Hailing from Chicago, Illinois, Mutts are a three-piece blues rock band with a grunge and garage influences. Chatting with front man and manager Mike Maimone, I was able to get a feel for just how hard it can be to break out in the musical industry and how artists suffer for their art. As Mike says, music is finally starting to pay the bills but it hasn’t always been like that!
Mike describes how he went to college, got qualified as an accountant and then quit his auditing job after a year to move to Portland, OR to join a band. When that band broke up, he moved to Chicago where he lived on a couch in a recording studio. He made his money in the studio by filling in for bands that didn’t have keyboard players and he also cooked and cleaned from time to time. “I managed to make a solo record by tracking after hours while I was there, too!” says Mike. Obviously an overachiever then!
It was through this studio work that he met Bob and Chris. They were both playing for big Chicago bands which Mike says intimidated him at first but they all began jamming together once both of their bands broke up. Despite the success they had seen previously, all three band members needed to work odd jobs just to get by. “Bob and Chris sometimes walk dogs, and I've done random things from digging ditches to manicuring a cemetery lawn to selling knives,” explains Mike. “But for the most part, music is finally paying the bills”.
This is fantastic news because Mutts is a band that deserves to be heard and deserves their spot in the limelight. They have a wonderfully loud and energetic blues rock sound and the good news is that they are giving away three of their EPs for free on their website.
Pretty Pictures was first released in September 2009 and the piano features strongly in all four tracks. The first track “Stolen Bricks” has a great garage sound while “Trust” continues with a jazzy sound. There is no disputing that this is hard rock though and something about it reminds me of Faith No More or perhaps Mike Patton’s Mr Bungle. This is just better. “Uncivilized” slows down the tempo and is a really great blues song while “On The Rope” speeds it right up again. I love the funky hook on this last track and it is a good finish to a really strong EP.
Article comments