Mutemath plays an all-ages, sold-out show on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. at the Vaudeville Mews.

By Michael Swanger
scenescribe@mchsi.com

Much has been written in the last seven years about Mutemath's ascension in alt-rock circles, including their 2007 Grammy nomination, Alternative Press declaring them "The No. 1 band you need to see live before you die" and the commercial success of their second album, 2009's "Armistice," which debuted at No. 3 on Billboard's Digital Albums and Alternative Albums charts. But fans might be surprised what motivates them on their highly anticipated and aptly-titled album, "Odd Soul," due on Oct. 4.

" 'Odd Soul' is about separating the good from the bad in the way that we were raised," said drummer Darren King, a native of Springfield, Mo. "We were raised in a charismatic, Christian environment where we were dancing around blowing ram's horns, waving banners, shouting and, thankfully, hitting the drums as hard as you could.

"I was an intense Christian kid. I have all these crazy stories about how I thought I could heal the sick and walk up to strangers and change their lives and win them over and turn them into me. You have to have a lot of gall to do that. This record is about the struggle of coming to grip with the fact that certain parts of that bother me, while other parts feel like the truest thing I've known."

King, 29, says that growing up he was part of the Word of Faith Movement, a "non-denominational scene, more than anything." He says that you weren't allowed to say the word "sick," instead, "you were getting healed."

"It got to the point where it was complete reality denial," King said. "This album documents us giving up certain parts of that belief."

Christianity, certainly, is at the heart of Mutemath's popular alt-rock sound. Two of the group's founding members, bassist Roy Mitchell-Cardenas and singer Paul Meany, started with the Christian rock band Earthsuit in New Orleans. Shortly after their breakup, King began working with Meany as the production team known as The Digitals, which later became Math and helped produce Christian music for TobyMac. When they recruited guitarist Greg Hill, they changed their name to Mutemath, before adding Mitchell-Cardenas to the lineup in 2005.

"Growing up in that environment taught us to be a good band because we learned a lot about improvisation, and there was an acceptance for expressing yourself. The more emotional you got, the better the reaction you received, especially if you were real and raw," King said.

Raw emotions are at the heart of Mutemath's "Odd Soul." The group primarily wrote and recorded the album at Meany's home studio in New Orleans after the departure of Hill. All three remaining band members chipped in on guitar, though Mitchell-Cardenas is credited for playing most of the parts. The album also marks the first time that Mutemath produced its own album, their third for Teleprompt/Warner Brothers.

"We realized we'd kill ourselves and each other if we recorded it the same way we did the second record. This was a much healthier way for us to work," King said.

Since the recording of "Odd Soul," Mutemath has added Todd Gummerman on guitar, also a native of Springfield, Mo. He is in the midst of his first tour with the band, which includes a performance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" the night "Odd Soul" is to be released.

"Adding Todd to the band was easy. I emailed him a DVD of our live album and a month later he emailed me back audio recordings of him playing with the music, and he matched it note for note," King said.

The drummer says that he hopes "Odd Soul" will speak to kids who might be experiencing the same frustrations he did as a teenager.

"I hope there is some hyper-analytical, Christian kid who's buried himself in the Bible and maybe is living in Des Moines and gets a hold of the record and is no longer afraid of everything. I hope it spares someone a little bit of the awkwardness that I went through," he said. CV