Transcendental magic and cheese-based creative experiences: Vancouver-based art-pop quintet Mother Mother have been busy. Hot off the heels of a whirlwind year of touring in support of their third album Eureka, the band recently released their most eclectic (yet, at the same time, most cohesive) offering to date: The Sticks.
The Sticks carries on with the signature vocal harmonies and vibrant instrumentation that the band is known for. And what better way to kick off the release of their latest album than a cross-Canada tour?
“It’s ironic sometimes the shittiest place can be the birthplace of the most magic,” says vocalist Ryan Guldemond on playing in Canada. “But there should be no excuses by the time we hit Victoria. A beautiful, acoustically fit theatre near the end of a tour it better be magic.”
The magic began when producing The Sticks. Rather than going it alone, as he did with the last album, Guldemond opted to share the recording duties with veteran producer and engineer Ben Kaplan.
“Ben is more a crafter of sounds, where I’m more of an artistic visionary,” says Guldemond. “He’s got a great work ethic. It’s always ‘Let’s go. Let’s find the answer to this sonic conundrum,’ or ‘Let’s unlock the mystery to this song.’”
The hard work has definitely paid off. From the menacing, Led Zeppelin-like drumming of the title track to the acoustic simplicity of the depressive ballad “Little Pistol,” Mother Mother have thrust forth an album that is as diverse as it is enjoyable to listen to. And lots of people think this band is enjoyable to listen to: just ask some of the people who first heard Mother Mother on a Kraft cheese commercial earlier this year.
“Those corporations are going to traipse along regardless,” says Guldemond. “If I can have a creative experience with a benign form of music via some corporation, that’s still my experience. I think the power of music being made and being heard and being shared, it overrides what it is promoting.”
There may still be some fans claiming the band have sold out taking on such a cheese-y job. Guldemond doesn’t let that bother him, saying that when it comes to opinions about music, there is no right or wrong.
“The funny thing is all the cash I get from it, I pour into this band,” he says. “I’ve spent ugly amounts of money on this tour just getting the elements superior so that people can get carried away in the music.”
It all comes down to staying connected with the source of that creative spark. Take away the tour preparation and the interviews and all the new gear and you’re left with an artistic original trying to keep his inspiration always at the ready. And if Ryan Guldemond and the rest of Mother Mother can stay ready, fans are in for one hell of a ride on this tour.
“I just want transcendental experiences every time,” Guldemond says on his band’s shows. “I just want to be taken out of my head and do something really magical.”
Mother Mother
8 pm Tuesday, December 13
Royal Theatre, $34.75
rmts.bc.ca