![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/stump_mutts.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAsheville and Western North Carolina is home to thriving scenes for most every music genre and subgenre; happily, there’s a seemingly endless supply of Americana artists, bluegrass pickers, jam band noodlers, rhyming rappers, jazz musos and synthesizer wizards. But the Stump Mutts<\/b> aren’t having any of that; the four-man group from Asheville unapologetically calls itself a rock band. The group celebrated the release of its fourth studio album, Love Hate<\/i>, with a September 1 show at the Grey Eagle.<\/p>\n
And while Stump Mutts \u2013 a band that grew out of guitarist and songwriter and Neal Ward<\/b>‘s one-man musical project \u2013 appreciates the advantages of local world-class recording studios like Sound Temple and Echo Mountain, Love Hate<\/i> was recorded in Ward’s basement. \u201cI started recording probably about 15 years ago,\u201d he says. \u201cJust learning, reading up on it, [watching] videos \u2026 all that stuff. And every time I\u2019ve done it, it gets a little better.\u201d<\/p>\n
That no-frills approach \u2013 one that aims simply to document what the Stump Mutts sound like when the sing and play \u2013 is the guiding aesthetic of the 13-song Love Hate<\/i>. \u201cA lot of times in the past when I was recording I would ‘hide’ some of my vocals with effects,\u201d Ward admits. \u201cI might add a little more reverb on the mix; it was a self-conscious, hearing-your-own-voice thing.\u201d Thanks to encouragements from his band mates \u2013 guitarist Derek Allen<\/b>, bassist John Lindsey<\/b> and drummer Patrick Wells<\/b> \u2013 Ward says he quit \u201chiding.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were going for a really ‘live’ sound,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve seen plenty of bands where I\u2019ve caught them live and then found that their album sucks, because it\u2019s over-produced.\u201d Moving away from the solo nature of the first two albums he released as the Stump Mutts, both 2014’s We Can All Relate<\/i> and the new Love Hate<\/i> benefit from the presence of a real band.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Allen’s musical path is one familiar to may musicians of his generation. \u201cI\u2019ve been in band since I was 15 years old, high school bands,\u201d he says. \u201cWent off to college, had a couple college bands.\u201d One of those toured or seven years, playing House of Blues dates and other high-profile venues. But one by one, Ward and his band mates got married, had kids. \u201cIt was time to dial back\u201d the music, he recalls.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Ward and his family moved to Asheville. And though he and his wife had a toddler at home, he decided, \u201cI still need to do music; it\u2019s kind of my therapy.\u201d That’s when he started work on his own to record the Stump Mutts’ 2011 self-titled debut, while putting together the home studio he calls Dolphin Rage.<\/p>\n
Ward first came to work with drummer Patrick Wells through another band’s recording project at Dolphin Rage; when that band fell apart, he asked Wells to become part of a \u201creal\u201d Stump Mutts lineup, one with new songs. Meanwhile, Ward and Allen had been passing notes about music during meetings at work. <\/p>\n
Lindsey was the last to join. Well says, \u201cIt\u2019s hard to find a really cool bass player who doesn\u2019t have an ego …\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen finishes his band mate’s sentence. \u201c \u2026 and who only wants to be a bass player.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Stump Mutts’ music isn’t completely frivolous and party-themed, though some of the song titles might lead one to suspect otherwise. Led by Lindsey’s thundering bass, the lyrics of \u201cHot Mess\u201d have more in common with Cheap Trick or Van Halen. And the jangling alt-rock of opening track, \u201cAll the Kids Are Out Tonight\u201d leans in a direction that suggests a more melodic take on the shaggy, flannel-shirted grunge of 1990s Pacific Northwest bands.<\/p>\n
The Stump Mutts may have missed out on a potential cross-marketing tie-in \u2013 or even an endorsement deal \u2013 with their song \u201cCardinal Gin.\u201d On its face, titling a song after a product made in North Carolina seems like a good strategy for an Asheville band. But the Kings Mountain-based distillery would probably have some issues with the lyric, \u201ckiller weed, Cardinal Gin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey haven’t approached us or anything,\u201d says Derek Allen.<\/p>\n
But \u201cCardinal Gin\u201d isn’t really a stoner anthem, says Ward. Instead he describes it as \u201ca dichotomy of the guy who wants to just kinda live life and get out there and enjoy the weekend, but who has this terrible job with a terrible work week and stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Full of the knowledge that his and Ward’s boss might read this story, Allen quickly chimes in. \u201cNot that we<\/i> have terrible jobs and terrible work weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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