Wiz Khalifa, Mutemath Headline Vanderbilt’s Rites of Spring Music Festival : April 06, 2012

Wiz Khalifa and MUTEMATH will headline this year’s Rites of Spring Music Festival, organizers recently announced. The annual event is presented by the Music Group at [...]

Mutemath Welcomes 2012 with Concert Tour : October 19, 2011

After the making of their sophomore record called Armistice nearly broke up the band a couple years ago, Mutemath has returned strong this month, if in a little different [...]

mutemath Biography

Mutemath is a Grammy Award nominated New Orleans-based alt-rock group presently comprised of lead singer Paul Meany, Darren King, Todd Gummerman and Roy Mitchell-Cardenas. All of the members are multi-instrumentalists so it is common to see them shuffling around various instruments during performances or recording sessions, but usually, Meany plays keyboards, Gummerman and Mitchell-Cardenas play guitar and bass, respectively, and King plays drums. Greg Hill, the band’s original guitarist, left in 2010 after seven years with the band. He was replaced by Gummerman.

Formed in 2003, Mutemath is the product of the frequent demo CD exchanges between Meany and King, whose history go way back from their days in Earthsuit, a defunct Christian/experimental rock band based in New Orleans. The following year, the group released their first record, an EP entitled ‘Reset’ under the independent Teleprompt Records and to be distributed by Warner Music. Through social media websites like MySpace and YouTube, the band grew their fan base enough for them to be invited to perform as support act for bands Mae and Circa Survive. However, only 30,000 copies of ‘Reset’ was printed and sold, as such, Teleprompt Records filed a suit against WB for staling the record’s marketing and distribution, and demanded to release Mutemath from its contract with the major label.

In 2006, the band released its first full-length and self-titled record. The fully re-mastered set contained improved versions of the ‘Reset’ tracks plus a live EP. The album entered the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart at no.17. It should also be pointed out that the album was distributed by WB, who entered a settlement agreement with Teleprompt Records. The record’s lead single, ‘Typical’, whose music video featured the band singing and playing backwards, garnered more than 100,000 views in YouTube in just half a week. The song was also used by the Discovery Channel in plugging several of its shows like ‘Deadliest Catch’, ‘Dirtiest Jobs’ and ‘Man vs. Wild’. Its video also earned the band’s first Grammy nod for Best Short Form Music Video.

In 2009, the band released ‘Armistice’, their first album to enter the Billboard 200 (no.18), the Alternative Albums chart (no.3) and the Rock Albums chart (no.4). According to a video biography shot by Goodwin Films in 2008, conflicts within the band, ranging from petty bickering to creative differences, were apparent while they were working on ‘Armistice’. This almost led to disbandment until Dennis Herring, who has previously worked with Elvis Costello and Counting Crows, signed on as the album’s producer, thus providing the band with a firm artistic and technical direction, easing off the tension between the members.

In October 2011, ‘Odd Soul’, the band’s third full-length release, hit the stands and peaked at the Billboard 200 at no.24. This fall and in spring 2012, they will go on two separate tours in support of the release. They are also expected to appear in several annual summer music festivals, such as the Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and V Festivals, among others.