November 22, 1995

Planting Seeds Ugly Mus-tard is taking its industrial to the industry by Philip Chrissopoulos M. Daane, the bass player for Ugly Mus-tard, welcomes his guest in his elaborate home studio with a hearty smile. You might know Daane's name or his face; for years he has been known as the busiest bassist in local music, a man who has loaned his talent to more bands than he can remember, his bass lines stretching from bands like Last Rites and Methatone and 39 Powers (with Spyche) to Andy Timmons and Sara Hickman. As he introduces the rest of the band-guitarist E. Trent, singer K. Barker, and drummer F. Rush- in the midst of consoles, recorders, and various disparate instruments, one can't help but get the impression that he thinks and breathes music non-stop. But these days Daane is just one member of the industrial-metal Ugly Mus-tard, which could prove to be his mostsuccessful outfit to date. The band's single "High" is garnering considerable play on local radio and Ugly Mus-tard is close to inking a deal with one of several major labels that have been dangling deals in front of them like carrots. And as the old rock joke goes, they're already stars in Europe. Just days ago the band returned from a promotional tour of Europe that included a sprint through Germany, Holland, and Britain during which they gave at least 60 interviews for radio, magazines, and assorted other fanzines, and the video for 'High' was just shown on the English MTV. It is Trent who proudly produces a few bottles of his own stout home brew - his first batch - and shares anecdotes from the promo tour, his recollections told with a mixture of weariness and natural excitement. "Europe has all elements of music, and everything is entirely underground." he says, "You hear nothing on the radio, but you go to a club and you hear great music. We went to a club and they were playing our song 'High.' It was really surreal. And it's amazing how political the people in Europe are. Almost everyone thought we were a political band. Some would point at the sleeve and say that it showed mushroom clouds. This one journalist thought we took our name after the mustard nerve gas that was used in the Gulf War." Trent laughs at the thought. "High" is the kind of (post) - industrial song that has all the catchy, radio-friendly ingredients that made the other Trent--Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor--a big star. It is the third song on Ugly Mus-tard's self-titled debut album, an ambitious and immaculately produced CD that ultimately brings comparisons to old and new industrial war-horses like Skinny Puppy and Nine Inch Nails. It is industrial spiked with metal and a few soothing pop hooks--Reznor without the bombast and the patronizing verbiage, an album that wears its influences like well-fitting armour. "Trent Reznor and Skinny Puppy are my main influences," Trent says, "Somebody said we're 'exactly like NIN' which I disagree with. But that's OK, I guess. I'd rather be told that I sound like NIN than the Osmond family...or maybe not." He takes a sip of his beer, looks at his fellow band members, and adds, "Don't forget Trent Reznor is just one man doing everything, and we're all contributing to the songs. This is a wider conglomeration!" And where their main influence's monomania has turned into a repetitive, larger than life shtick, Ugly Mus-tard's ace up the metallic sleeve is the sheer musical talent along with a constant exchange of ideas and a democratic approach. As Trent describes the creative process of the band, the other members nod their heads in agreement: "I'll program something and let it go," Trent says, "I'll get with Frederico and he'll start the drum part, putting in a groove. That gives me an idea how to do the guitar parts. Then Barker will write the lyrics and Daane will come in with the bass parts." The Ugly Mus-tard seeds were planted about three years ago when Trent and Daane were toying around with MIDI programming: shortly after that they decided to add drums to the mix. Trent, Barker and Rush had already played together for several years and once Daane entered, the whole thing slowly sprouted into a proper band. "We recorded a few tracks, and we thought 'This sounds as good as anything that's out there.'" Daane says. The band hooked up with the Real Records label, which released Ugly Mus-tard less than a year ago; the album was also picked up by a German label called Edel, which distributes throughout Europe. Upon its release, the band didn't expect much support "except for college radio." Daane says, but almost as soon as it was sent to radio and retail, the album was picked up by about 120 college stations in the country and at least eight commercial rock stations in major markets like New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. Locally, KEGL-FM (97.1) was the first station to put the disc in regular rotation--still a rarity for a Dallas band without a major-label deal. The band is negotiating with various labels which keeps them from being more specific about possible deals. The buzz, though, is not undeserved: Ugly Mus-tard is a cut above the average industrial-metal band, perhaps because the four musicians came to the genre after exploring other styles. It may sound like an oxymoron, but this is almost musician's industrial--pompous and grandiose and more than occasionally too self-serious, to be sure, but there are moments when good melodies, offbeat rhythm changes, and chilling atmospherics make the music interesting and even a bit fun. And lyrically, Barker tries to avoid the traps of the genre, which is not an easy task. One of the problems with industrial is that its anger becomes listless in its repetition, its targets lost in an endless recycling of the themes of death, pain, hate, blood and the rest of the genre's clichés Like its incestuous cousin, death metal, industrial metal is so overdone that it becomes parody: its hatred and manufactured angst are played up ad nauseam until it falls flat on its distorted face. But Barker insists that his tongue is firmly glued to his cheek. "You pretty much have to laugh at life and death," he figures, "I take a lot of my inspiration cynically. I like to watch people and get their expressions, like panic at a train station, then conjure up stories. I like to tell a story and leave it open for interpretation, because a song can have three different meanings. Also you need to let out aggression--you gotta feel that aggression . And as the album's closer, "Friend," suggests, Barker prefers to pontificate when the subject is serious enough. "Friend" is a cut-up piece about the dangers of gun ownership, and the track abandons the simple song formula and spreads over seven minutes leaving the numbing feeling that the joke is no joke after all. "Barker's lyrics contain profound truths hidden within riddles," Daane says. "At the end of each song, he caps it off with a twisted moral." Not bad for a man who appeared on-stage at KEGL's Halloween party dressed as the Pope. Ugly Mus-tard has only played 13 shows so far, a very un-impressive number considering its rapidly expanding following(the band's next show is December 9 at Trees). But this is part of their scheme to make every concert a memorable event in their hometown before they embark on a lengthy European tour with D.C. gothics, Godhead.