Reposted from Sargent House 

"All it took was seeing them play live once.... and the house had to have them. We are so delighted to welcome Mutoid Man to our management and label worldwide. We even got a press release below about it.. "
 

For Immediate Release
May 27, 2014

Mutoid Man is a rock trio with a stellar lineup featuring Stephen Brodsky (Cave In), Ben Koller (Converge, All Pigs Must Die), and Nick Cageao (Brohammer, and the man behind the soundboard at Brooklyn's Saint Vitus bar).  The band's accidental birth happened in 2012, when the three decided to simply "get together and jam" in a Brooklyn practice space. These good times resulted with the trio laying down a few tracks that would become their stunning debut EP entitled Helium Head.  In late November 2013, the EP saw a limited released  through old friends over at  Magic Bullet / Nonbeliever, as well as a small and quickly sold out cassette run through friends at Robotic Empire. At that time Helium Head was praised by music critics as "a seriously off the hook brilliant debut" (Decibel 9/10 album review) and "a testament to the musicianship and songwriting abilities each of them display in their respective bands" (Heavy Blog).  

Following that release of Helium Head, Mutoid Man played a handful of shows on the West Coast, including an absolutely mental in-store at Vacation Vinyl, and made their SXSW debut at the Metal Sucks showcase. Now, the band that never intended to be a band is excited to announce that they will start touring and that they've begun writing their debut full-length album that will be released via their new label and management home, Sargent House.

Sargent House will be announcing a date for the re-issue of Helium Head on CD and vinyl, but in the meantime you can stream it in full or download it in any file type desired at mutoidman.bandcamp.com.

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Mutoid Man blew our minds last year with their debut EP. If you haven’t gotten a chance to see the trio, which consists of Cave In mastermind Stephen Brodsky, Converge’s Ben Koller and Nick Cageao, you’ll get a chance tonight in Tempe AZ at the Yucca Taproom and at the Metal Sucks showcase at SXSW this Friday. If you’re not going to Texas or don’t live in Arizona, here are the final two songs of their set at Los Angeles’ Vacation Vinyl. The band played their own “Gnarcissist” and then Cave In’s “Big Riff.” Cave In fans in particular should enjoy the extra shred of heaviness that Koller brings to the melodic song.

(via Metal Insider)

Brooklyn band Mutoid Man is what most would call a supergroup, as it is composed of guitarist Steve Brodsky from Cave In, drummer Ben Koller from Converge and All Pigs Must Die, and bassist Nick Cageo from the up-and-coming power thrash group Bröhammer. Cageo also happens to be the main sound guy at the notorious Brooklyn metal venue Saint Vitus Bar.

As a trio the members of Mutoid Man take elements of all of their previous bands and inject a healthy dose of psychedelic rock and roll to create a sound that is at once heavy as hell and highly technical. Their recent EP 'Helium Head' features seven catchy songs that are as danceable as they are moshable. If that sounds strangely awesome that's because it is, which is why Mutoid Man is a must-see act at SXSW. Their appearance at the festival is part of a brief tour that includes a small handful of West Coast shows, so consider yourself lucky if you get the opportunity to have your face melted by Mutoid Man this coming week. 

Neil Ferguson: How did the members of the band connect and what made you want to start the band?

Ben Koller: Steve [Brodsky] and I had been playing together off and on for years. Converge and Cave In have played many shows together over the years and I filled in for Cave In around 2005-2006. Steve moved to Brooklyn a few years ago while I was still living there and it was only natural that we would start jamming together. Everything started moving really fast so we just decided to throw up a recording rig and get down to business. 

Talk about some of the musical styles you incorporate and if they are inspired by any particular bands.

Ben Koller: Steve and I have both been in touring bands for many years and have picked up lots of influences along the way. We don't just listen to metal, punk, hardcore, etc. On any given day I'll listen to anything from Elvis to Pig Destroyer. The range of our musical influences is pretty wide, but if you're a fan of heavy music from the 60's to present day you can probably get a pretty good idea of where we're coming from. For me personally my influences for this band are a mix of 70's prog/heavy rock and more modern weirdness like Botch, Mastodon, Dillinger Escape Plan, etc...

Steve Brodsky: Well, I'm about to turn 35 this year, which makes me a 70's child. I guess it's in my blood to inject the feel of that decade into music I write. The initial target was us trying to imagine a hybrid of Motörhead and Lightning Bolt. On Helium Head there were definitely some moments of inspiration taken from Botch, old Soundgarden, you know, all that awesome Northwestern noise that's lacking in vitamin D. And, of course, drawing upon things we love about the other bands we play in.

Can you describe Mutoid Man to someone who has never heard the band?

Ben Koller: Capture a gorilla from the zoo. Shoot him up with methamphetamine, put him in a spacesuit and take him to Mars. Let him walk around on the surface for a while, smash the glass covering his face then watch him have an Arnold Schwarzenegger-esque Total Recall freakout where his eyes bulge out of his skull. We sort of sound like that. 

The band added Nick Cageo to the mix a while ago. What does he bring to the table creatively and how does his presence effect the dynamic of the band?

Steve Brodsky: Ben and I did what I guess you could call the first Mutoid Man show as a duo a couple years ago at Saint Vitus Bar. We ran through about 5 or 6 songs together, including some early versions of what later became Mutoid Man songs. Behind the soundboard that night was Nick. I remember he seemed genuinely stoked for the set. Ben had a hunch that he'd be a great fit for the group - and the dude can really play. Nick's a genuine youthful spirit, and probably smarter than most people twice his age.
 

On your album you have a unique rendition of “Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” How did the band decide to include that on the album? How does the band go about translating a song like that into a Mutoid Man version?

Ben Koller: If I remember correctly Steve and I had learned an acoustic version of that song to play at a wedding at first. When we had finished tracking Helium Head we decided to play a heavy version of it for a potential bonus track as a goof. We did a couple takes and it sounded awesome so that's what you hear on the record. 

Have you played SXSW before? What is your personal secret to surviving a festival like SXSW?

Steve Brodsky: Yes, several times! I will be traveling with a tall bottle of Advil, because music is usually blasting from everywhere and anywhere. Also, you should anticipate running into people you know, which I think helps to harness the chaos a bit, you know, seeing some familiar faces amongst the swarms of strangers. What else? For every adult beverage you consume, counter it with a glass of water. Stay sharp!

Mutoid Man at SXSW:

3/13 - Invisible Oranges Showcase at Quantum Lounge (303 W 5th St.)

3/14 - MetalSucks Showcase at The Dirty Dog (505 E 6th St.)

For tickets and info, click HERE.

Mar 7 - San Francisco, CA @ Sub-Mission Art Space
Mar 8 - San Diego, CA @ Che Cafe
Mar 9 - Los Angeles, CA @ Vacation Vinyl
Mar 10 - Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room
Mar 11 - Tempe, AZ @ Yucca Taproom
Mar 14 - Austin, TX @ MetalSucks SXSW Showcase

The first ever Mutoid Man show has been captured and posted shot on - September 23, 2013

"We just went down to the rehearsal space and started throwing ideas at each other. We both like to play very loud, so that part was easy to coordinate," laughs Brodsky. "So the material is meant for that environment and that vibe, and it was just really fun and quick, too, because when you're just working with two people there's a back and forth that happens very quickly."

Both busy musicians, and with Koller touring with Converge and his other band All Pigs Must Die, the two came up with the Mutoid Man material casually over the course of a year. The basic recordings were done on Brodsky's four-track, with all the remaining tracking done in the small rehearsal space in less than two weeks, then mixed in four days.

Surprisingly, drummer Koller was the driving force behind the songwriting process rather than guitarist/vocalist Brodsky, something that was a welcome change for the prolific songwriter who has recorded several solo albums under different monikers.

"Ben is really intuitive with songwriting, so his creative direction with the songs was very heavy-handed, all the way down to the vocals and the artwork, so it was good," explains Brodsky. "I just brought the riffs and tried to keep up with all the curveball ideas that he was throwing at me and if a riff was too standard, we'd decompose it and snap it out in a different time signature, and I'd feel like parts of my brain were being rewired as I was trying to understand and do what I can with my fingers to make that kind of stuff happen. It was challenging and really fun and that was the working environment for a year."

Able to follow Koller's lead, Brodsky says the process was a welcome change from his other bands and projects, where he normally does the lion's share of the writing.

"It was kind of a relief, actually. Just being more of a transmitter for someone's ideas than actually trying to create the transmissions myself," he says. "It was actually a really enlightening process in that way. I think because I'm 35 and I've done as much as I've done for someone my age, so I tend to either burn out or I repeat myself… or, I'm a guitar player! Guitar players are lazy, man [laughs]. I'm no different. When I write songs I like to get the ideas that are very basic to the song and sometimes I'm content with that, for better or worse. So someone like Ben pulls me out of that comfort zone."

The duo recently added another element to the Mutoid Man equation, bringing in bass player Nick Cageao, head soundman at Brooklyn club Saint Vitus Bar and bassist for Bröhammer, to play live shows and write new material with them.

"He's really the perfect, mutant-minded individual for this kind of stuff because he's very easily wrapped his head around what was going on. We played our first show with him and he's definitely on board to do more," says Brodsky. "And we've actually started writing some stuff together, too, which is very cool. He has a music school background as well, so I'm around these two people, and for lack of a better word, I feel like the Neanderthal in the creative equation. But everyone is excited about the idea of where to take the sound that we've started with and trying to push it a little bit more, especially having other people in the mix."

Brodsky says that he and Koller, both children of the '70s and big fans of classic rock, let a lot of those undertones creep into the Mutoid Man songs. In fact, the last track on the album, cleverly titled "The Manimals," is the duo's interpretation of the Animals' '60s hit song "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."

"Well, if the Animals were into drop-tuning or something," laughs Brodsky.

As for his main gig in Cave In, Brodsky's unsure right now what the future will hold for the band who last released 2011's White Silence, although all of the band members remain in close contact.

"I live in New York now and those three guys are living in Boston, so it's been hard to coordinate everyone getting on the same page, for one reason or another. Sometimes life takes over, for instance [Cave In drummer] JR [Conners]' family just had baby number two so they've got their hands full… But, yeah, there's nothing on the docket anytime soon, but we still remain very close with each other as friends, so that's kind of where it's at right now."

By Jason Schreurs
 

Mutoid Man is the best band you might never see. The three-piece is made up of Stephen Brodsky of Cave In, Ben Koller of Converge/All Pigs Must Die, and Nick Cageao aka the best soundman in all the land at Brooklyn metal bar, Saint Vitus. The band has played exactly one show and recorded one album. Then Ben moved to California and their future is ??????. We tried to get an answer to some of those many question marks from Stephen Brodsky. We also talked about the band’s weird, fucked up timing changes, Super Nintendo, and angry Cave In fans.

Mutoid Man’s debut/possibly final album, Helium Head, is out on November 29 from Magic Bullet Records. You can stream a brand new song from it, “Scavengers,” below.

Noisey: So, Mutoid Man. It’s kind of a supergroup of sorts.
Stephen Brodsky: That’s flattering, yeah.

It’s you from Cave In, Ben from Converge, and Nick. Has Nick been any bands that I’d know?
He did play bass for Ace Frehley’s band.

I’m assuming not KISS.
Yeah, maybe it’s Frehley’s Comet? You might have to do a little research on that.

[Note: A little research on that turned up no such thing. It was his solo tour, where he got to play a few dates.]

But it seems that right after you started up, Ben moved to California. So what the hell? Are you guys still gonna play?
Well, we’ve just got a pricier guarantee, that’s all. [laughs]

Do you plan on touring?
I think maybe the idea would be to get some shows on the west coast which would be fun and everyone is down to play. It’s just a matter of logistically working out. Because we had that one show at Saint Vitus at the end of September.

How many shows have you played total?
Just that one as a full group. But then Ben and I actually played some of the Mutoid Man songs at a solo show I had at Saint Vitus last year as a two-piece. It was like, three or four of the songs that ended up on the record.

How did the project start in the first place?
Well, Ben was playing in Cave In for a few tours that we did. And this was in ‘05, ‘06 when Cave In was touring on Perfect Pitch Black. J.R. at the time was living in Germany and he was just kind of off the grid. The record came out and the band decided that we wanted to do something to push the album. Ben was on board to play with us. So that’s kind of how the musical chemistry between he and I started. And then two years ago, I moved to Brooklyn. He was living in Brooklyn at the time. We both shared a rehearsal space. We were like, “Man, why don’t we get together and jam and throw some riffs at each other?’ That was it.

And you guys made your “debut” on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Oh yeah.

Congratulations.
Thank you.

How did that come about?
Exactly in the opposite way that it was intended. Basically, we got invited to the show by Chris Maggio who’s playing in the band Sleigh Bells. He gave us the invite. I was out in L.A. Ben and I had nothing else going on that night and just thought it’d be a fun, cool experience to hang out with Chris and see what it was all about. So when it came time for the actual taping of the performance, we were like, “Man, the last thing we want is to be on camera right now. We’re gonna stand in the back.” So we’re in the back of the performance area and these people come around and they’re like, “OK so just so you know, this is where Jimmy’s gonna come out and introduce the band and talk a little bit.” And it happened to be right where we were standing.

What would you describe your sound as?
It’s like mutant thrash punk with a love for twisted numbers and time signature warpings. If I would come up with a riff, Ben would be like, “Can we fit that into 13/8?” OK, let’s try it! We’d stretch and mess with riffs until they were in a time signature that was messing up my brain in a good way. And that was the great thing about writing the stuff with him. He’s got a very strong songwriting sensibility. He would just twist and tie my brain into knots and I’d think over these riffs and song ideas until they felt like second nature.

So now that Ben moved, how seriously are you guys gonna take this project?
I think we’d like to do the group as much as possible. Realistically speaking, yeah, there’s a logistic factor involved where we’re a bicoastal unit and Ben is the drummer of Converge. Converge is his number one thing at this point. He’s been with those guys for ten years so it’s understandable.

Why’d he move out again?
I think he and his lady just wanted a change. He loves Vegas. He’s actually really good at gambling. He’s a solid gamer.

Is he like Rain Man?
[laughs] He’s just got...All right, so me, Ben, and Kurt from Converge shared an apartment in Watertown, Massachussetts at one point. That was when I first met Ben. This was when Drowningman were recording their “worst album ever” on purpose as a way of getting out of their contract with, I think Equal Vision, at the time. I’m not exactly sure. But whatever the case, they were signed to a label, they weren’t happy about it, so they were recording their worst album ever so it was this total mindfuck shitshow of a recording. Ben and I did a cover of “Ziggy Stardust” and “The Spider from Mars.” We covered that song but changed all the lyrics around to reflect the history of Drowningman and Kurt recorded it on his Pro Tools rig which was set up at the apartment at the time. So that was our very first recorded collaboration.

So another thing I remember about that time was I was really wrapped up in playing these old Super Nintendo games and trying to go back and beat Zelda and Metroid and I remember Ben was living across the hall from me. So I would hit him up for like, “Hey, do you have any tricks to get past this level? I can’t warp to this mountain or whatever.” So he’d be  like, “Oh yeah, yeah. You just do this.” Or he’d look through an old Nintendo Power and hook me up. So I was like, “Oh man, this guy’s got a brain for video games.” He’s just a natural gamer is what it comes down to. So I think Vegas is a good place for him to be close to.

What’s his game?
He’s big into poker.

Your projects have a reputation for scrapping everything and starting all over again for each release. Is that deliberate?
Yeah, like a destructive nature, kind of.

Right. Almost like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
Well, it’s funny. My girlfriend’s got this book of—it’s like an astrology book. And for every day of the year, there’s a description of a person’s personality, their astrological signs, and other notable humans who were born on the same day. So I was doing a little reading up on mine, which is April 9.

Who was born on your birthday?
I wanna say Charles Dickens, but I’m not sure.

[Note: A little research turned up that Charles Dickens’ birthday is February 7.]

OK.
Yeah, so I’m a fire sign by nature. So fire tends to be a very destructive element. So I think just from what I read about this day in general and all the sort of coordinates surrounding it, it described me as having a very destructive side. So it kind of goes along with what you were saying.

This genre has a super easy fanbase to piss off. You try something new and people just want the first record over and over again. Obviously Cave In was a band that went all over the place. What were your dealings with fans? Did people come to your Jupiter tours wanting to hear Until Your Heart Stops material?
There was a degree of that. And to be fair, if somebody loves a record and they go to see the band that made that record and that band’s not playing anything from said record, they have a right to be upset.

Right, but also, audiences aren’t entitled to anything.
Yeah, I think at the time, Cave In was in a position where artistically, we were just trying to go forward and push ourselves as artists and as a group because when we finally settled on the lineup that we‘ve been for the past 15 years, we just felt like, “Oh man, this is great. We’re all comfortable with each other, musically and as people and the musical world is our oyster.” So it was a very forward-thinking time. And I think maybe we got a little caught up in how intensely, in how far we could take the reinvention of our sound and what we could do with our instruments.

Was it a deliberate choice? Were all the members of the band comfortable shifting sounds?
It was pretty unified because our lives were becoming more intertwined. We started spending more time together, doing more tours, and the band started to attract more attention. So as a result, our listening tastes tended to merge together and we were discovering new records together and really vibing out on older stuff we’d loved for a long time. It had a lot to do with finding the right personal chemistry. We were also young and sponge-like, taking in all these different musical influences. And in hardcore and metal, you watch a band like Dillinger play, or Botch, and these guys would just blow people’s minds with what they were doing with heavy music. It was humbling. It was like, man, I don’t know if we can top Until Your Heart Stops when it comes to that particular sound. Maybe we should just cut our loses and trip out a little bit.

[Note: A little research turned up that yes, Botch did in fact fucking rule.]