Heavy metal quartet Mudvayne released their latest self-titled
album and follow up to 2008's "The New Game" on December 21st,
2009. The album's cover features distinctive black light responsive
artwork done by tattoo artist Paul Booth. Three sample tracks from
the new album, titled "Scream With Me," "Beautiful and Strange,"
and "Heard it All Before," are available for streaming through
Mudvayne's MySpace page. Mudvayne's bass
player Ryan Martinie spoke with me about the album, the process of
making the black light cover, and the group's plan to stay off the
touring circuit for the near future.
xMetal: You’ve had a good deal of commercial success with
Mudvayne so far. How has the experience been overall and is there
anything you’d still like to accomplish that you haven’t yet?
Ryan: That’s the eye of the beholder I guess. I think in general
we judge success as something completely different than what would
be called commercial success. We’ve been successful with each other
for one just for sticking together for this long, being that we are
four very different points of the compass. That’s probably more an
achievement than any commercial something that we have supposedly
achieved. The process has been of paramount importance to us the
whole way through. I feel very thankful for everything that people
have given for us. We don’t ever know what people are going to like
or enjoy or if it matters. We don’t go about the art thinking “this
is going to matter to everybody.” I think it’s more self serving
than that. You make what you make because that’s the only thing you
can do. If people enjoy it that’s a wonderful byproduct.
xMetal: I’ve read that the new self-titled album was recorded at
the same time as “The New Game.” Is that correct?
Ryan: Not exactly and actually not at all. That is a
misconception about the two records. They were done at completely
different times and recorded at two different times. There are no
carry overs from one to the other. The relationship between the
records thematically isn’t there, other than that they are Mudvayne
records that we wrote together. They are completely different
because of the time in-between and the space we were in
individually and as a group together was completely different from
one record to the next. We didn’t do any touring in-between so I
think that’s where that comes from that “these records were done
together.” I guess in a very abstract or obtuse way you could
possibly say that, but the songs were crafted individually and the
albums were made singly on their own. They were done at different
times and feel different to me at least.
xMetal: How does the album sound in comparison to “The New Game”
and what does the lyrical content deal with?
Ryan: I don’t put a whole lot of stock in comparisons between
our records. That’s for everyone else to decide what those
distinctive differences are if there is a difference at all. It’s a
Mudvayne record. You’re not reinventing the wheel here, it’s going
to have a drummer, a bass player, a singer, and a guitar player.
It’s not an artist breaking away with a completely different
implementation. We didn’t head into a completely different
direction. What’s different about it I can’t put my finger on it
exactly. As a band we’ve adopted a more personalized approach to
the songs. The essence is still there that we aren’t trying to tell
you how to think.
xMetal: I saw the black light artwork for the album which looks
pretty cool. How did that come about?
Ryan: We heard it hadn’t been done and thought we could put
something out that was fresh and new. We weren’t even sure it could
be done. When talk about the artwork came up we asked if we could
even do it and got an answer back that we could. So we went to work
to see what would happen. Paul Booth was brought in to work on it,
or accepted to be a part of it. He’s a master artist and
immediately everyone jumped on that idea. Once we got the past the
OK for the black light reflective stuff we went to who would do it
and what would be the concept. Paul and Chad spent a great deal of
time going over the concept and what that was going to be.
xMetal: Will there be any touring for the new self-titled
album?
Ryan: Not that I’ve heard. I think this one is going to ride
itself out. I think that’s the plan. Part of it is that we’ve done
a lot of touring fairly recently. You don’t want to keep suckering
your fans. They can only buy so much Mudvayne paraphernalia and go
to so many shows. That’s part of it as a band, if you are going out
there and selling the same stuff you want to give people a break.
We aren’t trying to suck people dry of all their hard earned cash.
Give them a break and something to tide them over until there is
another Mudvayne record.
xMetal: I’d like to know a little more about you personally as a
musician. Who are some of your biggest influences and what sort of
music do you listen to in your free time?
Ryan: That’s a pretty hard question to answer. For me there’s
not a separation of experience and the outcome from that experience
from everything I’ve been exposed to in life. I can’t point to this
one artist I’ve listened to over the years. I listen to pretty much
everything. Yanni, Michael Bolton, I’m into it all. I don’t care
what it is or even if it’s something I don’t like. There are things
you need to be exposed to. Not every book I read, not every piece
of art I see, not every song I listen to needs to be my thing, but
it’s all just as important. I care more about the experience of it
all than any one artist I specifically like. I wouldn’t say that
I’ve been more influenced by the things that I like than the things
that I don’t like or was indifferent too. It’s all been a part of
what has come out of me musically.