Mute Math last night November 12, 2007
Posted by Phillip in Live Sound, Music, concerts, mute math.trackback
Holy crap, this show was amazing.
First of all, their drummer (Darren King) started out by duct-taping his headphones to his head. I thought it was kind of weird at first, but the reason became apparent very soon. He is easily the most intense drummer I have ever seen. The guy was soaked with sweat after the first song and he kept that intensity for the whole show.
At one point – I forget which song (it might have been Break the Same) he was literally hanging from the rafters. He grabbed a bass drum and handed it to some people in the audience. He then climbed on top of it (standing on the head!) and grabbed one of the rafters overhead. He climbed out over the crowd and then jumped back onto the stage.
Their bassist (Roy Mitchell-Cardenas) is no slouch, either. He played an upright bass on Stare at the Sun/Obsolete and he tore it up. If you’ve never played upright bass, let me tell you that it’s a completely different animal than a regular electric bass. That guy was pretty ridiculous.
I would have been perfectly content to watch these two guys play. However, there were two other guys on stage: Paul Meany (vocals/keys/keytar/theremin/guitar) and Greg Hill (guitar). Paul’s voice sounded great and his playing was excellent. The Rhodes sounded awesome in that context. He was pretty fearless on stage (doing handstands on the Rhodes and slamming his body into the keyboard, etc). It’s surprising that he hasn’t seriously injured himself.
The guitarist was probably the least interesting guy on stage. Don’t get me wrong, he played well – it’s just that he wasn’t as watchable as the other guys on stage. Also, he was going a little overboard with the ring modulator. If you don’t know what a ring modulator is, it’s basically a special effect that makes your guitar sound like crap (out of tune, ice pick highs, etc).
They played a new song, Clockwork, which Paul played guitar on. It was pretty cool. Anyway, they were very tight. I’m definitely glad I went – it was probably the best show I have ever seen. I’m kinda hesitant to go back and listen to the recording; there’s no way that it can hold up to the live show. They should really do a live CD/DVD or something.
All I can do is smile.
I got to check them out in Atlanta (worth the 5 hour drive from where I am) and they didn’t dissapoint. I think that’s the 3rd of 4th time I’ve seen them live and I still enjoy it.
The actually do have a Live DVD. I don’t have it, but would like to get it. Amazon carries it:
http://www.amazon.com/Flesh-Bones-Electric-Mute-Math/dp/B000MTDRG8
i was at the show also, and it was amazing. I was right in front of the drummer, and my ears were ringing for the next 2 days.
Also, If you bought the remastered edition of their CD, you got a live EP.
I was pretty close to the drummer, too. We probably saw each other at the show.
I was right up on the railing, and actually had one of Darren’s sticks hit me in the face when he threw it into the crowd.
Was that the first time you’d seen MuteMath?
Yeah, it was my first MuteMath show. I can tell you that it definitely won’t be my last, though.
I’ve seen them twice. Everyone told me it would be the best show I’ve ever seen. I loved their music, but I wasn’t sure what would elevate them to that level in a live setting. Holy Crap!!!! Yeah, they’re the real deal, no doubt about it. Darren is probably one of the best drummer’s I’ve ever seen live. He doesn’t have any monster fills and certainly comes at the drums from a “no frills” perspective. But the reality is, the guy’s got great time and he put on a freak’n clinic on rudiments. Natural talent plus a TON of wood sheding = playing like Darren!
They do have a DVD. It’s called Flesh and Bones. They did a decent job of capturing the live experience. there’s a bonus video of them playing Reset “semi-acoustically” in a record store. Darren’s drum set up is amazing!
You Tube also has a ton of great MM footage. More semi-acoustic record store performances and the backwards Jimmy Kimmel thing. I actually found a short documentary…uh…sorry, “rockumentary” on the Typical video and the Kimmel performance that shows that they actually DID learn to play the song backwards!
Can’t wait to see them again and hear more new music!