Muck: Interview

I got in touch with Ási, drummer of the Icelandic hardcore band Muck and pretty much just wasted his time with some questions! Check these dudes out, they are grimier than those Chinese squat toilets and hoist the energy of an atom bomb.

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What's the fuck is up Ási, how is the weather fairing in Iceland? Thank you for putting up with my stupidity and taking the time to answer some questions like you are in school again. Let's have fun with it.

Hey man. The weather is pretty good at the moment. LETS DANCE!

1) "Here Comes The Man!" fucking rules, it has the atmosphere of an insane asylum and a schizophrenic structure with plenty of wonky discordance. I smile every time I hear 02:25 - 02:40, I don't know what it is exactly about that section, but I think it has something to do with that distant guitar twanging in the background… just sounds so fucking groovy.

I realized I still haven't asked you a question yet, so I'll ask this: Do you have a cowbell on your rig? If not, have you put any thought into getting one? 01:29 - 01:33 could have been cowbell city, takes a man to successfully pull off the cowbell.

Thanks for the pleasant words. That part at 02:25 always makes me think of Mastodon for some reason. As for the real question; No I don't use a cowbell on my rig although I do own one. I think I might just try that one out, thanks for the idea

2) If you had to get a lyrical fragment from a Muck song tattooed on your kneecap which would you use?

I actually already have old lyrical fragments from Muck on my arms. What I would get now is probably this one from the song "Island"
"I'm getting sick and tired of the same spots

The same stops

The same walks

the same small talk
 
I'm sick of you Iceland

I'm sick of you all"

3) Which aspect of your drumming do you feel needs the most improvement?

Well. I think every bit of my drumming could improve all of the time but I feel that's a natural feeling. You have to always strive to get better, to improve more and more.

4) You guys as a band seem to keep pretty fucking busy, so which description mostly fits this reason:

A) We are a very hard-working productive group.

B) It's all about the fans man!

C) Truthfully, we are just bored, so we fill our time with Muck

D) We love the music, we love the reaction we get, and we love to bang fucking heads… and get naked… a lot.

I guess it's a mixture of all of the above. Mostly D though, we fucking love to bang heads!

5) Do you guys really get naked that often? I mean, I've seen a video of you guys jamming naked… once. What gives?

We've done a lot of shit. We've played naked a bunch of times, we've played in dresses, we've played in our underwear after pouring fake blood into them so it looked like we were having our period. And we'll probably keep on doing stupid shit like that.

6) Which would you rather get into a bare knuckle fist fight with a mid-sized great white shark or a crazed mother grizzly bear?

I'd definitely take on the grizzly bear since it made me think of Tekken. Man…I always used to play as the bear in Tekken.

7) I am going to list off songs that are all under a minute in length. Each song is devastatingly pissed off in its own way. Which song for most angry sounding? If Muck had to cover one of these songs live, which would it be? Lastly, which song will be looping on repeat during your fight with the Shark or Bear?

A) Living Hell

B) Eaten Alive

C) Erased Existence

D) Deluded

E) Flood

F) Maggots

G) Skeleton

H) Street Sweeper

I) Old Friends Don't Mean Shit

J) Rotten

K) Use of Weapons

L) Phoenix in Flames


The Ceremony song is definitely an old favorite and I'd put it on loop for my fight with the grizzly bear. I think the Low Places one is the angriest one. I'd love to cover Vile Gash for Muck. That'd be the shit!

8) Do you have a broad musical palette within more extreme music yourself?

I have a real open mind and I'm accepting of all types of music, be it extreme or not. I try not to think of genres but more to what intrigues me. That being said I've been getting a lot into old Icelandic disco stuff.

9) Mercyful Fate or Bad Religion?

Bad Religion

10) Which musical direction do you see Muck moving towards in the early future?

Our music is constantly evolving. I feel like we're always learning more and more what we like and where we want to go. Our new songs are pretty rock and roll.

11) Why the name Muck? Is it because you guys are scummy dudes who play some mucky tunes? Or was it more of a "It sounds rad!" type decision?

It was definitely more of a "it sounds rad" kind of thing. Kalli and Indriði (our guitarists) had been thinking about starting a band for a long time and they wanted it to be the heaviest band ever. Muck sounds fucking heavy ergo the name.

12) So you guys are playing Iceland Airwaves and Eistnaflug 2012. Which are you more pumped for? Do you feel a tad out of place playing Airwaves, or is this an open-minded crowd in a festival filled with a more "top the radio charts" type sound?

Eistnaflug was this past weekend and it was fucking awesome. I was definitely way more pumped for that. The atmosphere was awesome and we played so fucking good. Regarding Airwaves I don't really feel out of place there. The festival is definitely open minded although they don't really cater that much to the extreme music crowd. It's a shame because Iceland has one of the most exciting extreme music in the world in my opinion.

13) How confident are you in your blast beat abilities? Could you and Ragnar Sverrisson of Beneath ever switch roles?

I'm pretty confident in my blasts. I might not be as fast as Ragnar but I'm definitely tight. I'd love to drum for Beneath.

Although I think the main question is; Could Ragnar drum for Muck???

14) There are 4 of you guys in Muck and there are 4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, according to Ási who is Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michael Angelo?

FUCK. This is definitely the hardest question here.

Kalli is definitely Michael Angelo. He's the party dude

Loftur is Donatello 'cause he knows a bunch of shit.

Indriði he's probably Raphael

Which leaves me with Leonardo because he's the coolest.

15) When I first heard Muck, I thought of bands like Khann, Alpinist, and Botch. Though it doesn't fit in with any in particular, it rather hoists a variety of different influences. So, what are Muck's driving influences?

I think it's funny to hear Alpinist. We played with them when we went to Europe in 2009. That was a pretty fundamental year in Muck's evolution, it got me thinking of how much the Alpinist guys might have influenced our sound to date.
In my opinion Muck has so many influences. Right now I think we're all listening to Frank Ocean's new album…Oh, and Loftur is listening a lot to Castevet.

16) How big is your music collection?

I have an alright music collection. I'm kind of a vinyl nut so I have probably 200+ records in my catalogue right now. iTunes is pretty huge as well.

17) How was Muck's experience at the Eistnaflug festival? Any funny stories? In your opinion who put on the best show?

We had a lovely experience at this beautiful festival. We played on Saturday at a pretty decent slot and like I said earlier we put on a pretty stellar show. The reunion of I Adapt was a high point for me for sure. This festival is so nice and it's so amazing to see all these people come together in perfect harmony. I was wasted for three days and it was so awesome.

18) Finally, the most important question of all, and one I asked Ophidian I and Beneath; I'm trying really hard to visit Iceland again this September or October, where would I most likely find members of Muck hanging out on a Friday or Saturday? Who is likely to be the most drunk? Who is most likely to come stumbling to the hotdog vendor with me?

You'll probably find MUCK at Bakkus. We all stumble there at one point or another during the weekend. Our bassist Loftur he will be dead drunk trying to convince you about the pointlessness of life while you guys walk to the hot dog vendor. I might come to if I'm not too busy dancing.

END.