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Mute Math (sometimes typeset as MUTEMATH or MuteMath) is a Grammy Award nominated American rock band from New Orleans that formed in 2003. Their music consists of many elements and has been described as everything from electro-alternative-rock to psychedelic-gospel to experimental-pop. The group consists of Paul Meany on keyboards & vocals; Darren King on drums, samples, and programming; Greg Hill on guitar; and Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas on bass, but they often perform on any mixture or variation of these instruments.
HistoryFormationMute Math started in 2001 as a long distance collaboration between Paul Meany in New Orleans, Louisiana and Darren King in Springfield, Missouri. The two had known each other from their work together in Meany's previous band Earthsuit. Occasionally Paul would receive instrumental demo CDs from Darren. Fairly impressed with his efforts, Paul contacted Darren and asked if he could mess with the demos a bit, adding some ideas of his own. Darren obliged and the two would set in motion a sort of songwriting ping-pong match that would carry on for several months until Darren was asked to fill in as drummer for Earthsuit as the experimental Christian-rock band began to quickly dissolve. After Earthsuit finally disbanded, King moved to New Orleans and began to talk of a possible collaboration with Meany. The two worked on demos and played a handful of shows under the moniker "MATH".
With the recruiting of guitarist Greg Hill, the trio worked in their New Orleans home studio writing and recording a whole new collection of songs
. Paul immediately played the demos for longtime friend and producer Tedd T, who fell in love at first listen. The trio continued to work on demos with Tedd T for a possible EP while playing shows with another Earthsuit member in Adam LaClave's art-rock group MACROSICK.
Reset EP, released September 2004.
Reset EPAfter months of considering different options for their new venture, the group decided to do things on their own and officially changed their name to "Mute Math" after discovering that "MATH" was already being used by another group. Meany recruited Tedd T and lawyer and former Earthsuit manager Kevin Kookogey to form Teleprompt Records as a way to independently control Mute Math releases. Teleprompt entered into a developmental-deal agreement with Warner Music Group in 2004, releasing Mute Math's debut Reset EP that fall. The band left MACROSICK, recruited bass player Roy Mitchell-Cardenas and began touring to promote the release, using popular social networking sites like MySpace to spread word of the group. As their fan base grew, it began to see an increasing number of shows sell out by the Spring of 2005. By the fall of that year, they joined The Music is Much Too Loud Tour opening for Mae and Circa Survive where they chronicled their shows and updated their video blogs on a nightly basis gradually attracting more and more people to the Mute Math ground-swell. The band sold over 30,000 copies of Reset EP before the album went out of print in 2006.
Mute Math, released September 2006. The first run of the album also included a bonus live EP, Live at the El Rey.
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In January 2006, the band set out on a tour in support of their self-titled debut album. It was independently released in response to Warner Music Group's indecision on what to do with Mute Math resulting in a marketing stalemate and the threat of the whole project getting shelved. So by late 2005, Teleprompt filed suit against Warner Music requesting Mute Math to be released from their contract while Teleprompt would proceed to promote and sell Mute Math’s self-titled debut on its own. (see Teleprompt Controversy for more details).
Cover of the live DVD Flesh and Bones Electric Fun, released March 2007.
The special edition of the album was only available as a "tour-only" release until it hit the Internet on Teleprompt's online store, selling more than 10,000 copies in its first month. Mute Math landed on the covers of Billboard and Pollstar being featured in Alternative Press, Paste, and Spin as well as on the MTV News program 'You Hear It First'. The group continued to tour vigorously, playing shows to crowds of thousands at festivals such as Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Van's Warped Tour, V Festival, CMJ Music Marathon in New York City, and Voodoo Music Experience in their hometown of New Orleans.
After months of legal wrangling with parent label Warner Bros. Records, Teleprompt settled litigation out of court in August 2006 with a re-negotiated contract with Warner.
WBR re-released the band's debut album Mute Math on September 26, 2006. The fully remastered album features reworked tracks from their Reset EP and a bonus limited-edition live EP. The album debuted at #17 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart.
The band returned to the road in early 2007 with opening dates for The Fray and Wolfmother in various cities and a brief headlining tour in Europe. Flesh And Bones Electric Fun, an exclusive live DVD was released on March 20, 2007 with an accompanying 43-city North American tour that ran through the first of May.
The band also received some unexpected publicity on American Idol when contestant Chris Sligh sang "Typical" on the show's Top 24 episode.
"Typical"Mute Math's first music video, for "Typical", premiered on YouTube on March 21, 2007. The video was directed by Israel Anthem and features the band performing the song backwards. The video made it on the New York Post Hot List and registered more than 100,000 views in less than four days. It took three weeks for Mute Math to learn their parts backwards. When asked whether singing backwards or drumming backwards was more difficult, Paul Meany answered, "Darren had it the hardest."
"Typical" was also released as Mute Math's first radio single on April 10, 2007. As of late June, the single started receiving major airplay in Modern Rock quickly rising up the Mediabase Alternative chart jumping from #115 to #65 and was also the second most added song on Alternative stations the week of June 13, 2007. The single then jumped to #36 the first week of August 2007, a position it held for six weeks before it moved to a peak position to #35.[title=Mediabase Alternative Charts]
"Typical" was featured on a television commercial for the Discovery Channel, featuring clips from shows like "Man vs. Wild," "Deadliest Catch," and "Dirty Jobs.
The group made limited appearances at various summer festivals in mid-2007 in order to work on writing and recording material for their forthcoming sophomore record. The band's debut performance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival coincided with their second appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
The group appeared on Transformers: The Album, released on July 3, 2007, performing the "Transformers Theme" in conjunction with the live-action film directed by Michael Bay (although the song did not appear in the film) and made a television appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman on July 17. The group was in the running for MTV2 and Virgin Mobile's Book The Band vote to open for the US Virgin Festival in Baltimore, Maryland in August (Aiden won the Book The Band contest).
Mute Math's debut album reappeared on Billboard's Top Heatseekers Chart on August 4, 2007 at #28, while the single "Typical" debuted at #39 on Billboard's US Modern Rock Chart the same week.
The band hit the road in support of the single in September 2007 with support from Eisley, which included two television appearances. The first was September 19, their second appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The show aired a taped performance of the band recreating the video the single "Typical" that was taped in front of the studio audience and then played back in reverse for the broadcast. Their second television appearance was their debut on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien performing "Break the Same" for the first time on television on October 17.
On November 12, 2007 Atlantic Records announced that the band would join Alanis Morissette on Matchbox Twenty's Exile In America Tour which kicked off in Hollywood, FL on January 25, 2008 and ran through mid-March.[title=Exile In America Press Release]
On December 6, 2007, the group was nominated for a Grammy Award for their short form music video for "Typical". "Control", the second and final radio single from Mute Math was released January 15, 2008. The music video for the single was filmed in Nashville in January, but its distribution was halted due to copyright issues in regards to a previously released clip from a European group. Citation needed
Spotlight EPThe group released "Spotlight" on the motion picture soundtrack for the movie Twilight in November 2008 to favorable reviews. The song was the first single from Armistice and was released digitally February 10, 2009 on Spotlight EP which included B side tracks and a remix of the song by Son Lux. The single reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Singles chart the week of February 28, 2008 and kept the spot for two consecutive weeks. The single dipped to #10 before making its last appearance on the chart at #3 the week of April 11, 2009. The group performed "Spotlight" for the first time on The Tonight Show on January 15, 2009, featuring guest appearances from LaClave and Allen from Club of the Sons and Jeremy Larson, all of whom have worked on the upcoming album. The EP was also released on limited edition vinyl on March 24, 2009.
Armistice{{cquote|Our goal is to embarrass the first record, that's what we're trying to do here, and I think we're on point to pull it off.|30px|30px|Paul Meany - OC Register - March 13, 2008
On April 4, 2008, Goodwin Films announced they were working on a documentary film about the making of Mute Math's new record. No further details have been announced regarding the release of the film.
According to the biography, the group had almost called it quits during the writing of the album. The band had written about 16 songs in the 3 years spent on the road touring and had expected to cut the list to 10 after settling down to record in their New Orleans home studio. Weeks of working with old ideas and bickering between the band mates lead the group to begin searching for an outside producer to help focus the group and stabilize the tension. During this search, the group met producer Dennis Herring and after hearing his input, decided to scrap all the previously written material and start from scratch, bringing Herring on board as producer of the album. The band worked over the next three months writing almost 20 new songs that would shape Armistice. The band then spent time at Herring's studio in Oxford, Mississippi recording the final touches of the album.
On January 14, 2009, King said in an interview that after a break for the holidays, they would "get back to recording in hopes of having everything done in March so that the album can come out in August. It has taken way longer than we would have ever imagined but we’re just not done with it yet." Additionally, he mentioned that the album was Mute Math's first album which involved collaboration among all four members of the band.
The title for the sophomore record was confirmed as Armistice on May 27, 2009 in an interview on InsideBayArea.com and then confirmed on the same day on the Mute Math forums Teleprompt Records and Warner Bros. Records made a joint press release on June 9, 2009 announcing the details of the album release including the name Armistice, album cover, and track listing, as well as the official US release date of August 18.
Armistice debuted at no. 18 on the Billboard 200, with over 18,000 units sold in the first week. The album also charted at no. 4 on Billboard Rock charts and no. 3 on the Billboard Digital Albums and Billboard Alternative Albums charts the same week.
Discography
EPs and albums- Reset EP - 2004 - Teleprompt/WEA
- Mute Math - 2006 - Teleprompt/WBR
- Live at the El Rey EP - 2006 - Teleprompt/WBR
- Flesh And Bones Electric Fun: Mute Math Live - 2008 - Teleprompt/WBR
- Spotlight EP Teleprompt/WBR, 2009
- Armistice - August 18, 2009 - Teleprompt/WBR
Singles- "Typical" (Teleprompt/WBR, 2007)
- "Control" (Teleprompt/WBR, 2008)
- "Spotlight" (Teleprompt/WBR, 2009)
- "Backfire" (Teleprompt/WBR, 2009)
Compilations- "Chaos" Aware 11 -Aware Records
- "Transformers Theme" Transformers: The Album - Warner Bros. Records
- "You Are Mine" appeared in the 2008 movies "Never Back Down" and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2".
- "Spotlight (Twilight Mix)" - Twilight Soundtrack
- "Typical" Appeared in The Stepfather (2009)
ChartsAlbumsSinglesNOTE: "Control" and "Peculiar People" appeared on CCR formats and charted for a short time before they were pulled from the CCM market.
Awards and nominationsAwards- Dove Award 2005 Best Modern Rock Song - "Control".
Nominations- Grammy Award 2008 Best Short Form Music Video- "Typical".
Filmography- Flesh And Bones Electric Fun (Teleprompt/WBR, 2007) — DVD Release
- Upcoming Documentary (Teleprompt/WBR/Goodwin Films, 2009) — Release details TBA
Tours- Spring 2005 - SXSW & The Reset Tour with Mat Kearney
- Summer 2005 - Cornerstone Festival
- Fall 2005 - The Music Is Much Too Loud Tour with Mae and Circa Survive
- Winter 2005 - The Album Release Tour with Vedera
- Spring 2006 - The Album Release Tour (Second Leg) with The Working Title
- May 2006 - The Album Release Encore Tour featuring Under The Influence of Giants, Lovedrug, and other guests
- Summer 2006 - Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Vans Warped Tour, V Festival
- Fall 2006 - Fall Tour with Shiny Toy Guns, The Whigs, Jonezetta, and Club Of The Sons
- Fall 2006 - Voodoo Music Experience & CMJ Music Marathon
- January 2007 - Winter College Tour opening for The Fray
- February 2007 - Headlining European Tour
- Spring 2007 - SXSW & Flesh And Bones Electric Fun Tour with The Cinematics, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Club Of The Sons, and one show with Wolfmother
- June 2007 - Headlining European Tour
- Summer 2007 - Street Scene, Bluesfest, Bonnaroo, Virgin Festival (Toronto & Vancouver) & Reading Festival (United Kingdom)
- Fall 2007 - Headlining Tour with Eisley, Pilot Speed, Voodoo Music Experience & CMJ Music Marathon
- Winter 2007 / Early 2008 - Exile In America Tour with Matchbox Twenty and Alanis Morissette
- Summer 2008 - Download 2008 in the US & Summer Sonic 2008 in Japan.
- Winter 2008 / Early 2009 - Eaglepalooza (Hattiesburg, MS/University of Southern Mississippi)
- Summer 2009 - Summer Sonic 2009 in Japan and Virgin Festival.
- Fall 2009 - Armistice Tour with As Tall As Lions, Voodoo Music Experience, and Austin City Limits Festival 2009
Television appearances- 'February 3, 2006 - CBS - The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
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Copyright Citations
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