It’s an intimidating thing, introducing your friends to music you like. You are going out on a limb a little bit and making yourself a little bit vulnerable. There is a crushing fear they will listen to something you hold dear and roll their eyes a little bit and say something like, “I’m sorry I don’t get it” (which really means they are thinking, “why does he waste all his time with this stuff?”) Concerts are even more so nerve-wracking because they have to commit two to three hours of their time and you catch yourself glancing over from time to time just hoping they aren’t bored out of their minds.
Fortunately, boring is a word you cannot use when you describe Mute Math.
Some friends of ours asked us to take them to the next “cool” concert we went to and I knew immediately what band we should take them to. Aside from the fact they create great music, this band is so entertaining to watch live with their improv jams and crazy antics on stage. This is the third time Adriene and I have seen them and it still hasn’t gotten old.
We decided not subject our friends to the pushing and shoving of the crowd down front at the Variety Playhouse and elected to take our seats in the middle of the theater. This was high enough to see about the standing kids up front, but close enough to see everything going on. Somebody Loves You, Boris Yeltsin and The Cinematics opened the show and they were entertaining enough, though we were definitely reserving our energy and cheering for the main act. Mute Math delivered again, even playing a new song that I hadn’t heard before, from Paul Meany’s leap off of the keyboard to start “Typical” to the encore of “Reset” where the crowd took the atari instrument and passed it around. Every show I see by this band, I can’t help grinning like a fool
Seems this is way Mute Math’s popularity has blossomed, via word of mouth and the Internet, by bringing friends to shows and showing them YouTube clips. It seems to be working pretty well.
…and our friends? I’m pretty sure they liked it, too, given the looks on their faces.
i totally feel the same way. lately i’ve recommended movies, and then when my friends hate them, i feel almost violated. anyway, the mute math show here isn’t until may, but i’m still debating whether or not to spread the word at work. i’ve changed the background on one of my monitors to a mute math wallpaper, so i’ll slowly work it into conversation.
Oh, I’m always the same way when I introduce people to a band. Like in December … I knew that Trey liked OtR well enough, but Scott had never heard much by them but had heard us babble, and they went and loved it. I was so relieved.
I guess I need to see Mute Math sometime. I own the CD and I like it, but they haven’t blown me away, but I think they would in person.