THE MUTINEERS

We are back in action this summer. Check our schedule here. If you are in Washington and Oregon this July and August, come out and see us. We are breaking the ice at some of the first places to support us when we moved here back in 2016. Just so happens that the first three are all breweries. We are very pleased to once again be part of Wahkiakum County's Bald Eagle Day celebration. All of these shows will feature multiple sets, and help us stretch out after a long time without performing. Vancouver at Trap Door Brewing, Cathlamet at River Mile 38 Brewing, and Seaside Brewing in... Seaside. We will see you very soon.

The first proper show we played in Portland after we moved in 2016 was at Old Gilbert Road Tavern with our friends Hearts of Oak and Drunken Prayer. Last year we moved into an apartment just down the road from OGRT, which is cool. We will be performing there with Meredith Brothers on July 31. This our first Portland gig since February 2020 when we performed at Turn Turn Turn in NE just weeks before the country shut down. Special invitation to our local SE neighbors to come out to the show and help us make a home for live music in the Flats.

August will see us venture up the Gorge. We make our first appearance in White Salmon, WA at Everybody's Brewing. They host Monday evening music. I love that. Two weeks after that, we will be back in The Dalles playing at Route 30 for our first time. In between those two gigs, we will make our return to Erebus in Kelso, WA. We had a great time there with a couple of punk bands back in Feb 2020. Here at The Mutineers, we love to mix with all of the genres that inspire us. Sometimes that's folk, sometimes country, sometimes indie rockers or punk. We love it all and know our fans love all kinds of music too. Looks like this time we will be joined by a Motorhead tribute band. We are down.

Still some time to add a show or two this summer if they come up. We will perform at a private party in Seattle on September 5. But we are on the hunt for other dates in Northern Washington. For our California friends, we will see you in late September. Dates are starting to be released so keep your eyes out.

I sent my first batch of booking emails out this week. I haven't done that in about 15 months. After seeing some great news concerning vaccinations and some clear guidelines from the government, the emails just kinda spewed out of me before I knew what was happening. Merry and I get our second dose soon and encourage you to get vaccinated too. It's the only way for us to bring live music back. 

Our show has grown. We released a new EP just before the lockdown with songs we had only just begun to play live. And while we've been without shows, I've been writing a new full length album. Merry has used the down time to get her bass playing skills up. We will be performing some songs or entire shows with guitar and bass, and others with Merry behind the drums. Keeping it fresh for you and making sure we are always growing as musicians. We made new 12" vinyl, t-shirts, posters and koozies right before shut down as well. Can't wait to finally show them to folks :)

Look for us in the Pacific Northwest this year. No big tours in the works. This is a good opportunity for us to reset and start from square one again, reintroducing ourselves to our home community. We can't wait to see you again. Show announcements coming soon. Book us for your event or venue at mutineersmusic [at] gmail.com 

Our 2011 album "From The Dirge To The Dance" turns 10 years old this year, so we dug back into the archives and put together this video for our instrumental song "A Summer's Minotaur" with some photos and tour footage from that era. We were a four-piece band back then, touring all around California with fun trips to Idaho for Ranchfest, stops in San Francisco, Portland, and who could forget the time we played at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas?  Hope you enjoy this little trip back in time...

Merry Young - Drums
Michael Astudillo - Acoustic guitar
Terry Luna - Upright bass
Brian Mathusek - Electric guitar
Recorded by Tucker Bodine at Playback Studios in Santa Barbara copyright The Mutineers 2011

FREE SHIPPING ON ALL ITEMS IN THE MERCH STORE NOW THROUGH 12/31. HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE

It's almost Thanksgiving and you know what that means. Actually, no... no we don't know what it means. Certainly not the same thing it has meant in previous years. Most of the country is back into some kind of March-like lock down and hospitals are full or filling up. It's disappointing and sad to think of what our health care professionals are going through. We try to focus on what we have control over in our lives, and move forward the best we can. It is not a good time to be a professional musician, but not all is bleak. We continue to create art and music, and hope for the best.

After wading through the strange purgatory of the first half of 2020, Merry and I have settled back in Portland. We managed to perform live twice this summer at restaurants that followed health guidance. Our screen printing shop is set up once more. Now with the dark weather upon us, that little window we had to get out there responsibly is gone. To make up for the lost stage time, I've started to live stream a solo acoustic performance about once a month since August. I was honestly far more nervous before my first live stream than any show I've played in years. Because I didn't know what technical or acoustical problems I would have, because I was terrified that absolutely no one would watch or participate in the chat, and because I have never played a full set completely solo, I ended up completely sweating through my "show shirt" by the second song of that first live stream. But I made it through and as the show went on, got more and more comfortable. 

I've been playing a few Mutineers songs in each live stream, but the set list has been 90% covers. Some are songs I picked and some are songs I solicited from you all via FB. My most recent set was covers of songs written by our band buddies, all independent artists we've been playing with for years. You can watch the full performance on our Youtube page . There's a list of the artists I covered in the description of the video. You can also check out this Spotify Playlist I made with all of the original versions of the songs in the order they were played on the show. The other live streams are still available on FB and can be found on our timeline.

I'm definitely sold on the value and experience of the live stream. The reality is, for many folks, getting out to the bar or club to come see the Mutineers live is challenging to say the least. "The bar" is not a place where everyone feels comfortable, and the typical show time hours are not for the faint of heart. Don't get me wrong, I actually love the classic bar environment, but I also get why many do not. But even if you love the bar too, lots of people who might want to go don't because they are either: not in the town we are playing, parents who can't ditch their kids for a rock show at 11pm., typically asleep by the time we play because they get up at 5:30 for their jobs, or they have a billion other obligations that have to take precedence. 

Live streams are not comparable to a live show. The sound will never be as good or as big. We still can't figure out how to involve the drums because we live in an apartment. The lighting, the stage, the anticipation, none of it is as effective over digital media. It's not the same, but it doesn't have to be. I have found it to be the most intimate performance experience I've been involved with. I can choose to read and engage in audiences reactions in real time. The feedback is more personal and more frequent than the somewhat embarrassing and rushed experience of saying "good job" to us as we hurry to get our equipment off stage at 12:30am. The audience can choose when to start and stop the performance. They can tune in from around the world, and I'm happy to report that we had viewers from as far away as the UK and Southeast Asia. I've even been sent pictures of folks watching on their huge smart TVs with surround sound. We picked up almost 600 views of the video AFTER it was live. It takes a long time to prepare for these live streams because each show is entirely different material. It is really powerful to know that the performance continues to have legs after the live stream ends. Thank you for the support. I am humbled.

Tune in on Wednesday 12/23 as I live stream Christmas-Eve Eve. I'll be sitting at the synthesizer, performing some classic tunes that would normally be a part of our annual Holiday Spectacular. The tradition will continue albeit in Covid lockdown fashion. Don't forget to visit our store. Give the gift of The Mutineers for this holiday season. FREE SHIPPING! 

At long last our record has arrived! Our double EP featuring No Winter and Threshold on 12" black vinyl is now in stock in our online store and available to order now. To all you Kickstarter backers, thank you so much for your patience, everyone should have their record by the first week of August. Last night, we sat back and shared a toast as we listened to our first album on vinyl. Merry and I are in Portland now, staying with friends while we look for a more permanent place to call home. A lot of things have changed for us as we adapt to this new reality of limited gatherings and social distancing. But when you listen to this record, we want you to imagine us playing to a packed house. Then, pretend we can all give each other sweaty hugs after the show. Finally, picture us loading up and heading out to our next gig, driving in the van on the open road, flying that ship straight into the sun... 

Hope to see you all again soon!

Brian and Merry

Stream Track #5 - Straight Into The Sun 

This song was deeply enhanced by the exquisite pedal steel playing of Raymond Richards. He also joined me at the end for the fun electric guitar duet. Thanks Raymond! 

Getting out on a national tour has been a lifelong goal of mine. Merry got the bug too as soon as we went on our first two-weekend tour on the west coast. For over 3 years we’ve been circling the country playing mostly small venues, dive bars, breweries and restaurants. It has been an incredible ride and brought us so many new friends as well as the ability to continue life-long friendships with actual in-person visits on a regular basis. We’ve had the opportunity to grow as musicians and performers by playing more often than I ever thought possible. But there are nights out there that truly test us. In the midst of the difficulties of being an obscure independent rock duo, living out of a van, I’ve had to reflect on what truly matters. I don’t know where this ship is headed, but I’m very fortunate to take the ride with Merry, a talented, hard-working, and beautiful person. It doesn’t always come up roses out there, but we are still a couple of the lucky ones. Here’s my ode to Merry Young and our life, come what may.

The full EP is now up and available to purchase as a whole. Thank you for stopping by and listening to our new songs. Please check out our merch store. We would love to get you a new shirt, a handmade CD, or a screen printed poster. As always, they are designed by Merry and printed by Brian. Hope to see you out there from the stage sometime soon!

STREAM TRACK #4 - FREE RADICAL

This one is a shoutout to those amazing people in our lives who barrel through the bad times and the good with incredible verve. Equal parts creation and destruction, these archetypes are the ones who can laugh louder, party harder and later, and seem to shrug off the stuff in life that can level the average mortal. They can elevate us and take us to places we would never go on our own, but they can also take us down with them in a fiery wreck. It’s the danger in them that makes them so intriguing. They are attractive in the truly magnetic sense, get close enough and you will be swept up in their energy. There is a scary side to it. After all, what goes up must come down (at least on this planet). Who knows if it’s good or bad? I’m happy to have had the experience either way. 

Enjoy the rock n roll. Back to the basics with guitar, bass, drums, and two vocals.

Stream Track #3 - You Can’t Run Away 

You’ve doubtless heard it said many times before, during some frustrated conversation about the troubled state of society. If we could only start over, with just the good people, our people, we could get everything right. I’ve heard this sentiment from family and friends as both a melancholic and unrealistic wish as we temporarily escape our troubles, or as a serious plan of action where we plot out how to buy land and start a new community. I think these moments provide some necessary relief and camaraderie when the news is getting us down. But underneath it all, my pessimistic side is nagging at me. All of the troubles we see in the world are universal to us all. Greed, gluttony, lust, rage, and the rest of the “deadly sins” live inside all of us. They aren’t someone else’s problem, they are our collective inescapable challenge. 

This folk song features a Nashville-tuned guitar played by yours truly, and the addition, once again, of Raymond Richards’ mellotron and bass playing. If you’ve been following along with all of our releases, you will have already noticed Merry’s beautiful vocals providing harmony in key spots. Her voice on the choruses of this song make me really happy. When it’s all said and done, I hope you will see this song as a hopeful tune, rather than a pessimistic anthem. I think facing our challenges makes our celebrations so much more richer and meaningful.

Stream Track #2 - The Great Columbia

We’ve spent a lot of time around the Columbia River these past few years. It’s an ancient river, having been carved out by multiple massive volcanic eruptions over 10’s of thousands of years. It has stories to tell. It was the life blood of Indigenous people for perhaps 10,000 years. It led Lewis and Clark to the ocean and the end of their epic journey, which in turn became the seed for European settlement. There have been industries and villages which have come and gone. This history is painted all around the Lower Columbia River, as well as up into the hidden valleys where its tributaries flow. Cellist Andrew Emlen lives up in one of those sparsely populated, soggy, and beautiful valleys. It was an honor to have him perform on this track, our ode to one of the world’s great rivers. Producer, Raymond Richards, added some key elements with his mellotron, including accordion and mandolin. We hope this folk song will give you some wistful moments. In these dark times, it is hard to imagine that the river continues on to the sea and that all things will pass. If you have children to put to sleep tonight, or if you have trouble finding rest yourself, you can sing the classic existentialist tune that gave inspiration to this song: 

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

All this week we are releasing a single a day from our new EP, No Winter. Each day we will post a new song and make it available to stream from right here on our website with the full EP available for purchase this Friday. You can also order the CD now from our merch store and we will send it out after the Friday release. Be sure to check out our latest shirts and posters while you are at it. We stocked up big time for an extensive tour before we all ended up in lock down. We would love to get some of this merch into your hands instead of keeping it in our closet. And now, let's get down to the business at hand...

Stream Track #1 - No Winter

The title track of our new EP, No Winter features the intense and dramatic cello playing of Andrew Emlen, an accomplished musician and songwriter based in Wahkiakum County, Washington. Our engineer/producer Raymond Richards joins the rhythm section and is on the bass throughout the EP, just as he was on 2018’s Threshold EP. We hope you enjoy this arrangement of The Mutineers, we love the way it kicks things off. Here’s a bit about what influenced the song: 

No Winter is a dark, folk-rock, parable based on an ancient Taoist story. I first heard the tale while watching the indie documentary, The Bill Murray Stories. I think it had an impact on me because of a deep need to be more stoic about life’s ups and downs. My own emotional rollercoaster was making me a bit sick at the time. You can read the original tale first or wait until after you’ve listened to our song to see if it enhances the experience. Either way, it’s neither good, nor bad :) 

There once was farmer who had a friendly neighbor. One day his horse runs away. And his neighbor comes over and says, to commiserate, “I’m so sorry about your horse.” And the farmer says “Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?” The neighbor is confused because this is clearly terrible. The horse is the most valuable thing he owns. 

But the horse comes back the next day and he brings with him 12 feral horses. The neighbor comes back over to celebrate, “Congratulations on your great fortune!” And the farmer replies again: “Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?” 

And the next day the farmer’s son is taming one of the wild horses and he’s thrown and breaks his leg. The neighbor comes back over, “I’m so sorry about your son.” The farmer repeats: “Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?” 

Sure enough, the next day the army comes through their village and is conscripting able-bodied young men to go and fight in war, but the son is spared because of his broken leg. 

And this story can go on and on like that. Good. Bad. Who knows?