Christina Dun: Interview with: MOTHER MOTHER

Earlier this month, I got the chance to meet some fellow Vancouverites - the west coast rock band Mother Mother. They were in town for a show at The Kool Haus on Dec. 1 and I was able to check it out. They are such awesome performers! A few days before the show, I interviewed the band's front-man Ryan Guldemond and we chatted about their latest album, social media, and partying with Kid Rock.

Q: For people who maybe haven’t heard your music yet, how would you describe it to them?

Describing music is like talking about a trip you’re going to go on or planning a trip. You get the tourist books and you look it up online and feel like you have an idea of the sensation of arriving there, but when you do, everything is totally different. So I kind of struggle describing it, but you know, it is a rock band with boys and girls. And right there I think you can communicate a lot.

Q: Can you tell me a bit about what went into the making of your latest album, The Sticks?

It’s simple. We wrote some songs and went into a big studio and recorded them. What’s special about the record is that it’s more thematic than any other record. It kind of centres around the theme of protesting the modern world and simplifying one’s approach to survival, not depending on gadgetry and all these distracting, passive entertainment devices. There’s an undertone of post-apocalypse and Armageddon. I think it’s unique because it’s the first record that really reiterates a message.

Q: Since your first album, has your sound evolved at all?

Yeah, it has. This record feels like a culmination of all the records. Whereas the last record it was much its own chapter, and the record before that, the same thing. But I feel like this fourth record is more of an amalgamation of all that has come before it. I think the next thing we do is probably going to be its own thing altogether. It just sort of feels like it drew from our legacy.

Q: What’s your live performance like?

High energy and dynamic. There’s a lot of peaks and valleys and it’s very fluid. We like to try to bridge the gap between songs, not a lot of dead space. We don’t like the awkward silences. When I see a band that just starts and stops a song over and over again, I find that I’m left wondering why I didn’t just listen to the CD. It’s such a beautiful opportunity to create segways and to make musical bridges. People love that and you can create such brilliant suspense by disguising some of your well-known songs with preambles and introductions and then when it does finally come into vision as to what the song or hook is, people are more excited than if you just hand it to them on a silver platter.

Photo by Christina Dun @ The Kool Haus 12.01.12

Q: Are there any shows that have stood out so far? And do you have a favourite city?

We really enjoy going to Europe the two times we’ve went. We really love Paris. That was one of the best shows and we got to spend three days in Paris. So it was really fun and a pretty classic, epic thing to do. We went to Montmartre and did all the stupid stuff, like the Eiffel tour. Even just sauntering down the street with a baguette is pretty rad. Flogging baguettes, or wielding I guess I should say.

Q: Any crazy tour stories?

Not enough. We got to go hang out at Kid Rock’s mansion one night in Detroit. It’s kind of bizarre, we were touring with Sam Roberts and they got invited to Chris Chelios’ bar – he’s a big hockey player – and so we got to tag along and all of a sudden Kid Rock is there and other hilarious people like Chad Kroeger and hockey players. Before you know it, we’re travelling a few hours out of town at four in the morning to party in this ridiculous residence of Kid Rock. We ended up getting a limo back to our hotel, where we were five people sharing this one room. It’s this beautiful paradox, coming from such extravagance to our humble existence and mode of operating as a starving band.

Q: What are your thoughts on the whole social media phenomenon? How has it helped your career?

I think you always want to rest on a sturdy foundation of the music; you want that to be able to take care of itself on its own merits. And then all the icing of cyberspace and social media should just support what is already inherently good. So that’s how we view it, we just want to make sure our songs and our records are good. So that gives us more motivation to tweet and to have Facebook status updates. It’s something that we’re adjusting to, we weren’t born into it when we went to school. We didn’t have computers and we didn’t have cellphones. It was only through being in a band that we were really forced to adapt to a modern way of correspondence and organization. People organize their lives through these vessels and as a band you kind of have to do the same and be very open and frequent with your ongoings. It hasn’t been easy, but I think we’re optimistic and we have a good attitude about it. We don’t shun it because we don’t understand it. That would be the easy thing to do, to shun evolution because you don’t understand it. Embrace it. You will get buried alive if you don’t get in there.

Q: What pushes you to continue making music?

I think just the sensation of escape that it offers. I find life kind of boring in most other regards. Getting up, having a shower, putting on clothes, dealing with people and logistics and survival and groceries and bills, even just recreational stuff like hanging out with friends and all these other things we do to preoccupy ourselves. I don’t find music as a preoccupance, I find it a total connected state of being to the moment, so that’s why I have to keep doing it.