From Birmingham Alabama comes sludge/doom outfit Midmourner,
a grime filled wrecking ball that has certainly made a very solid impression
here at Hand of Doom Radio. You can
catch them on Facebook and
hear the riffs over at their Bandcamp page . Here is a recent interview with Shane George, the man responsible for the vocal howls and growls
First up, cheers for taking the time out to do this
interview, and congratulations to the band in putting together such a kickass
heavy EP in “Adorned in Fear and Error”.
You guys were recommended to me a few months back and I have to say that
the EP has been on rotation on Hand of Doom Radio since, it’s the kind of sickening,
face kicking heavy that firmly ticks the box here.
Thanks for the
kind words about our new EP. The entire band is proud of the songs that ended
up on the release. We want to thank you for giving our music a chance to be
heard by people outside the U.S. Hand of Doom Radio is well respected by heavy
music fans here in Birmingham, Alabama. It’s our pleasure to be in this
interview and it’s an honor to have our music in rotation on Hand of Doom. Glad
to hear that Midmourner came highly recommended by someone you know…that means
there are at least two awesome people that are fans of our music living in
Australia! Ha! By the way, what the hell does “ticks the box” mean?
I actually heard about you guys from a friend of mine in Hamburg Germany, Tanja Grols- she's always recommending high quality riffage across Facebook. I’ve heard mention of (but haven’t actually heard) prior
bands that members of Midmourner have played in, such as Molehill and Residue
and Michael Jackson Sleepover (wtf?!!). When and how did the band take shape? Take
us through the different roads that have brought you all together in
Midmourner.
Matt and I were
in Molehill for several years before the band ended for the first time. Matt
and Molehill guitarist, Drew, formed the band Residue. Residue put out a 7”
split but never really got going due to substance abuse and other thorns in the
side. Later on, Bobbie and I put together a grind/power violence band called
Michael Jackson Sleepover. The line-up featured our friend Michael Files on
guitar, Tony Featherwolf on drums, and ex-Molehill bassist, Sonny Harris. The
band was a lot of fun, but drugs ended this band before we ever really reached
our stride. A few years passed until Bobbie got the itch to play some
ultra-heavy, ultra-sickening sludge noise. I was recruited to fill the position
of vocalist. Although I was hesitant to jump into another band that was going
to have to earn its stripes and start everything from the bottom, I decided to
give it a go. Fate brought us to an Eyehategod show in July of 2014. By some
strange cosmic magic, we ran into Matt and got caught up with recent events in
each other’s lives. It didn’t take long for us to start a discussion about
music. Bobbie and I decided to ask Matt about playing bass in Midmourner, even
though the first bassist was standing right there with us. Matt accepted our
offer, and two weeks later, we were jamming out on what would become the song
“Exchanging Piss for Ruin”. The different roads that the five of us were on eventually
came to the same destination despite the hills, roadblocks, and detours along
the way. Thank God we were able to connect and become such good friends
because, at the end of the day, you have to have a strong foundation to build a
lasting project on. Personally, I love and respect every one of these guys.
I’ve never been so content and so comfortable with a group of musicians in my
life. Midmourner feels like family to me and I’m positive that the other guys
feel the same.
What’s behind the name of the band, any particular reference
or meaning?
Within a two year period, my
younger brother, a close friend, and my mother died. All of the pain, regret,
sadness, and guilt that accompanied the losses overtook me and occupied every
thought and moment that I had. It’s hard to explain that sick feeling in my gut
to other people that haven’t had to deal with such loss. The act of mourning is
all encompassing, and that becomes your life. It felt like I was slowly
drowning every passing day. To this day, I still find myself weighed down by
the process but I’ve learned to let the hopelessness and pain be the fuel that
drives this music. If I think about it now, I actually owe the inspiration of
Midmourner to that painful era in my life.
And on the lyrics front – are they about showering with your
bass player Chad Lowery and setting household items on fire by any chance? (Hah!)
As far as lyrics go…I must admit
that as much fun as it is to shower up with Chad Lowery and watch our drummer’s
wife set fire to couches and appliances, the song lyrics actually deal mostly
with the human experience of everyday life. I have never been comfortable
printing lyrics to songs in any band I’ve been in. I know people are curious
about subject matter or whatever, but I just think that a song lives or dies on
the quality of the music. I may change my mind later on, but for now…I’m sorry.
My fave track on the EP is ‘A Salting of Circles’, probably
in part due to the uplifting hope and inspiration within the opening clip with
the little kid just reminding us all that we’re all going to die haha. Where is
that clip from, and are there any particular tracks on the EP that are
favourites of the band
Thank you for
seeing through the façade of that song and discovering that it’s actually an
ode to all things positive and wonderfully happy!!! Midmourner is our way to
spread joy and sunshine around the world! It’s our mission to wipe away the
tears of a sad human race! The clip is from the movie “What About Bob”.
Luckily, Matt is always finding and recording cool and weird clips of dialogue
from various movies and television shows. The band loves every song that we’ve written
from day one. It’s rather hard to pick out one individual track and call it our
favorite, but I think we all agree that “Torrentials” is probably the strongest
and best structured song. “A Salting of Circles” is a favorite of mine because
the subject matter is centered around a very painful incident that has haunted
me for a long time. Maybe, someday, I will explain all this shit to everyone,
but I doubt it.
What was your approach to the writing & recording
process for ‘Adorned in Fear and Error’?
We approached
the writing with one mindset…to create the heaviest, ugliest, most genuine
expression of frustration and anger that we could and invite all those
interested to join in the misery. We approached the recording process in the
same way. We all knew that we had limited funds and limited time to put these
songs together and get them recorded. However, we were determined to capture
the feeling that we all got from creating these songs. We busted our asses to
get the recording we wanted and after hearing the rough mixes, we knew that the
hard work paid off. The entire process went so smooth that it felt like a
dream. That was the easiest recording session I’ve ever been through and the
end result was exactly what we wanted. Much thanks to engineer Matt Whitson.
Is the heavy music scene healthy in your part of the US? Are
there any particular bands you’d like to point out that are worthy of checking
out?
Historically,
this part of the American South has a rich history of heavy bands (Eyehategod,
Cavity, Kilara, Floor, etc.) as I’m sure everyone knows. At the present,
there’s still a good amount of bands here that are continuing the Southern
sludge/doom legacy, such as Koza, Hexxus, Crawl, Sons of Tonatiuh, Season of
Arrows, Hog Mountin
Hell yes - some great bands there and a few for me to check out. I'm familiar with Season of Arrows, Sons of Tonatiuh and Crawl, sick bands. So what’s up next for Midmourner – when does your full EP
officially launch, do you have any upcoming shows in the works, spill the
beans!!
We have some
big shows coming up later this summer that we’re excited about playing such as
Tennessee Sludge Fest and a couple of more shows that are still in the works.
Right now, we are shopping the EP around to see if we can find a cool label
interested in doing a proper release. If we can’t find a label then we will
continue to put it out ourselves. Midmourner is made of musicians spawned from
the punk rock DIY subculture…We’re not afraid to self-release the EP if we have
to, but we would rather have a label get involved. That way, the EP can get out
to a larger number of listeners. A label helps a band’s music get the
distribution that you can’t get with a total DIY effort. That’s a huge
advantage that just can’t be argued about.
What’s currently cranking in the stereos and cars of the
band members right now? Give us some riff recommendations from the Midmourner
camp.
Wow…I’m gonna answer
for the whole band and I hope they will approve of my guesswork! Here it goes…
Bobbie – Iron
Witch, Melvins, Ringworm, Samhain, Dead Milkmen, Pig Destroyer
Shane – Avail,
Interpol, Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire, Kilara
Chad – Black
Flag, Eazy E, Despise You
Rick –
Weedeater, Megadeth, Whitesnake, Grief
Matt – Floor,
Cavity, Karp, Beatles, Cattlepress, Thug, Fleet Foxes, Pixies
As far as
recommendations go, we collectively endorse these criminally underrated
bands…Scrog, Kilara, Hog Mountin, Horsehunter, Wartrodden, Hexxus, Serial Hawk,
Capsized, Brain Oil, Stoic, Marrow, Iron Witch, Red Necklace, Crawl, Glazed
Baby, Blue Eyed Boy Mister Death, Catchfire, Leechmilk. Although some of these
bands are no longer around, they still deserve the credit for putting out some
great fucking music. Every band listed has the official Midmourner seal of
approval!
Cheers again for the taking the time out to do the interview
– any parting words for the readers/listeners out there?
Thanks again
for letting me babble on about the band. The band appreciates Hand of Doom
Radio for playing our music and for helping to build more listeners along the
way. Hopefully, the radio show will live on and continue to promote underground
heavy-as-fuck music for a long time!
