Too much tension and beyond with The Mystery Lights

Photos by Allen Ying.

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Tensions might’ve been high when The Mystery Lights (TML) were writing their sophomore album Too Much Tension!, but now it’s time for smooth sailing and good times.

 

Currently on a U.S. tour with NYC experimental misfits Future Punx, TML frontman Mike Brandon says he’s never felt more confident in the band since starting it over a decade ago. They released Too Much Tension! on May 10th, three years after their debut self-titled album. That first album was a rushed job and quickly after TML was thrust into tour life with band members coming in and out. Now, TML is a solid crew, with Brandon on lead, LA Solano on guitar, Alex Amini on Bass, Zach Butler on Drums and Lily Rogers on Farfisa.

 

The world has been thirsting for more Mystery Lights—especially, in the U.S., where they haven’t toured since 2016. Now, on the road with their new album, TML are full speed ahead and have their rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle perfected.

 

The new album about city-life stress, political mayhem and personal anxieties uses guitars, Farfisa, drums and bass to create a whirlwind of chaos within your mind. Brandon’s vocals feel like daggers of passion with each relatable lyric sung. Though still drenched in that unique TML bluesy/ rock ‘n’ roll sound, Too Much Tension! takes on a grittier more experimental feel—unafraid to play around with tempo, distortion and melody.

 

When I chatted with Brandon, he was on the road from L.A. to San Francisco. Solano was driving and the rest of the band was trying to catch a much-needed snooze. Though exhausted from being on the road for several weeks already, Brandon still spoke with excitement and passion in his voice. Read the entire interview below where we discuss the rollercoaster ride of tour life, the birth of Too Much Tension! and the band’s evolved dynamic.

 

 

So, I already know how you guys met and got started—let’s talk about all the new shit. This new album Too Much Tension!, is already one of my favorites from this year. Tell me all the fuck about it—it has a different feel than your last album. Maybe the other one was a little bit more West Coast-inspired and this one was more New York?

Mike Brandon: Yeah! I guess it is. You’re influenced by whatever’s around you and it’s what’s going to seep into the music. But the first one was also written in New York City, but this one was maybe a little bit more [NYC] because it’s three years later, so that’s three more years of inspiration. This one took a lot longer, because as soon as the first one came out we toured a ton, for three years. Anytime we’d get off tour we’d try to record a little bit here and there, but we never really had that much time to do it. So, we were never really that happy with what was being recorded at those times. So, we just kind of relaxed on this one and over the span of the first record till now [we were] doing bits and pieces.

 

What was your recording ritual like?

Mike: LA came with a ton of instrumentals and I would just come in and shape it and put some lyrics to. But, one thing to note about it is we actually thought we finished [Too Much Tension!] two Halloweens ago and we even went out and celebrated. That was when we played Jonathan Toubin’s party, we were like, “we just finished the new record, it’s so great!” I think we even did an Instagram post saying to expect it to come out soon, but then it didn’t come out ’til two years later. [Laughs]

But yeah, then what happened is we went on tour in Europe and then Wayne [producer] got ahold of us and was like, “yo, it’s not done—you got to hit us with some more music.” So we came back and recorded like three or four more songs and then those ended up completing the record. So, yeah it was a lot more meticulous this one for sure and more thought out with the sound. We wanted to make sure it was perfect. We wanted to do a good follow up record, so we took a little bit more time with it and critiqued it a million times before we felt confident enough to release it.

 

 

And this is the first one that Zach is on, right?

Mike: Yeah. It’s exciting having Zach and he killed it, of course. It sounds amazing. He’s right next to me [in the van] sleeping. He’s got his headphones on. But, yeah it’s pretty exciting having Zach for the first time. This lineup is very solid. It’s the first time I think the band has ever felt solid in a lineup and it’s not going to change. Zach has planted both feet in the band now to where it’s like a gang. There’s no turning back. The last lineup there were members coming in and out, it was kind of a mess. So this [lineup] hopefully sticks around. I already told him [Zach] the band will just fall apart if he leaves.

 

Tell me about this album artwork, it’s a lot more chaotic than the debut record cover—what was the creative idea behind it?

Mike: Exactly! Well, LA did the art for the record and we went through like a million different versions. He worked on it for a very long time until we finally boiled it down to like what we have now. I thought it couldn’t be more perfect. Some of the other ideas that we had—what we almost submitted, but I’m so happy we didn’t—were just too simple. I think that this was perfect. Especially, because it adds the perfect image to what the record sounds like. When I see the record cover I totally hear the album, you know? It just matches nicely.

 

Right, and L.A. and Lily are doing a lot of D.I.Y. art stuff around your shows.

Mike: Yeah, it’s the entire aesthetic. I mean, I can only draw stick figures and shit. So, I just write the songs, but it’s cool to have that. It’s a nice balance. Lily and LA have been doing a lot of flyers.

 

Is this a continuous thing or just a one-time thing for the album?

Mike: I want to add imagery to the music, the aesthetic is super important. As you can tell for the first record, I mean that hand that Kevin Harris, our old keys player did traveled a long way—it’s kind of like the symbol and the logo for the band now. So, it’s nice that we switched it up and we have a bunch of new new pieces of art that fit the new record pretty well. That whole chaotic, yet structured theme is nice. We love that collage style too. LA also did a lot of the music videos as well. Like for “Someone Else in Control,” Lily and L.A. pretty much structured that whole thing. They shot it and messed with it and stuff. Actually, the background of “Someone Else in Control” is my new bedroom—I now live there, we even left up the silver and stuff from it too.

Nice, I gotta see that! So, what’s it like having Lily in the band now—she’s a pretty fresh member?

Mike: Yeah, super fresh. It was when we were going to do the whole Mark Sultan thing in New York City for his record release as his backing band. Then we were supposed to be going to Australia and we were just like, “do you want to come with us? It’d be fun and you’d be perfect for it!” Lily agreed to do it and then after that we were like, “okay, well we can’t do without you now.” So, we kind of stole her. [Laughs] There’s no escape now, unfortunately for her. Now she’s on tour with us in the U.S. and then we’ll hit Europe in the fall with her, which will be fun. It’s nice to add somebody who gets the style of music and also educates the shit out of us too, cause she knows a lot of good music and art. It’s like the perfect person that we’ve always wanted in the band, but never had until now. So, it’s cool and the band feels very solid—these five solid members I’m confident with for the first time. Before, it’s just always been kind of edgy and a little bit uncertain.

 

When was the last time you guys did a U.S. Tour? I know you were doing Europe a shit ton and you did that tiny U.S. one up to SXSW recently. But I feel like you haven’t done a real U.S. tour for a while now.

Mike: No, we weren’t touring the U.S at all. What happened was when the first record came out we circled the United States two times with Night Beats and that felt like a lot of tour in the U.S.—and we were barely making any money then too. It was crazy touring with lots of sleeping on floors with cat hair. It was one of those things where we got the opportunity to go to Europe and immediately took it because we realized there was money there and it was a lot easier, with hotels every night and they feed you well and there’s a lot of Europe to cover.

 

Yeah, I hear Europe really hooks it up for touring bands.

Mike: Oh yeah. So, we just spent a lot of time touring there and focused on that really. Now, we’re hitting the U.S. hard. We’ve got a couple more weeks in the States left with Future Punx. We’re going all over the place. It’s nice to be back touring the States and it’s cool because a lot more people are coming to the shows and a lot more people know this record. Actually, they know both the first one and the second one—so it’s cool. When we played the songs back in the Night Beats [tour] day, no one really knew our music, they were coming out just cause they were curious. But now people are coming out and singing the songs, it’s definitely full speed ahead as far as shows go. More people are coming out and getting rowdier. The shows are way more fun now. Ten thousand times more fun.

 

Yeah, well you starved the U.S. of live Mystery Lights shows!

Mike: I can’t believe how long it has been. It feels so good.  

 

 

The last time I interviewed The Mystery Lights we were just meeting, but now we’re great friends and I love all you guys. So, now that I know all of you guys so well, I know tour has got to be some pretty insane times—especially, with the addition of the wild babies Zach and Lily—what’s that dynamic been like on the road?

Mike: It’s funny. Sometimes it feels like three old dudes and two kids, to some degree. A lot of “back in my day” stories. [Laughs] But, it’s super fun. It’s hard for us to be responsible adults—we just like drinking a lot and like not sleeping. So far, we’ve been late to every show, unfortunately. [Laughs] It’s fun though! Like, there was this fun little house party that we ended up at in Atlanta and they had gear set up so at like 4 AM so we ended up doing this weird annoying jam. So, there’s been some fun stuff on the tour, for sure. Also, on our days off we try to do some things that feel vacation-y. We hit a hot springs in New Mexico. We got a cabin and camped out with Alex’s dad. Then we drove to our friend’s house in Joshua Tree and stayed there. It was my first time in Joshua Tree, which is crazy. So there have been a lot of cool moments on the tour like that.

 

You guys go on these really lengthy tours too. How do you reacclimate to your normal life when you get back to New York?

Mike: It’s so hard, very hard. You drink on the road and you stay out, because you’re playing shows and it’s what you do—you’re being social or whatever. Then when you’re home you want to drink because you’re relaxed and you want to hang out and go to some local show. It’s definitely hard and really something weird. There’s definitely a week of recovery that takes place after. Lots of tossing and turning and gasping for air from not doing the usual show routine stuff. We’re good at it though. For some people it runs in the blood—like The Nude Party, obviously they’re good at it. And Oh Sees are good at it. There are some people that are able to adapt to that that style and luckily for us it actually is something we can do. But, having said that, it is challenging. I mean for me personally, to go out and give all my energy every single night, be expected to chug tequila and then wake up and do it again is really hard. Especially, with me and all my anxiety and shit, it’s not easy but it’s a fun test, for the psyche. I enjoy it.

 

I mean…  We’re chugging tequila back in New York too.

Mike: I know! [Laughs] That’s the problem. It’s just nonstop. I tried to be sober this tour and it failed night.

 

Well, yeah! Why would you even try that?

Mike: I don’t know. [Laughs] It was so stupid. Moving forward, I’ve just accepted it and here I am. I am what I am, Elena.

 

Yeah, and you’re killing it! You’re doing a great job, Mike.

Mike: Thank you.

So any new life lessons you’ve learned from this new album/adventure?

Mike: Yeah! I feel a lot more relaxed now that’s it’s out, that’s for sure. I think we’ve got the point across with the vibe of the record. Too Much Tension! is the perfect follow up, because of how everything seemed so tense at the time when it was being written. With Trump being president and the nuclear war race with North Korea. There’s also, interpersonal stuff. It just felt like the perfect title and I feel really really happy. And there’s a ton of songs that didn’t make the album because we didn’t have room. There’s like seven songs that are just sitting there ready for the third album. So the third one hopefully will come out way faster. We’re already on a roll with it. So that’s kind of exciting to me.

 

Oh yay, how exciting! I mean, everyone I know has been obsessed with this album since the second it came out.

Mike: That’s so cool to hear! I’m so happy. We didn’t know how people were going to take it. I know that it’s different to some degree. But I think, no matter what we do, you’re always going to get that same Mystery Lights’ feel—it’s hard to get away from that. Even when we cover songs it’s like, “oh yeah, there’s that Mystery Lights sound.”

 

I don’t think it’s a bad thing that you can’t help but be yourself. It still sounds unique to your discography though. I mean, it’s definitely Mystery Lights, but it’s still totally different.

Mike: That so nice of you to say, it really means a lot to me and the band. It’s really cool to get reassurance that we put something out that people are really digging. It’s a good feeling. Having a record that people are enjoying, you can’t ask for any more than that. And hey, San Francisco tonight! All our friends are coming out, you know, it’s like home turf. My grandma might come out too! Oh, and also, Russell Quan from The Mummies, his band is opening.

 

That is so cool!

Mike: Yeah dude! Someone said he should open, so he hit me up saying he would love to. I’m stoked to meet him officially. We played with him when we were like 16, back in the day with his band The Flakes. But we never really hung out because we were too young… But anyway, I miss New York and you guys. It’s good talking, it’s actually been refreshing. I’m going to try to sleep before San Fran. It might be impossible.

 

I believe in you, Mike. You got this! And take care of Zach and Lily.

Mike: Oh, I’ll take care of Zach and Lily; they’ll be all right. [Laughs] We’ll see you in a couple of weeks!

 

So any new life lessons you’ve learned from this new album/adventure?

Mike: Yeah! I feel a lot more relaxed now that’s it’s out, that’s for sure. I think we’ve got the point across with the vibe of the record. Too Much Tension! is the perfect follow up, because of how everything seemed so tense at the time when it was being written. With Trump being president and the nuclear war race with North Korea. There’s also, interpersonal stuff. It just felt like the perfect title and I feel really really happy. And there’s a ton of songs that didn’t make the album because we didn’t have room. There’s like seven songs that are just sitting there ready for the third album. So the third one hopefully will come out way faster. We’re already on a roll with it. So that’s kind of exciting to me.

 

Oh yay, how exciting! I mean, everyone I know has been obsessed with this album since the second it came out.

Mike: That’s so cool to hear! I’m so happy. We didn’t know how people were going to take it. I know that it’s different to some degree. But I think, no matter what we do, you’re always going to get that same Mystery Lights’ feel—it’s hard to get away from that. Even when we cover songs it’s like, “oh yeah, there’s that Mystery Lights sound.”

 

I don’t think it’s a bad thing that you can’t help but be yourself. It still sounds unique to your discography though. I mean, it’s definitely Mystery Lights, but it’s still totally different.

Mike: That so nice of you to say, it really means a lot to me and the band. It’s really cool to get reassurance that we put something out that people are really digging. It’s a good feeling. Having a record that people are enjoying, you can’t ask for any more than that. And hey, San Francisco tonight! All our friends are coming out, you know, it’s like home turf. My grandma might come out too! Oh, and also, Russell Quan from The Mummies, his band is opening.

 

That is so cool!

Mike: Yeah dude! Someone said he should open, so he hit me up saying he would love to. I’m stoked to meet him officially. We played with him when we were like 16, back in the day with his band The Flakes. But we never really hung out because we were too young… But anyway, I miss New York and you guys. It’s good talking, it’s actually been refreshing. I’m going to try to sleep before San Fran. It might be impossible.

 

I believe in you, Mike. You got this! And take care of Zach and Lily.

Mike: Oh, I’ll take care of Zach and Lily; they’ll be all right. [Laughs] We’ll see you in a couple of weeks!

 

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