Muck Spreader feel like the kind of band you really need to see live. One for when you’ve well and truly reached your beer capacity in a dark South London venue with sticky floors and all your mates. Putting inventiveness and spontaneity at the forefront of everything they do, frontman Luke Brennan and co. are currently celebrating the release of debut EP ‘Rodeo Mistakes’ with a surreal, metaphor-packed visual accompaniment that does a pretty bang-on job of summing up ‘the vibe’. The band explain: “Its disorientation is intentional to give the viewer an unsettling sense of motion like a plummeting cruise liner in the arctic or perhaps Noah’s desperation on the ark. Buckle in and firmly grasp your sick bag whitening your knuckles tightening your throat. Welcome to the nauseous world of Muck Spreader.” Give it a watch below, and find out more about the band, too.
Hi Luke, how’s it going? What’ve you been up to today?
I’m really well. I’ve just finished being shot for the new Vivienne Westwood campaign.
What first sparked your interest in music?
All of my family have sung in pubs forever, so it felt very natural. I’ve always been into music but the spark to create it begun when I had a serious injury, after being stuck in the mud. That ended my sporting career and left me bedridden for six months. Then I formed a punk band called Zulu.
Is there a particular style of music you’re drawn to?
Not exactly, but I do value honesty; honesty with the audience, honesty with oneself. For me, I find it apparent immediately when someone is faking it, but basically, I listen to everything.
Are you creative in non-musical ways too?
Yes, I try to create across as many mediums as possible. I’ve been intensely interested mostly with ceramics recently and am involved in every area of the muck world creation.
How did you lot get together then? Have you known each other long?
There was a point once in time at the top of a steep hill, where lightning struck a telephone box and caused an intense reaction. That spawned the mighty Muck as one collective organism that slowly over time, separated to create each individual member.
What’s your writing process like?
There’s no writing involved. It’s all spontaneous and off the cuff. We run purely on feeling and instinct. Everything is improvised and only played or spoken once.
And you’ve a new EP, how did you find the process of putting it together?
It was a great release of energy and emotion like a cruise liner overturning with the lifeboats and buoyancy aids being dished out by our resident genius the bass player, engineer, mixer and masterer: Paul Cousins.
What’s the best Muck Spreader song so far?
The ones that haven’t been made yet. But in terms of what’s out there, personally I like the song that was written off by everyone as a skit: ‘DRAW KNIFE’.
Who do you think is the most exciting band or musician around right now?
Muck Spreader, undoubtedly. When I first heard them, I almost spat out my morning coffee and scalded my dog. It hit like a toke from a shaman in the dark depths of Peru. I’ll never forget my first time.
Tell us a secret about yourself?
I’m a human, just like you. If you cut me, I’ll bleed just like you and eventually I’ll die just like you.
Muck Spreader’s debut EP ‘Rodeo Mistakes’ is out now.
