The Walleye Magazine

Mother Mother Back on the Road

Indie Rock Band Plays Thunder Bay this Month

Story by Kris Ketonen, Photo by Rich Smith

When the COVID-19 pandemic brought the music industry to a standstill, the members of Canadian indie rock band Mother Mother kept their eyes on the future.The British Columbia-based band took the opportunity to head into the studio to record their new album Inside, a move that was intended to prepare them for when the world did, eventually, open back up.

“It would be very handy to have a completed record that we could share and tour,” vocalist and guitarist Ryan Guldemond says. “It was pragmatic, initially, but you can’t create based on pragmatism, it needs to be inspired… so, in the event that songs didn’t come, we would have been happy to postpone things.”

The album did, of course, come together; Inside was released last year, and a deluxe edition has since hit shelves as well. While Mother Mother was recording new music, however, the band found some of its older songs were unexpectedly finding new life. Songs from the band’s second album, 2008’s O My Heart, suddenly saw a surge in streaming in 2020. Guldemond says that initially caused some confusion among the band.

“Numbers started to increase in other areas, such as streaming and YouTube, and that didn’t make sense to us because we were off-cycle and we weren’t putting out anything new,” Guldemond says. “I was completely shocked.”

It was then discovered the surge was driven by TikTok users, who had begun using the tracks in their videos. As to why those particular songs were chosen, Guldemond isn’t entirely sure, but noted the younger demographic making the TikTok videos is “really curious, is really quirky, unconventional, is not formulaic, [and] challenges genre of identity.”

“I think all those descriptors could be applied to early Mother Mother music,” he adds. “It’s kind of andrygenous in tone, it veers off in many directions, it doesn't stick to the same key, time signature, or pop arrangement.”

In any case, the development has energized the members of Mother Mother. “We’re just trying to keep up to it, and greet it with good energy, with gratitude, with hard work,” he says. “And with great new music, to keep the story unfolding.”

Mother Mother plays the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium on May 8. For more information, visit mothermothersite.com.

“It’s kind of andrygenous in tone, it veers off in many directions, it doesn't stick to the same key, time signature, or pop arrangement.”

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2022-05-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

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