Happy to celebrate 200 episodes of the mighty Audio Tree Live! Watch our session video below, support this amazing series by buying the audio and video for just six bucks.

Session Tracklisting
1. No One Left
2. Prizefighter
3. If It’s Hot, It’ll Sell
4. Bury You
5. Well, Well, Well (John Lennon Cover)
6. Terranaut
7. Pray Like a Vigilante

Object Permanence has arrived:
- Download it free through the end of April.
- The CD comes in a super-classy gate fold recycled wallet.
- It’s also available on limited edition, audiophile grade 180g gold-translucent vinyl.

And check our schedule for a Spring full of release celebration shows and appearances, starting April 4th at the Hideout Inn in Chicago.

Prizefighter gets more love! It’s on the Chicago Mixtape alongside some great pals – Baliff, Software Giant, and Paper Thick Walls. Sign up for free Chicago music every Monday: http://chicagomixtape.com

Click here to watch Mutts’ national television debut, performing If It’s Hot It’ll Sell with help from Lying Delilah‘s Jodi Rosenthal, from the new LP Object Permanence

Official Video for Five of a Kind, from the album Separation Anxiety.

Directed, filmed and edited by Ian Scott McCullough, Annotation Films.

A note on the content:
We wrote and filmed this last fall, before the tragic shootings in Connecticut. Now it’s tough to go forward with releasing this video, but we’re doing it because the message is still true and positive.

The point of having kids playing a graphic game of “Cowboys & Indians” was to unsettle the viewer. Many deep-seeded divisions in our society still exist – in fact are getting worse – and the root of the problem is rarely addressed due to our complacence that “it’s getting better.” True, we elected a black president. And many now support gay marriage. But there is much more to do, and this video is intended to rattle us out of consciously and subconsciously passing down messages of intolerance.

We apologize if the imagery is painful for those whose lives have been shattered by senseless violence. We hope the positive message will win out, and this video will compel more people to “cut the strings” and cross the proverbial river each day.

We are all Mutts.

God, Country, Grave from the album Separation Anxiety.

Directed by Jim Sikora.
Edited by Tim Baron.
Featuring Angela Gawthrop and Maria Elena Garcia.
Thank you to Kenny and everyone at the L & L Tavern in Chicago.

More Mutts on Vimeo and YouTube.

Hear Separation Anxiety Here:

Click for larger image:

And check our schedule for an August full of release celebration shows, starting August 2nd at Fireside Bowl in Chicago.

This short documentary covers a three-show run crammed into just 18 hours from first to last note. It kicked off at 6:45pm on July 5th on the US Cellular Stage at Summerfest in Milwaukee. We then hustled to pack up and get to Madison, where we played a Midnight set for the Lost City Music Festival at High Noon Saloon. After a few hours of sleep we got to WSUM 91.7FM for a live on-air show from noon to 12:45.

The soundtrack from this clip is from the upcoming Mutts LP – Separation Anxiety – coming on August 2nd, 2012 on CD, free download and limited edition split-color “Mending Wall” vinyl. Go here and pre-order it for a discount.

We’ll also be coming to you, playing LP release shows in:

• Chicago, August 2nd @ Fireside Bowl
• Fort Wayne, August 11 @ Brass Rail
• Wausau, August 18 @ Polack Inn
• Madison, August 24 @ Dragonfly Lounge
• Minneapolis, August 25 @ Amsterdam Hall
• Milwaukee, Sept 1 @ Riverwest Public House

Check back here for more dates and info.

Thursday, August 2nd

2648 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL
8:00pm | 17+ | $5

Directions | Facebook Event

To commemorate the release of our follow-up LP, Separation Anxiety, on CD and split-color Mending Wall vinyl we’re visiting all (or most) of our favorite Midwestern spots to play throughout August.

We’re happy to kick it off with Hidden Hospitals, The Empty Spaces and Audiences at Fireside Bowl in Chicago.

From there we head to Fort Wayne, Madison, Milwaukee, Wausau, and more. Check here for updates.

Preview and pre-order the CD here. You’ll get a couple tracks right away, and we will mail your copy out on August 3.

The LP comes on split-color “Mending Wall” vinyl with a lyric sheet insert poster. The CD comes in a matte finish digi-pack with a poster as well.

For those of us without cash to spare, it’ll be a free MP3 download here on release day, August 2, 2012.

We are excited to finish the albums, and also to get busy sending out all that good stuff to our backers!

We’re previewing a new song from Separation Anxiety each day on the Updates blog, as well.

Sat. May 12 @ The Burlington

3425 W. Fullerton Avenue Chicago, IL
9:00pm | 21+ | $5 Donation

Directions | Facebook Event

This is a special event, and we’re happy to share it with Good Grief, and Jet W. Lee. We’re going to celebrate our first VINYL release, of our debut full-length Pray For Rain:

Everyone in attendance can get a copy of the limited pressing for just 10 bucks.

You can also pre-order at the special price here until Saturday.

The album comes on 180g audiophile-grade, mixed-color (no two alike!) vinyl, in a matte finish sleeve with cover photography by Lisa Victoria Geisler – click here for more information on the images. There’s also an insert poster, with photography by our own Bob Buckstaff and hand-written lyrics on the opposite side, check it out:

2012-02-25 Kryptonite Rockford

12 photos

Rockford live shots courtesy of Lance Young (http://www.facebook.com/Bighuskers1) and Andy Juris.

Hear Pray for Rain Here:

We’re proud of how our first full-length album turned out, and that it even turned out at all… (see the recording journal here for further explanation). Also to our surprise, it charted on the CMJ Top 200 for 6 weeks, peaking at #107 twice, made some Best-of-2011 lists including Huffington Post and was recently featured in national magazines The Deli and Alternative Press.
Here’s what some kind online reviewers have said about it:
“… with so many angles—so many stories, so many tones and sounds—ragged, raw, explosive, all these words are just a taste, a first-bite, a start to describing something so human.” – Hiawatha Review

“To say that an artist is “coming forward with a truly unique sound” is a cliché that, more often than not, doesn’t even truly apply, as there is very little ground that hasn’t been traversed before. However, that is the most accurate way to describe this album and its feel.” – Lumino Magazine

Give it a spin and let us know what you think! Thanks for listening.

Thursday, December 1st

2011 W. North Avenue Chicago, IL 60647
8:00pm | 21+ | $5

Directions | Facebook Event

This is a special event, and we’re happy to share it with Hemmingbirds, Glittermouse and Sleepy Kitty. We’re going to celebrate the release of our first full-length album, which is called Pray For Rain.

Everyone in attendance can get a copy of the limited first pressing before the official release date of Dec 13.

If you’re not in Chicago, or you can’t wait until December, preview and pre-order the CD here. You’ll get a couple tracks right away, and we will mail your copy out on December 5.

The CD comes in a matte finish digi-pack with cover photography by Lisa Victoria Geisler – click here for more information on the images. The inside photo is by Bob Buckstaff. CD also includes a poster with the full cover photo and hand-written lyrics.

For those of us without five bones to spare, it’ll be a free MP3 download here on release day, December 13, 2011.

Saturday, October 1st

2100 W. Belmont Avenue Chicago, IL 60618
10:00pm | 17+ | $12/advance $15/door

Directions | Facebook Event | Tickets

We kick off October opening for AM Taxi, one of the best rock bands around. It’ll be a hell of a night, can’t wait!

We also just finished mastering our new album, Pray for Rain. We’re thrilled with how it came out, thanks to Dan Smart’s mixing and Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering. For our first full-length release we’ve got a lot of work to do before it’s actually available. So in the meantime, get the first single on next week’s Chicago Mixtape.

Here’s our second video – Symmetry, the second track from the Tells of Parallels EP

Lyrics:

I met another version of the man I’ve come to be
a startling perversion of the mirror that I see
The symmetry is scaring me.

The speaker in my head speakin’ on reverse delay
The world becomes an echo of what I was going to say
Overwhelmed by input; my thoughts beyond control
Angels, demons, businesses competing for our souls
The symmetry is scaring me.

I can’t stop it,
I try to stop it;
The Tells of Parallels.
‘Cause it’s equal and opposite
once you get on top of it
who’d you put in hell?

Keys don’t exist but to open locks
Time still persists even without our clocks
And I can’t ignore that I’ve done this before -
it’s happening more and more
and what’s in store is starting to impair me
The symmetry is scaring me.

I can’t stop it,
I try to stop it;
The Tells of Parallels.
‘Cause it’s equal and opposite
once you get on top of it
who’d you put in hell?
The symmetry is scaring me.

Yeahow.
Y-ow.
Keeyhow.
Yeahow.

Bob Buckstaff – bass
Chris Faller – drums
Mike Maimone – keys, voice
audio recorded & mixed by Jon Alvin @ IV Lab Studio, Chicago

Symmetry and The Tells of Parallels EP (c)/(p) 2010 Mutts Music & Mike Maimone / Mile Too Far Music (ASCAP)

Thursday, June 16th

1035 N Western Ave. Chicago, IL 60622
9:00pm | 21+ | FREE *

Directions | Facebook Event

It’s our first time headlining Empty Bottle, and it’s FREE * with RSVP: just send an email to rsvp@emptybottle.com with your name and ours, otherwise it’s $8 at the door. First band goes on at 9, we hit at 11. Summertime Thursday night rock show – spread the word, invite friends, hit up the Facebook Event page. Thanks, and see you there!

Just One Song: Junior
or
Watch Complete Session

There are also some great photos from the night, courtesy of Evil Vince Photograph, which you can see here

I don’t like writing long-winded blog posts, but the fact that this was one of the coolest experiences we have had in any of our bands impels me to elaborate. Hopefully other, bigger bands will take note and track them down for a session. Are you listening Bono, Chris Martin and Right Said Fred? You can’t even get 4-star treatment like this on your private jets.

On May 4th, we packed up my Subaru with everything but drums and headed down to the loop. Traffic was much lighter than expected at 5:00 in Chicago, and we showed up about an hour early. No matter – before we could finish our smokes and coffee from the corner coffee shop, some of the team arrived from working their respective day jobs, helped unload my car, and pulled all our gear through the much-too-nice-for-Mutts lobby and into the elevator. (I get uncomfortable around polished marble walls. They remind me of my accounting days in downtown Cleveland.)

We got into the studio and they made us feel at home right away. The drum set was ready and waiting – a bad ass Yamaha studio kit. Chris set to adjusting it while Bob set up his bass rig and we wheeled the grand piano into position. Holy hell; a lovely grand piano, just for me.

We sound checked, they got their tones while the film crew assessed the layout, and the whole time it was laid back and fun. No stress. It took less than an hour and Rick had us sounding amazing in the headphones. Better than in real life. Like wearing the band on your ears.

So then we played some music, talked with Evil Vince, played more music, and it was all recorded live. It sounded so damn good in those headphones, it gave us the confidence to overcome our lack of preparation.
When it was over we hung out, listened to playback, laughed at our clunkers, ate sammiches… in my mind, providing food the best thing you can do for a musician. Those are the venues I remember on tour; the ones with the good food. Always go back to the good food.

Then the guys handed us a mix-down of the session and helped us load back out to the car. They even picked up the parking cost for us, which is another touring pain-in-the-ass. These guys are good; they know where to tickle a band’s fancy for sure (typically the ears, stomach and wallet, for anyone taking notes). Driving back home, the evening was a blur. We had met so many nice, talented and hard-working people. All we could think of was how great it would be to share the experience with everyone, especially other bands, so that they could have the same experience, share it with their friends and fans, and so on.

So here we go – tell everyone you know: Audio Tree Live is legit, check it out!