Mudvayne, The New Game

Ryan Martinie loves Lucky Charms. But all those sugary treats don’t pay for themselves. In order to indulge his morning sweet tooth, Martinie makes a living playing bass as part of the progressive metal foursome known as Mudvayne. The band released its most recent work The New Game in November 2008 and has been on the road supporting it since last October. Recording began in Chicago in 2006 and ended in a remote part of Idaho the following year. What resulted from those months locked away behind ice and snow in the middle of nowhere is the further evolution of Mudvayne as a band that puts intensity, passion, and maturity at the forefront of its music. The album follows the group to epic highs and dynamic lows as it explores a new chapter in its life at leaders in the metal genre. Like a fertile uterus, the musical womb that birthed The New Game remained ripe with creativity, and Mudvayne went back into the studio to begin work on another album. The currently untitled record is expected to be released some time this year.

What was Mudvayne’s mindset going into the writing and recording of The New Game?

RM: What we always think – we want to make music together and make the best songs that we can. That’s pretty consistent with every writing process we go into. I doubt that anybody goes into the writing process thinking, ‘Let’s make really crappy songs. Let’s make songs that suck.’ Well, maybe. Actually, that sounds like a really fun side project. But in any case, that’s not what we did. We went in and did our best to make a record that we enjoy and hopefully that everybody else likes, too.

What is the writing process like for you?

RM: Songs write themselves. They already exist. I don’t think any of us flatter ourselves into thinking that we’re so intelligent, we create all these songs. We’re lucky enough to hit that wellspring of music that flows beneath the surface of the rest of what we call life.

The song directs you. It says either this part stays or this part goes or this section feels sluggish or we want this to have a little more tweaked out sound. Then we address things as we go. Sometimes nothing of the original song will exist at the end of the day. It takes a lot of time an energy paying attention to what the song wants to do.

How do your surroundings affect the music?

RM: We don’t do very well with a lot of distractions. We try to get ourselves a little further out, backwoods or somewhere that takes a while to get to. When we were in Chicago, we had too many friends and too much fun. And then we end up in Idaho. Harsh winter, beautiful land, defiantly out in the middle of nowhere, so we got our record done.

How do you feel The New Game showcases the band’s growth over time?

RM: I think that’s really for everyone else to decide. I don’t think we’re trying to go one way or the other. There’s been a process of change in the band, and it’s certainly been a natural progression. It goes back to writing songs we want to play, songs that we enjoy.

What is it that has kept Mudvayne together for this long?

RM:  Our love for small miniature figurines. We all love these little things. We paint them in our spare time. I call Chad up and I’m like, ‘Chad, are you working on Gollum? Is that what you’re doing?’

What makes for a good performance?

RM: I don’t want to feel like I’m on stage. I don’t want to feel like I’m performing in front of people. If I feel that way, I’m off my game. I want to be unhinged, completely unimpeded by thought about other things. I just let it flow and play our songs and enjoy what we’re doing together.

What have been some of your favorite shows on this tour?

RM: We had a really good show in Madison [Wisconsin]. The crowd was on fire. I think they were really drunk, actually. Hey, it’s works, as long as you don’t drink and drive.

If you could have seen the future of Mudvayne back in the day, how would have reacted?

RM: Probably would have run and hid. It’s easier to go through it than to know what’s going to happen. For someone to have told us that, it probably wouldn’t have happened.

How long do you think Mudvayne will be around making music?

RM:  How long does anything last? How long does a marriage last? You don’t know. How long does a band last? You don’t know. People change. In a band, it’s even harder, being married, in my case, to three other people. It’s a constant struggle to be heard and to be understood. How long to we want to do it? I don’t know. Someone could really hurt my feelings and piss me off and I’ll never want to work with them again. Maybe my feelings are deep rooted enough to where I’d let it go because I love them enough. I don’t know. Who knows? I’ll personally be making music my whole life. I feel fortunate that we’re still working together and that we still enjoy the songs we’re writing together.

What is your favorite cereal?

RM: I love bad cereal. I’m bad cereal guy. I have bad cereal mornings once or twice a week. I call them my bad cereal mornings because they’re really bad for me, so I really love them. Come on, you can’t go wrong with Lucky Charms. Lucky Charms is the shit. I’ve got to think…Cocoa Crispies, that stuff’s pretty good, too. It depends on my mood, though, cause then you’ve got Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Fiber One mixes pretty good, which makes it half way decent for you, it’s just got a lot of sugar in it. My cabinet, if you open it up at home, I have fifteen boxes of cereal. Eggs and oatmeal one morning and then the next day it’s fattening cereal. It’s awesome, but I’m hungry again in fifteen minutes.

Final thoughts?
RM: We’ve been having fun playing new material, and playing live shows again feels great after you go on hiatus and make a couple records. It’s good to be back.