has the response been?
It was a refresher course that our band really needed at that time. We had just come out of the crazy experience of making our second album, which was riddled with outside pressures. And we needed to be reminded of how it felt to create something without someone looking over our shoulders. So yeah, recording Odd Soul the way we did was inevitable, and it wound up being a great experience. I think it empowered us to take chances we wouldn’t have otherwise.
What is the kind of response that you were expecting and got from India?
Like an embrace of an old friend that you haven’t seen in a while. We really haven’t stopped talking about India since we left last year, so we couldn’t have been more thrilled at the chance to come back.
Next project? Anything for the fans?
I think so...we’ve taken our time with this one in an effort to really push ourselves and try to find something that can really speak to the fans. We’ve promised that we would never put out an album just to put one out. We want it to feel special and in the moment. Those are the songs that usually mean the most.