Mogwai
What's in a Name?
2007-12-18
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As Mogwai’s Mr. Beast billows strains of pedal-steel guitar and constrained Casio beats during “Acid Food,” or eeks sparkling synthesizer flurries around the melancholy piano passages of “Friend of the Night,” it’s increasingly difficult to draw parallels between the lugubriously toned Scottish five-some and the thousand and one stoner rock and doom metal bands that consider Mogwai a major touchstone. Frankly, Mogwai can’t figure that one out, either.
“Yeah, it’s kinda weird. I don’t quite see the obvious connection,” says bassist Dominic Aitchison when asked why Mogwai invariably gets cited as a major influence by those of the syrup-paced metal ilk. “Maybe our emphasis that the songs are very slow and very long like that, that’s probably where the comparisons are drawn. I’m not complaining, I like a lot of the sort of stoner metal bands we get compared to…but ‘eh, yeah it’s just weird. I really couldn’t tell you how it happened. I really honestly don’t know.
“Sorry that’s a rubbish answer,” he quickly apologizes. “I’m terrible at making that shit up.” Luckily a gobshite’s finesse isn’t required. The music does all the talking. Even more so than on prior albums, the languorous speed of Mr. Beast calls for introspection as it seeps its cautious melodies in incremental fashion. As is custom, the emphasis is on the instrumental, the glaciers of distortion this time taking the passenger seat to the driving piano and droning bass guitar. And while nearly a third of the songs contain vocals, listeners can take liberty in their interpretations of the material’s meaning.
For some, the record’s title itself suggests angst, and a struggle against some ill-defined, yet menacing authority. Of course, the band maintains that all of their titles — including the band name itself — are inconsequentially derived, oftentimes results of an inside joke, or a random occurrence that brought about a laugh. Mr. Beast is no different, says Aitchison.
“The title comes from…there was this sign that someone was holding up at an airport in Orlando. We had flown out there to start a tour last year, and there was a guy waiting at the airport with a plaque that said ‘Mr. & Mrs. Beast’ on it. And it’s such a dreadful name that it’s really going to make an impression. I was really wanting to hang about to see what the guy looked like when he come up. Unfortunately we didn’t have time.”
“Yeah, it’s kinda weird. I don’t quite see the obvious connection,” says bassist Dominic Aitchison when asked why Mogwai invariably gets cited as a major influence by those of the syrup-paced metal ilk. “Maybe our emphasis that the songs are very slow and very long like that, that’s probably where the comparisons are drawn. I’m not complaining, I like a lot of the sort of stoner metal bands we get compared to…but ‘eh, yeah it’s just weird. I really couldn’t tell you how it happened. I really honestly don’t know.
“Sorry that’s a rubbish answer,” he quickly apologizes. “I’m terrible at making that shit up.” Luckily a gobshite’s finesse isn’t required. The music does all the talking. Even more so than on prior albums, the languorous speed of Mr. Beast calls for introspection as it seeps its cautious melodies in incremental fashion. As is custom, the emphasis is on the instrumental, the glaciers of distortion this time taking the passenger seat to the driving piano and droning bass guitar. And while nearly a third of the songs contain vocals, listeners can take liberty in their interpretations of the material’s meaning.
For some, the record’s title itself suggests angst, and a struggle against some ill-defined, yet menacing authority. Of course, the band maintains that all of their titles — including the band name itself — are inconsequentially derived, oftentimes results of an inside joke, or a random occurrence that brought about a laugh. Mr. Beast is no different, says Aitchison.
“The title comes from…there was this sign that someone was holding up at an airport in Orlando. We had flown out there to start a tour last year, and there was a guy waiting at the airport with a plaque that said ‘Mr. & Mrs. Beast’ on it. And it’s such a dreadful name that it’s really going to make an impression. I was really wanting to hang about to see what the guy looked like when he come up. Unfortunately we didn’t have time.”
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