BECCA MARTIN-BROWN
bmartin@nwadg.com
“I can’t breathe.
“I can’t breathe.
“Say his name
“feel his pain.
“Pray again.
“His name is not in vain.”
— From “Just Us” by Mud Lung
Just because music is LOUD — and might be classified as “doom metal” — doesn’t mean there’s no message in the lyrics.
“Just Us,” the first song on Fayetteville band Mud Lung’s new self-titled album, is a direct response to the Black Lives Matter protests and specifically to the death of George Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis police officers in May 2020.
“Blue on blue
“Black on white
“Never said that **** was right.
“Say what you mean, say how you feel.
“They don’t give a *** up on that hill.”
“Up on that hill” refers specifically to Capitol Hill and the judicial system, explains Mud Lung vocalist Andy York, and drummer Austin Oxner says the song is the “most meaningful to me right now,” not just for its message but because “it is the only song so far that is written entirely with all current members of the band.”
“I won’t sugar coat it, it’s difficult. I’ve been in several other bands in the past that never lasted as long as Mud Lung. I feel like it’s because we are willing to take breaks from the group so we don’t get too burnt out. Sometimes we go months without seeing each other; every other group I’ve been a part of will just break up after that amount of time without playing together. With Mud Lung, we just get right back to it.” — Andy York, Mud Lung vocalist
Mud Lung was formed in 2013, explains guitar player Anthony Harvell — known as “Harv” — and now includes former members of Deadbird, Deadeyejack and Dirtmother.
“Deadeyejack was a revolving door for band members,” says guitar player Todd Bohannon, “but the last formation had Austin on drums, Bryce Sarver on guitar, myself on guitar, Lenny Stewart (from Dirtmother) on bass, and Craig Hill on vocals. For whatever reason, we decided that since the band consisted of more Dirtmother members than Deadeyejack, we would switch over and play Dirtmother stuff instead. Lenny leaves the band, and we brought in Harv on the bass. It kind of seems like we played a show or two with that lineup, before our vocalist moved away.”
It was 2012 “or so” when Bohannon left the band, sold his gear and “walked away from the scene” for about seven years.
“They brought Andy in on bass and formed Mud Lung.”
“My whole life I have played in different bands, but when I started playing with the guys that were in Dirtmother and then that transformed into Mud Lung, it just clicked with me that this was the music that I really wanted to play,” Harvell takes up the story. “I feel lucky every single time I jam with these guys that I am getting to play with musicians as talented as they are.”
“In 2018-19, I started talking to Harv about music gear and buying equipment here and there,” continues Bohannon. “And he says something like ‘if you ever want to get loud again, let me know.’ So Harv and I started jamming again, not on Mud Lung stuff, but maybe to start a different band — and in the meantime I was going to the Mud Lung shows as a fan. Then Harv, Austin and I started jamming. In January 2020, they asked me to join Mud Lung, and I played my first show with them in February — and then covid happened.”
“When covid shut the world down, we decided it was time to get off our butts and get in a studio and put something out,” says Harvell.
The new album, Mud Lung’s first, was recorded in about a week during the summer of 2020 with Raif Box at Holy Anvil Recording Co. studio in Fayetteville — “this guy is so good at what he does … we started calling him The Wizard,” says Bohannon — and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege Mastering Studio in Portland.
“The time was right because of covid and Todd having joined and us having written a new song with him shortly before,” says Oxner. “Todd helped write the riffs [for ‘Just Us], and Todd has written so many of my favorite riffs that I have ever heard.”
The album is on streaming platforms like Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music and Bandcamp, and CDs are also available. Of course, they haven’t been able to promote the new music with live shows, but they promise they will.
“The other guys in the band may not agree with me, but I’ll play anywhere that will have us once the world gets back to normal,” says Harvell. “I miss playing shows and getting to go to shows!”
“When the world reopens, I’m sure we would be down for playing just about anywhere,” agrees Bohannon.
FYI
‘Mud Lung’
Mud Lung’s new self-titled album is available on CD at www.facebook.com/MudLung or mudlungdoom.bandcamp.com.
