As they hit UK arenas with Pierce The Veil, we catch up with Hot Mulligan about the creation of their latest LP ‘The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still’, out now.
Set for release on August 22, we’ve teamed up with the band to bring you the record on an exclusive frosted aqua cassette, limited to just 100 copies.
Preorder yours now at SHOP.ROCKSOUND.TV.
Read Hot Mulligan, ‘The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still’, The Album Story below:
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“I never had playing Wembley Arena in my sights at any point before this. But now we are here, we are just rolling with the punches and taking it in our stride.”
Considering that Hot Mulligan are about to play one of their biggest ever shows in the UK in about an hour and a half, Chris Freeman is relatively laid back. It’s a mood that is shared by the rest of the band, too, who Rock Sound has joined in the depths of the OVO Arena, the winding corridors bleached with history at every twist and turn. But considering that every time they head out on the road these days, they achieve something that was never on the agenda, it becomes a lot easier to take it all as it comes. Last year, they were doing their thing in stadiums with Fall Out Boy. This year, it’s dominating arenas with Pierce The Veil. Next year? Well, the sky really is the limit.
However, by not letting the weight of what they are doing take over, they are serving the people they have always been. The same energy embodied by those same kids who ticked off every basement across Michigan is now launching them into the stratosphere.
“I don’t really see the difference, I guess,” vocalist Nathan ‘Tades’ Sanville laughs. “I love playing shows, and this is an opportunity to play shows, albeit in an environment that we do not belong in. The size of it doesn’t matter. I just want to play shows. I didn’t care in DIY when no one came, and now we’re not a DIY band anymore, and I still don’t care who shows up to the big affairs. This is just what we do and will continue to do.”
Not being intimidated by the size of your calendar is one thing, but doing it alongside the release of some of your best songs to date is another. Their latest album, ‘The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still’, has been out for a month at this point and has enraptured and devastated all who have let it into their ears, both newcomers and longstanding devotees. Showcasing the band at their most expansive, laser-focused and emotionally stark, only time will tell how many become permanent staples in the band’s live repertoire. But for now, it is one of the complete and compelling collections of songs that Hot Mully have put their name to.
THE SOUND
When it comes to a Hot Mulligan song, catchiness is key. That’s been the case from the very beginning. It’s the thing that captures the attention of an audience first and foremost, and that’s especially true when placed in front of a crowd that may not be familiar with you. So when it comes to showing what they’re made of in front of Pierce The Veil’s devotees, making sure the hooks are there to be pulled upon is paramount. Luckily, ‘The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still’ is overflowing with addictive intricacies.
From the quintessential pep of ‘And A Big Load’ to the fret-tapping pace of ‘Let Me See Your Mounts’, the tinkering of synths that holds ‘Carbon Monoxide Hotel’ up to the woozy acoustics that accompany the tear-stained interludes that are ‘Milam Minute’ and ‘This Makes Me Yucky’, everything is an earworm. And that’s just how they like it.
“Musically, we do whatever we want,” Tades admits. “We like songs that are catchy, so we are never going to make a song that isn’t catchy. People forget that songs are something that you want to sing along to. The moment someone starts whistling your song, then they are a fan. They will want to listen to it more. The moment you start whistling a song that you’re writing, you’re fucked. That shit is stuck with you now. So we follow our hearts, as it were. But it would be a different thing if we were fancy. But we are in a pseudo pop-punk band, so we are going to stick to the catchy.”
Crafted as and when felt right, in this case across five months of two-to-three week chunks, allowed this particular record to stay fresh. It also meant that fun remained at the forefront of everything they were doing, an aspect that so often gets lost in the emotion of music, especially the feelings that reverberate through the alternative scene. For Tades, though, it’s one of the most critical factors, and without it, the purpose of this all is completely lost.
“I don’t ever really have any expectations,” he exclaims. “I feel like that is what has helped this continue to be a good and fun thing to do. I just want to make music with people I believe in. That very simple need has made for an interesting journey throughout this band, but I also feel that it always has to be the thing. I’ve been to LA and seen people writing songs they don’t really like for the sake of money. But generally, I feel like bands in our world are of the same mindset. I have to write a song for me, otherwise I am wasting my time.”
Such starkness is a common factor in the Hot Mulligan ranks. In a world of faux sincerity, it’s refreshing to have a band that doesn’t hide away from saying that what has always made them happy continues to make them happy. Putting enjoyment above everything else, both in the studio and on stage, means that the output remains consistently pure, regardless of the new bells and whistles added.
“We don’t just want to go out there and make the same record every single time,” Chris adds. “The best thing that we can do whilst we are writing songs is just see how we can push it. It’s not a case of really pushing the limits, we’re not going to put out a reggae song or anything like that, but we are aware of our own boundaries.”
“It’s a case of asking what we think it is that the band has to be, too,” Tades interjects. “Because the truth is that the band doesn’t have to be anything. As long as what we are doing feels right to us.”
THE LYRICS
For many bands, writing an album can be a cathartic experience. Releasing a certain feeling, or a group of feelings, meaning that it is no longer stuck within them. An exorcism of sorts.
Tades feels like catharsis is overused. A buzzword, if you will.
For him and Chris, the writing of Hot Mulligan lyrics is less of a return to the things that have hindered them and more a case of writing down what is making its way around their heads in the here and now. In many ways, that’s why the band’s output resonates with those who listen to it in the way it does. Because it is fresh.
“What else am I going to write about other than what is on my mind?” Tades states. “And most of the time that is being generally negative, so most of the time I’m going to write generally negative shit. I’m writing the shit that I think about and the shit that is going on around me. People often talk about vulnerability, but it’s not vulnerable. To be vulnerable is to be doing something brave. I’m just sharing my personal thoughts. Perhaps the difference between now and before is that I’m a somewhat better writer. I can express myself pretty clearly these days.”
That sense of clarity has really hit the spot when it comes to the reaction to ‘The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still’. In terms of the band’s previous output, listeners have often interpreted the lyrics in a completely different way than intended. But this time around, Tades and Chris have noted that fans are diving into the record’s meaning like it’s a book, going from chapter to chapter and picking up on the fact that these are all footnotes in one bigger story. The lore that is life, if you will.
And that lore is heavy going, to say the least. From processing grief (‘Monica Lewinskibidi’), dealing with insecurity (‘It Smells Like Fudge Axe In Here’) and sitting in the depths of depression and anxiety (‘Slumdog Scungillionaire’), this is just the way things are playing out. It’s dark, it’s dreary, but it’s real. And more often than not, honesty is the best policy.
“Chris and I have two different lives that end up having the same parallels of the world that we are in,” Tades continues. “We’re the same age, so all the major life steps are happening around the same time. If he writes about something, it’s pretty easy for me to relate to it. The same when I write something. I know that he can empathise with the shit I’m putting out there. You’re just sharing stuff so that it doesn’t feel like it is weighing on my shoulders.”
The difference between the past and now is that, due to the band’s extensive touring schedule, they have become their own support system. Spending more time with each other than with friends and family waiting for them back home makes it easier to be open and honest about what is cluttering their minds. There’s a comfort in that, knowing that the people with whom you are making your art are the ones who will resonate with your musings the most.
“There are parts of it that get a lot easier and there are parts of it that get a lot harder,” Chris explains. “We’ve been doing this a long time, so there is an acceptance to it now. But with every wedding or occasion that passes, you become more and more separated from it. Before we played the first show of this tour in Dublin, we were discussing personal matters, and I had something that was bothering me back home. I realised my community doesn’t even feel like it is at home now. I want to wait until I come back out here to my people to sort my stuff out instead. That’s the community that we have more than whatever is at home these days.”
THE COLLABORATORS
When it comes to playing shows on the scale that Hot Mulligan are at the moment, it would be easy for them to be completely struck by the occasion. Though when you’ve spent you’ve played sets in front of 2 people as often as you have 20,000, there are plenty of factors that allow you to take it in your stride. Having pride in their roots and having cut their teeth as a DIY band in a DIY community means that when it comes to finding their footing in the spaces they are in now, and with the company they now keep, empathy and humanity take precedence over celebrity and always will.
“The only variable that makes these shows different is the other bands that we play with,” Tades explains. “I hope that they are nice and I hope that they want to hang out. That’s all that matters to me.”
For Tades, he was able to get any sense of being starstruck out of his system early in the band’s career, because his favourite band is Free Throw. This is a fact that feels even more full circle because vocalist Cory Castro has a guest appearance on ‘The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still’, providing his own personal howls on the beautiful noodling of ‘Island In The Sun’ (Not that one). Having your “heroes” be in a band that’s already so close to you, and watching them slowly integrate into your immediate friend group, is a surefire way of dissolving any delusions of grandeur that may be lingering. Yet for Tades, it’s more a lesson on what it means not to let things that aren’t that important actually take over in this scene.
“The first time we played a show with them it felt like a really big deal, but you learn very quickly that having anyone on a pedestal apart from your wife and your parents is a pretty bad and weird thing to do,” he laughs. “But I started singing the way that I did because Cory sang this way. It’s great to have someone who has directly influenced the sound of Hot Mulligan involved in this way. And yeah, I guess it’s a very full circle moment because we were playing ‘Two Beers In’ together in the basement, and now we are playing video games together. The band are just homies now, which is one of the neater things that being in a band has allowed me. The scope of people I have been allowed to meet because of this band is hugely influential.”
THE TITLE
As per, ‘The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still’ is a phrase pulled from the heart of the record that the band felt was cool enough to justify umbrellaing it. In this case, it can be found in the third verse of ‘Cream Of Wheat Of Feet Naw Cream Of (feat.)’, a rallying piece of pit-spinning chaos. The song itself, Tades explains, is actually about the feelings of paranoia that course through your body, bouncing around inside your gut and controlling every thought that you conjure. “The unsilencable inner monologue that constantly makes its way around your head,” as he poetically describes it.
In this case, it’s a feeling that stems from Tades quitting drinking during the process of making the record. A significant personal step, after noticing how the sauce was transforming him into a person he didn’t want to be, has also resulted in an odd aftermath. Of mourning somebody that he can’t be, and that he shouldn’t be, a feeling that continues to linger and bounce around inside of him, even though he knows that making these steps is the best option for him.
“I can’t be a person who gets fucked up because I can’t be what I want to be like when I’m fucked up,” he admits. “I think often about it, though, because it’s everywhere, in my world in particular. Drinking is as common as it can be. I’m never tempted to start drinking again. Still, I am caught between worlds because it’s this thing which is so familiar that I let myself do for so long, but it is not an option for me anymore.”
It’s interesting to discuss this while the band is on the road, because it opens up the conversation on how alcohol is so normalised for touring bands. From the very beginning of your career, there’s more chance of being paid in beers than in actual cash. As you continue to grow, the one thing that is guaranteed to be full at any venue is the fridge. It’s no wonder that alcohol addiction is so prominent within music, because it is always there when nothing else is. And that only makes it even more vital that Tades puts his peace above everything else in these situations, because it would be so easy to derail everything if he really wanted to. The thoughts may honestly never go away, but in doing what he can to stay on top of them, he is setting himself up for the best.
THE FUTURE
When this tour is done and dusted, you already know that something else amazing is going to be on the horizon for Hot Mulligan. It’s just the way things are now, and they are absolutely fine with that. However, the most important thing that continues to put the band in such good standing is that they will never let an opportunity pass them by. This is what they have done for most of their adult lives at this point, and just because things are happening on a larger scale now won’t change the process that got them here.
‘The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still’ is just the latest in a long line of those strokes. Because before you know it, there will be even more songs pulled from the ether. There will be more shows. More sing-alongs, more mosh pits, more moments that remind us, and them, why we all fell in love with this scene in the first place. For the band, that should always be at the forefront, and as long as that’s the case, no matter where they are showing it, then they are in good standing.
“I don’t know anything else than this,” Tades sums up in the simplest terms he can muster. “I just like playing show, you know? And if I have that opportunity, I will take it. Performing is fun. I don’t care about all the things that come with this, but I care about doing my best, because I enjoy singing and I like my songs. What keeps me going is that I get to do what I feel is fun, albeit in increasingly weird environments.”
“I just love that there are people who are with us no matter what,” Chris closes with a smile.
And you won’t find a more potent reason to keep on moving than that.
