Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with Mt Misery
Stood in a room above a pub on aching feet, longing for the cushioned comfort of said pub’s main suite; my mind raced over the wild interview I had just concluded with renowned madman John Lydon. In this head-scattered stupor, I barely noticed the band take the stage or the buzz of an amp revving up, but within a few moments, an entirely different reverie had taken hold as Mt Misery conjured a sense of summery reminiscence faster than the sight of jumpers for goalposts.
The Mt Misery T-shirt that I subsequently bought has a message on the back that says it all, ‘Really Nice Music’. It is a simple decree that many bands largely avoid these days, but its purity is a joy to behold. The Hartlepool outfit have a honeyed belle to their pop melodics, the indie equivalent of watching the vistas pass by on a weekend train ride and all the wistful nostalgia, tinge of mellowed excitement, and fleck of melancholy that comes with it.
At one point during their luscious set, a pal with two hearing aids takes the opportune moment during a pause in the set to inadvertently bellow, “Who do these remind me of again?” His lugs have failed to adjust to the silence, and the entire room swings their necks towards him like a moment from Curb Your Enthusiasm. They’re all left wondering, was it The La’s? Maybe Whitney or Luna? They will never know, in truth, I’m not sure if Jimmy even knew. But he liked them, and any band who can impress a legally deaf man certainly has something going.
They’ve got one album to their name, 2021’s Once Home, No Longer, and a smattering of EPs and singles with more on the way soon, and as we found out, their new stuff is their proudest work yet. And we, for one, can’t wait to hear it, not just because of the brilliance of their output so far but also because, as a band, they represent everything that is good about DIY independent music in this country: young college friends getting together to creatively reconcile, in the glinting hope that some weary folks in a room above a pub might just be delighted enough to identify with their art.
This humble ethos imbues their already endearing music with an extra lashing of luxuriant wholesomeness, like the Peanuts kids have grown up and set their lives to music, still carrying the spartan charm of the hand-scribbled comic.
So, we decided to get to know the young lads a bit better and shot some quick-fire questions on everything from The Beatles to the best albums of 2023 and the band they could beat up, their way. After all, is there any better way to get to know someone in ten minutes?
Quick-fire questions with Mt Misery:
1. What song would you want played at your funeral?
“‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’.”
2. What song do you wish you’d written?
“‘What You Were Doing’ from the new Lemon Twigs album. I’m glad they wrote it instead, though.”
3. What has been your favourite album of 2023 so far?
“Dead Meat by The Tubs or Everything Harmony by The Lemon Twigs.”
4. What is the best pub in the world?
“The Ivy House in Sunderland.”
5. Could you rewire a plug?
“Lewis can!”
6. A dual question: favourite type of soup and favourite comfort movie?
“Lentil, Happy Gilmore.”
7. Can you tell us your favourite joke?
“They’re all too long, but if you come to a show and ask Eddie, he’ll tell you some!”
8. If you could curate your dream gig, what would it be?
“I would like to see a second Grade/Mo Troper double headliner, and maybe we could support it since it’s a dream and we’re making the rules. The venue would be Mono in Glasgow because we’ve never played there, and it looks really cool.”
9. What’s the weirdest gig you’ve played so far?
“We played a gig in Margate, and the only people in the audience were a couple sitting in the front row. It felt like a very intense private gig, but we were chatting to them between songs about where they were from, so it was kind of nice. We also played after Benefits in Stockton once, and most of the room left when we went on.”
10. What is the best song you have written so far?
“Our favourites are new songs called ‘Hey’ and ‘Waking Up’, but they’re not out yet.”
11. Do you believe in ghosts?
“I want to believe. Different phenomena, but I think I saw a UFO in Argyll when we were recording up there earlier in the year.”
12. Name a band you could easily beat in a fistfight.
“Alvin and the Chipmunks.”
13. If you had to get a lyric tattoo, what would it be?
“Nothing too wordy because it would probably be painful. A song with a one-word chorus would be good, like ‘Lithium’ by Nirvana.”
14. What was the last book you read, and what would you score it out of ten?
“Science Fiction Terror Tales. I mainly bought it for the cover. 6/10 so far.”
15. Are the Beatles overrated?
“No.”
