June 29, 2023 – Columbus, OH
At the eccentric Double Happiness bar, where local music and dark lighting set the stage for the night, we met up with psychedelic rock band, MUDD. Almost Famous Zine was able to get to know the four members through portraits, an interview and a classic night of rocking out.
Q: How did you all meet?
A: Vince: “Nick and I lived across the hall from each other at the dorms at OSU [Ohio State University] in 2019… We just kind of shared a passion for music, but we didn’t really do anything with it for a long time; we were always just like yeah, whatever. So, we talked about maybe starting a band.”
Nick: “There was a part in between that though, because junior year when I moved into my apartment I brought my drums, and you would bring your guitar and just jam. There was, like, two months where we both didn’t have classes and we were both unemployed, so he’d come over and we would just jam. We kept saying, ‘We should start a band, we should start a band’, and we had one time where we had four other people come jam with us. We learned ‘Swing Lynn’, the very beginning of it, but nothing came from it.”
Vince: “Ohhhh, yeahhhh.”
Nick: “And it was still like that, for like two more years. We would just occasionally play.”
Vince: “Yeah, and then it got serious. I actually wanted to make a band and I sent a message in the Musicians Collective GroupMe: it’s a club. They [Collin and Steve] were both in it. Collin responded. He was like, ‘Yo, I can come play guitar and my roommate can play bass.'”
Collin: “That’s not what I was like.”
Vince: “He was like, ‘we can come jam, my roommate plays bass,’ which apparently he didn’t even play bass at the time. He just owned a bass.”
Steve: “Well, yeah, I could like, put my fingers in places… I played drums, and he already had a drummer. Collin just needed a ride to get there. He thought it would be rude to ask for a ride and not invite me to jam.”
Everyone chatters on between laughs about how it all worked out.
Q: “How long have you guys been together?”
A: Collin: “About a year now.”
Vince: “Our Instagram was made, like, a year ago tomorrow.”
Nick: “It was July first.”
Vince: “Oh, it was June 30th.”
Collin: “It was the night of June 30th into the first.”
Steve: “We took that legendary bathroom selfie and the rest is history.”
Collin: “There was one night before we officially became a band. We went to Rooster’s and got wings and beer. We talked about the band for like, 20 seconds… but we were all just instantly friends. That was the best part of it- we were just homies who also all liked music, and we were just like ‘let’s do this.’ We haven’t really ever had a moment of doubt in anyone’s head like, ‘is this what we want to do, is this the right people, is this the right set up…’ It’s been very natural. We really just kind of let it do it’s own thing.”
Vince: “It’s just a vibe. It’s just MUDD.”
Q: … “So you guys mentioned songwriting… are you guys typically pretty collaborative, or do you guys come to practice like, ‘hey I wrote this, let’s try it out’?”
A: Collin: “It’s a good mix of both.”
Steve: “Yeah.”
Vince: “It’s about fifty-fifty.”
Nick: “About half the songs you [Vince] made… and the other half we just get together… sit down and write an entire song.”
We continued on laughing and chatting, eventually leading the conversation into a debate about what the best Mio flavor is (Steve says blue, Nick says he doesn’t need an incentive to drink water). We reconvene with an easy question that can guide new fans to a starting point when listening to MUDD.
Q: “What’s your favorite song you all have made?”
A: Vince: “Mine’s Muddles… Well, actually, mine’s Cyclops.”
Steve: “Yeah, man, Cyclops.”
While Cyclops is an unreleased song of MUDD’s, it gives new listeners time to fall in love with their older, released music as their wave of new songs are being released. The production is all done independently by the band, which makes their groovy rock sound even more savory.
A common issue that growing artists face, as others like Braden Bales and The Backfires had brought up in our past articles, is the lack of consistency during their performances. It is difficult to know what each show can bring, and a musician simply can’t succeed in this day and age without a strong stage presence and personality. After seeing this show, it is obvious that MUDD definitely fulfills these requirements, even under pressure. This lowlight gig at an eclectic, hole in the wall bar felt like a party with sixty of my closest friends, which is exactly what a good concert should feel like.
Words and photos by Patti Doud. If reposting, tag @piecesbypatti and @almostfamouszine.