November 20, 1997

Dark-side industrialist Ugly Mus-tard release yet another self-titled album by Brian Blair Ugly Mus-tard vocalist K. Barker sits on a couch at the band's rehearsal studio and drinks water from a black sports bottle. He discusses, of all things, his love of baking. The other members of the band quickly defend this revelation as fact and point out that the bald-headed singer makes one mean pan of fudge. Barker smiles and appears almost embarrassed to receive any attention. Minutes later, Barker, bassist M. Daane, guitarist E. Trent and drummer F. Rush take to the studio for a late-night rehearsal. When the music begins, the resident baker transforms into a mass of power and aggression as he spews forth dark poetry over driving industrial music. The mystery is still intact. Sure, there's a certain amount of mystery to every band but not to the degree that there is with Mus-tard. The quartet refuses to answer questions about their past and when they let any details slip, they are vague and ambiguous. They will admit that Barker, Trent and Rush are old friends that have played together for years before teaming up with Daane four years ago, but that's about the most they will concede. The enigma grows on their latest release, which, like its predecessor, is eponymously titled. A search of the disc's booklet insert reveals nothing because there is nothing printed there. There are no lists of thanks, no band listings, not even a list of song titles. "This record really allows the listener to develop his own images. That's why there's no text," explains Daane. "People can listen to the record not knowing the titles to the songs, and not be influenced by any of that." Unanswered questions, however, may lead to misconceptions, but that's how Mus-tard would have it. "We encourage misconceptions," Daane says. "As long as someone has any concept of the band, that's fine with us." "Actually, we thrive on that with our songs," Barker adds. "Because, people's understandings of the songs and their misconceptions are actually conceptions of their own." There are no right or wrong answers about what Barker is trying to say with his lyrics, because he admits that most of the tracks have two or even three different meanings. Frequently, the other members of the band aren't even sure what thoughts Barker is trying to express. Whatever they're talking about, it seems to be working for them. Since the release of their debut album in 1995, radio has been very supportive of Mus-tard, which has allowed the group to tour the U.S. extensively as well as Europe. The band is now ready to pick up where it left off with a new album that, like its predecessor, was recorded at the group's personal studio, Fat Maggot Studios, with Daane and Trent handling the production. "On the first record, we were just guys having a really good time and discovering some new sounds and really getting aquatinted with each other," Trent says. "On this one, we are officially a band." That first release, however, has become scarce in music stores over the past year. Although the band still has a few copies, which they sell at shows, there aren't any to be distributed to stores. Their former label, Real Records, went out of business. Now that the new album has been released, Daane will turn his attention to reworking the artwork from the debut and re-releasing the disc in the near future. In the time between the two releases, the band contributed to two local compilations. On Sandy Does Dallas Barker was able to show a little more range in his voice by covering "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee." Then, on Come On Feel The Metal, the foursome put a south-of-the-border twist on the Fleetwood Mac/Judas Priest track. "Green Manalishi" which came about when a misspelling led to "Green Mariachi." Possibly the biggest strength of the band comes not from its well-crafted recordings but, rather, from live shows that change more frequently than Guitar Center has a major sale. "It starts with the CD," Daane says. "Whatever they take home has to be the best we can give - but the live show gives them the images." Those images range from Barker dousing himself with kerosene and igniting himself to giving birth on-stage. Not only are unassuming audiences surprised but so are the other members of the band. "We can't look at Mr.Barker while we perform," Daane says. "If we start looking, we'll lose our place." By the way, did we mention that Barker bakes fudge. The mystery continues.