Canadian indie rock band Mother Mother are about to embark on their sophomore tour of Australia. I sat down with Vocalist/Guitarist Ryan Guldemond ahead of the tour to talk what’s new since their first tour of Australia last year and since the release of this years “Grief Chapter”. The bands story is one that is really is a modern-day fairy tale. The band went viral through the use of songs posted by fans on TikTok videos. From there the attention to the band simply snowballed. What may surprise you is that the band has been together and releasing music for twenty years. The band have been touring harder than they ever have and are playing to massive audiences. The November Australian and New Zealand show will be on another level. If you haven’t checked out the band, I seriously urge you too.
Andrew : welcome to The Rockpit and Australia Ryan. How are you going?
Ryan : We’re all good. And how are you?
Andrew : I’m good. Excellent. The big news is you guys are heading to our wonderful country in the middle of next month for a run of shows across not only Australia but New Zealand. Obviously, this year has been a massive year for the band with the incredible release of “Grief Chapter”, tell me a little bit about the year that has been 2024 so far.
Ryan : It’s been great. It’s nice to release a record because you just spend so much time under a rock recording it, shutting out the world. So, it’s nice to set those songs free and then reconnect to the world and the audience. We’ve never toured so much in a year, it’s so extreme, right? It’s like making these records and isolating and then sharing them and connecting socially in such a big way. It’s, it’s very polarizing way to live.
Andrew : It absolutely has to be. When it comes to embarking on a tour in what has been the busiest year for you guys. The connection that you get from your fans, there’s been a nineteen-year history in building the band and the brand and, and, and you know, the, the global success that the, that the band has had. How crucial is it to get out there and to play these shows and to connect with the fans?
Ryan : Let’s see here. I guess aside from making music that people like, it’s probably the most crucial element to I think surviving in the music industry, because I think like people want to connect to a culture, to a personality, to a human experience beyond just enjoying and consuming music. In the live space, you can really nurture that. You can really speak to your audience and create a memory that is personal to them that they take as their own and shapes. The story of, of their life. And if that’s a profound and positive memory that you’ve helped to curate for another human with the, with music they love as the soundtrack, then, then they’re in, you know, they’re invested. They will come back they’ll stay on the train of the band. It’s hard to achieve that with music alone, with playlists and social media.
Andrew : For sure. And I think the key focus for everything that I’ve seen and read about you guys is that community inclusion and connection is something that you’re all very passionate and really connected to. Was there, or were there bands or artists that did that for you growing up?
Ryan : You know it’s interesting. Not really. Like there’s music that we love. I can only speak for myself, but I was never really a super fan of a band and attended lots of shows. Like my favourite band is the Pixies. I grew up falling in love with them after they were disbanded. Thinking I’d never see them in my life and then they got back together and then I saw them and it was like a holy experience. It was truly transcendent and so exciting and something I’ll never forget. I was happy to see them that once like, I didn’t want to go and follow the tour around North America. It was that prize at the end of the rainbow, you know, to a certain degree you followed this career and it just puts a bow on everything. I think, you know, being of a certain age and the age that I am, music for me has always been a very strong saviour.
Andrew : It’s been something that I’ve always connected to and it’s been a message or a feeling or an energy, that has seen me through so many things and so many songs and artists are the soundtrack to my life. Do you think it’s a big responsibility as an artist to have on somebody? Because there are obviously these fans that sort of hang on everything that you do and that are so engaged in such a positive way. Do you feel that there’s a social responsibility there at all?
Ryan : I think there’s a responsibility to be honest in your craft. If you do that, then you can really let go. I think it’s when you’re trying to sculpt something to make a certain impression or to appease, I think you just get into dangerous territory of upsetting everyone, including yourself. I think creatively speaking when you write from your heart and someone’s going to connect with it deeply. If you connect to it deeply, somebody will, and that’s the recipe that we try to follow and when you write as a band is it a collective based on these personal experiences? Are they really a time capsule or a hallmark, a musical diary? It starts with me alone in a room with a guitar, piano and a computer. I create a song and then I share that to the band and then we sort of dress up the skeleton. We add wardrobe to the form and beats and colours and harmonies, but the nuts and bolts of the writing, the sentiment, the chord progression and the melody and the basic arrangement is something that I produce by myself. I try not to premeditate what a song is about. I feel like all the rich mythological wisdom that makes a song great comes from a place that is not up here in your head. It’s just subconscious, it’s abstract and if you get yourself into the zone and enter that like flow state, then all that information is just very willing to show itself. From there, I guess you can architect all of that chaos into something that makes a bit more sense, but that kernel of an idea needs to be free of me thinking it into being.
Andrew : With social media having the reach that it does, and I think the band knows pretty much as well as anybody with the power of social media and it’s reach. Having the band just literally explode across TikTok back in 2020. What do you attribute that to? Is that the connection that people found within the music or was it something else? Have you been able to analyse and understand that?
Ryan : I think it was the connection that people found to the music and then it was the connection to the community that found the music and then distributed it. It had very little to do with us as individuals. People liked the music and then the people who like the music really have a strong identity and a rich cultural aspect to themselves. So people who then were connected to the music. I think we’re connecting to the audience as well and bonding and finding refuge, identity, similarity and solidarity with this audience. It was interesting to watch, it was like early pandemic days and we just kind of sat back and watched this thing birth itself almost as voyeurs watching from like from a peephole. But then it did come time for us to like introduce ourselves and Hi, you know, like we’re, we’re the face behind the sound and then begin the journey of trying to authentically connect to the audience who is markedly younger than us and, and see where it goes. There were always thoughts of maybe they won’t connect to us you know. Maybe it’s this or that, maybe it’s our image or our personality will be inaccessible for whatever reason. So far it’s been great. I feel like despite the age gap, we are connecting around unity, love, positivity and music and you know, I think those are things that can cross generations.
Andrew : I think it’s a message and, you know, a feeling that, that, and I think that’s why I sort of mentioned before when I asked, was there a band that particularly connected to?
Ryan : Music does connect you in those ways and it can be a saviour, it can be an outlet, it is a way to cope with life for some people that may not have other coping mechanisms. I know this personally, music has been an ah-ha moment in my life so many times; and if you can do something positive within those realms, if it changes a life, saves a life, gives somebody, you know, a bit of confidence and a bit more acceptance in the world, then it’s a, it’s a great thing.
Andrew : Definitely. Your first encounter, if I’m correct and if my research has done me right, your first encounter Australia would have been with The Cat Empire going way back to 2006.
Ryan : Oh yeah, good research. Wow. Very good. I loved that first Cat Empire record that came out. It’s so good.
Andrew : Have you maintained a relationship with those guys over the years, and are they still a band that still connects with you?
Ryan : No, we haven’t maintained a relationship, and I don’t know. I honestly haven’t listened to the Cat Empire in years, so you’ve jogged my memory. I’ll have to go down the rabbit hole again. Are they still active?
Andrew : Yeah, they’re still active. They’ve had a couple of line-up changes of late, but they’re active again and touring sporadically which is great. They have always been a great live band. When was the last time you guys were actually in Australia? I’ve been trying to figure it out.
Ryan : Our first and only tour was like a little over a year ago.
Andrew : I knew there had been a tour before and I was trying to figure out whether it was pre or post pandemic. The first time you came out to Australia, what did you expect?
Ryan : Our position was unique because we went viral, so we had the ability to observe the metrics in Australia and go, wow, there’s a lot of people listening all of a sudden, someone’s going to come out to the show. A lot of the time when you’re beginning in a new market, it’s like, Okay, let’s just roll up our sleeves and start from zero and play to five people and then over the course of say 20 years, you know, we get that up to a thousand people incrementally. We were gifted this extraordinary position of entering a market and playing to 2000 people for the first time in Sydney. Right. Because of the TikTok thing. So, we’re lucky.
Andrew : Are there any words of wisdom that you would have given yourself from today, back when you started?
Ryan : I guess so. Although I guess if I had given myself these words of wisdom, maybe I would have followed it and changed the trajectory of my life, but I think I would say like, you know, don’t. It’s so cliche, but be yourself and more specifically, it’s okay to be sweet and nice and shy and inhibited and not impressive in the social arena of life. I think I just, I put so much importance on making an impact socially that I ventured away from who I was. I catalysed so much pain for myself and in the long run by doing that and it just would have been so much easier just to be like, okay, this is who I am. This is what I’m comfortable with and that’s good enough. I’ll attract the right people and the right story by just being authentic. It’s so cliche, but the wisdom in it is be yourself.
Andrew : That’s an important message. It really is. Authenticity these days where you have social media platforms that I think at times can be so non authentic is what keeps people connected.
Ryan : Mmhmm, agreed.
Andrew : With this run of shows, which is obviously supporting the “Grief Chapter” what can we expect? I mean, from, from people that saw you the last time you were out here, what’s different in the show aside from the songs?
Ryan : I think it’s a bit more grand production wise and I think we’re a better band. We’ve played 500 shows since then. I feel like this whole chapter of our story has catapulted us into really fine form. It’s like pre-covid, we were pretty good, but then we were ushered into this school or this bootcamp of playing hundreds of shows per year in front of massive crowds. We went on a stadium tour with Imagine Dragons and we’re playing to 50 000 people every night and so you just don’t get away with not putting on a really animated big energy show with a tour like that. We’ve just learned a lot about what it means to possess a stage and me personally as the front person have learned a lot about the importance of connecting beyond the music, through words, through presenting a message through fostering a human connection throughout ninety minutes. That connection I believe is of equal importance to the music. People feel like we see them and we’re talking to them and we have something to say beyond the lyrics on a more human level and that they want that, we want them to walk away with after that show is over. I feel like we’ve gotten so much better at all of that. I think it makes for a much more moving, heartfelt and connective experience. On top of that the show is more entertaining because we’re better performers and the light shows better, blah, blah, blah. The whole thing is just elevated.
Andrew : On a personal note, having been thrust into playing so many shows how important is it for you to practice self-care for yourself and for your bandmates? How important is the downtime when you get it?
Ryan : I think it’s extremely important. I think when you start like prioritizing your health, you’re so shocked and humbled by like how much better all your relationships are and you look back. You’re like wow. I was like under a blanket and it’s the same with the shows. It’s like I can’t believe I used to play shows so unhealthy, it’s so much better now. I’m so much more present and connected, so it’s so important to prioritize health, not just in the industry, but just in life because the connection to the world and to other humans, I think is much more true and, and strong when you’re healthy.
Andrew : Without a doubt. You have just wrapped up a North American tour. You’re about to kick off two weeks in South America as a nice little warmup for Australia. Beyond the Australian shows, what’s next for Mother Mother?
Ryan : We have so much coming up down the line. Some of I can’t really talk too much about but we’re releasing a lot of new music over the next six months. First up is a release of twenty demos that span the last twenty years. It’s going to be a really cool package of stuff from the bedroom twenty years ago when we were just little pipsqueaks. We’ve taken demos from every album, so it’s not just focused on one era. It’s a real retrospective, I’m really, really excited about this release. We’re definitely waxing nostalgia with that, but on top of that, this whole thing that happened to us, just birthed this work ethic and creative spark. We have so many new songs, so much new energy and so much eagerness and willingness to show up and work hard and produce at a high rate right now. Which is cool because we’ve been doing this for 20 years. I thought we were working hard when we were younger, but now seeing, what we’re doing now, looking back and comparing it, it’s like, okay, we were slacking.
Andrew : That’s a great place to be in a career knowing that you’ve got that growth and what an amazing way to document twenty years is to go and release a package of demos of the journey of the band. From the bands rawest moments to today. We are out of time Ryan and I really do want to thank you for your time. I appreciate it so much. There is so much I would like to talk about in the back end of the band. The upcoming tour is the important thing here. We can’t wait to have you do your thing live. I just wanted to thank you on behalf of all of us here at The Rockpit and Australia for your time.
Ryan : Thank you so much for your time Andrew. I really enjoyed our convo. I appreciate it and thank you for getting up early for me.
Andrew : Not a problem at all. Anytime, Ryan.
Ryan : Okay, take care.
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