Spunky and kind of sloppy make up the essence of North Carolina band Museum Mouth, who toes the line between pop punk and that blanket statement description of lo-fi indie rock. Duel vocals deliver a male-female trade off, though singer/bassist Savannah Levin seems to bear the brunt of the vocal work. Unpretentious and anything but manicured, Museum Mouth delivers somewhat droning and grungy guitars with reedy vocals to channel an energy of “Who gives a fuck?”, not in the antiestablishment, angst ridden, teenage way, but more along the lines of, “We’re doing this because we want to. I guess you can listen.” Definitely in the same vein of early Superchunk and Lemuria, as fine publications like Sound As Language (who featured the band’s EP I AM THE IDIOT OF THE JUNGLE as a free download not too long ago) once said, Museum Mouth is a simple formula of buzzing microphones, thumping bass and rusty guitars from people who just want to make music.
Though most of the band’s full-length, the hilarious-yet sadly titled Tears In My Beer is fuzzily chaotic, some tracks like, “Planet Courtney” and “Virginia” mellow out to be a little more ambient and spacey in comparison to their punk inspired fellows. Tears In My Beer clocks in at less than 20 minutes, making it short and sweet, just the right amount of time for a gritty musical assault on the senses of your average listener. But for people with a penchant for Cap’n Jazz and Be Your Own Pet, Tears In My Beer will probably end up invoking its namesake over a cold one for being such a tease.
Tears In My Beer is available to stream in its entirety over at Punknews.org or to buy from the band’s merch store
Karl Kuehn, Graham High, and Savannah Levin shot the breeze with Reviewsic recently to talk about Tears In My Beer, their upcoming summer tour, and what their comic book personas would be.
Reviewsic: Can you give us a quick recap of what the band has been up to as of late?
Karl: Well, we put out a full-length record (Tears) and then we all got really busy with school and boring such stuff but now were working on new songs, and booking a summer tour!
Graham: And drinking heavily.
Reviewsic: If you could book a tour with any 3 bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Graham: Talking Heads…. BECAUSE THEYRE THE TALKING HEADS!
Savannah: My parents old band Category 5, so I could see my parents get real crazy.
Karl: Ke$ha. Because she makes my heart beat like an 808 drum.
Reviewsic: What are your top three musical influences?
Savannah: Any badass female that has a strong presence in recordings and on stage has a big influence on me. (Graham: Oh, like Iggy Pop.)
Karl: I’m influenced more by people, such as Kristen Stewart, and Micheal Phelps.
Graham: Sunn O)))
Reviewsic: Is there any instrument you don’t play, but wish you did?
Karl: I really wanna learn how to play the sitar.
Graham: Piano or some crazy drum machine…or something….
Savannah: I just wanna learn how to play bass.
Reviewsic: What are the last three albums or bands you listened to?
Karl: The last record I listened to was House Parts by Two Hand Fools. It’s not out yet but it’s seriously SO GOOD and I cannot stop listening to it!
Savannah: Phil Collins. Greatest Hits.
Graham: Xiu Xiu’s La Foret.
Reviewsic: If you could work with one person in the music industry (musician, label, producer etc), who would it be and why?
Savannah: Pass
Karl: You know Shakira plays drums?
Graham: Jonathan Richman- because he’s the fucking man. Everything he makes is so simple but brilliant.
Reviewsic: What was the most memorable concert you’ve ever attended?
Graham: Rad Fest.
Karl: Rad Fest.
Savannah: Rad Fest.
Reviewsic: Who are three of your favorite local bands?
Together: Well…there’s only one other band from Southport, but they hate us.
Graham: They play some wannabe sublime reggae music.
Karl and Savannah: But we have some friends in Wilmington that are attempting to create a music scene like Mourning is for Suckers, Photoclub, and Fractal Farm.
Graham: He is Legend
Reviewsic: What’s the back-story on how the band came to be what it is today?
Graham: I went to college with Karl and one day he said to me “Graham I’m gonna teach you how to play guitar and were gonna be in a band together”….ta-da!
Savannah: I hung out a lot with Karl and one day he was like “Savannah I’m gonna teach you how to play bass and were gonna be in a band with Graham”…ta-da!
Karl: I’m really pushy.
Reviewsic: Tell us about Tears in My Beer – is there a particular concept behind it? What was the process of making the album like?
Karl: There’s not as much of a concept behind the record as there is just a unifying theme in the songs, and I think the title sorta echoes the theme- it’s implying that we’re making light of a situation that in all reality is a huge bummer. But, we all wrote the songs on the record separately over the course of three or four months in a relatively scattered process. Like, Graham was living in Raleigh and he
would demo guitar parts and send them to me to get ideas flowing. Savannah and I would work on drum and bass parts and then Graham would come down and play the songs with us. And then we all collaborated on lyrics. In fact, we hadn’t even played a lot of the songs together as a band until after they were recorded. And we recorded them ourselves in less than a week. I think we were really lucky that the record ended up cohesive at all!
Savannah: The actual recording process for vocals was kind of insane. Karl and I had all these plans to start on a certain date but then really crazy things like car wrecks kept getting in the way. So recording vocals and most of the bass parts in Karl’s closet in a week was extremely stressful but exhilarating all at the same time.
Graham: One day I got this text from Karl that was like “Hey we should name the record Tears In My Beer.” I was really averse to it until Karl pointed out how sad and pathetic the title was/is and then I really liked it.
Reviewsic: How would you compare yourselves as musicians at this point as opposed to when you first began playing together?
Savannah: I think we can all agree we are waaay better at our instruments now then when we first started. I think about me playing a show live a year ago and I’m embarrassed for the rest of the band.
Karl: Basically that sums it up. I had some experience playing drums before Museum Mouth but I’ve definitely gotten much better and grown a lot as a musician in the year we’ve been a band.
Graham: I think Karl has gotten much better at drums. I still cant’ keep a tempo. Damn it.
Reviewsic: What are some of your favorite cities and/o venues to play? What are a few items essential to your “tour survival kit”?
Karl: We’ve never been on tour, so we’ll get back to you on this after this summer.
Savannah: If we had a tour survival kit it would include condoms, Plan B, and whiskey. I’m just kidding.
Reviewsic: What are the best and worst band moments so far in your career?
Karl: Our record release show with The Measure (SA) at the Soapbox was incredibly awesome. The worst was this one show we played at the upstairs of the Soapbox that our friend Chason didn’t book.
Graham: The best and worst band moment for me was when the other Southport band refused to play with us. No. Actually the worst band moment was when Karl and I were sitting on this hammock with our friends Pineapple Explode and the hammock broke. My ass never recovered.
Savannah: The worst band moment was definitely that one show in the upstairs of the soapbox. I yelled at my band mates pretty hardcore after that show, which was horrible. The best was the first time we were all in the same room and wrote a song at the same time. It was really unifying.
Reviewsic: If Museum Mouth were a comic book, what would your superpowers be and who would be your arch nemesis?
Graham: Gardening! My arch nemesis would be the groundskeepers at my apartment because they try to weed eat my plants.
Karl: I think my superpower would be pizza. My arch nemesis would be a pepperoni shortage.
Savannah: My superpower would be being decisive. My arch nemesis would be me right now.
Reviewsic: What are your plans for your music in the next year?
Graham: Become an ambient possibly drone metal band, and play the Gathering of the Juggalos.
Savannah: Stop Graham from turning this into something horrible.
Karl: To write and demo enough songs for a new full length, record some other songs for a split, and play as many shows as possible.
Tags: Album Review, Interview, New Music, Tour, Upcoming Shows
