Gary James' Interview With Evan Shore Of
Muck And The Mires
Little Steven Van Zandt awarded them the title of "The Number One U.S. Garage Band" in a Battle Of The Bands on MTV. They've performed all over the U.S., the U.K., Europe, South America, Canada and Japan. They've shared the bill with The New York Dolls, The Stooges, The Flamin' Groovies, The Sonics and Ray Davies of The Kinks. Their song, "I'm Your Man" was voted the first "Coolest Song In The World Of 2021" on Sirius XM's Underground Garage. The group we are speaking of is Boston's Muck And The Mires. Muck (Evan Shore) talked to us about his group.
Q - You hold this title, "The Number One Garage Band In the U.S."
A - (laughs)
Q - That must grab people's attention right away and they want to come out and see what you're all about.
A - I would hope so.
Q - Exactly how much work is there for a group like Muck And The Mires?
A - Well, in terms of work, do you mean how hard do we work or how hard is it to find work to perform?
Q - How much performing work is there for the group these days?
A - Well, there's a lot more now that the severity of the pandemic had gone down. It was pretty much impossible to go on tour really prior to this year (2022). We kind of took a risk and booked Europe and ended up going to Spain in March (2022) for ten days. We were lucky because they had opened up. Spain kind of didn't really ever close, but they limited the capacity so it really wasn't in most band's interest to make a very long trip overseas to play clubs that were forced to be a quarter capacity and having people sitting in seats in nightclubs. We kind of lucked out and got the work because we took the risk of saying we're going to be optimistic and say this is going to wind down by next March, and fortunately it did. But with the pandemic, to answer your question, is there work? It has become very competitive because you have all these groups were kind of bottled up and unable to do the same thing we wanted to do. So, there probably is more competition now for the amount of venues that are out there. So we're kind of in line with all the other groups that are just starting to get out there again. There's always work to be had, you just have to kind of grow your audience and find the work and go to the places that you think you're going to be well-received.
Q - Were you able to turn a profit in some of these European venues you were playing? Was it worth your time and effort?
A - Well, it depends. The longer you stay, the more you turn a profit because the success is to get over there. We managed to do it. There's different levels obviously in the music business. I think if you're just starting out and you decided to go play a weekend in a foreign country, you probably would not have the opportunity to recoup your airfare. We were over there, we're pretty established in many of these countries. We have a following in other words. It's pretty easy to recoup the expenses after a few days. Between the gigs and the merchandise it's definitely possible to do pretty well.
Q - A minute ago you were talking about the competition. You're in sort of a unique category, aren't you? How much actual competition do you have in your particular category? Are there a lot of garage bands out there trying to tour the world? I wouldn't think so.
A - Well, I guess we asked for it by saying we promoted ourselves as "The Best Garage Band In The World" at one point by Little Steven Van Zandt. The competition is really just about the venues. There are some venues in Europe that would cater more towards the garage bands or the Punk thing, but in most cases the venues book a diverse bunch of music whether it be Prog Rock one night, Metal the next night, Garage Rock, Rockabilly, and you're vying for those same positions. When I say we're competing against other bands, it's really musician across the board. In terms of competing against Garage Rock bands it's quite the opposite. It's kind of a small sub-genre of Rock 'n' Roll and we all kind of know each other. There's a lot of friendship and definitely a sense of community. So it's not really competition. I think in a perfect world we'd love to share a bill with some of the people you might perceive as competitors. It would be a lot of fun.
Q - I've been calling your band "The Number One Garage Band In the U.S." You're saying "The World." Which is it?
A - That really comes from the fact that we entered Little Steven's contest right after we formed. He was looking for the best garage band. I don't know whether it was the U.S. or the world. The competition took place in the U.S. obviously because that's where he's based. They would feature it on MTV and we were crowned the winner of Little Steven's Garage Rock Band Search, which was a worldwide search. So, that's kind of how that title became thrust upon us. No one's tried to dethrone us yet, so we've gone with it. (laughs)
Q - How long has this band been together?
A - Twenty years.
Q - And how long have you been a singer and a musician?
A - More than twenty years! (laughs)
Q - You're the leader of Muck And The Mires?
A - Well, I'm Muck and it's Muck And The Mires, so it makes me the leader. (laughs)
Q - Were you in other bands before Muck And The Mires?
A - Yes.
Q - Did you have the idea then to put the group together with a certain image and a certain style of music?
A - Well, it's a great question. I kind of became bored with what I was doing and decided to do some home demos. I really was in a "Meet The Beatles" mood at that point. I decided to do home demos that would kind of replicate the sound of the 1960s, pre-Beatles. I ended up releasing the demos on a Canadian label which then got picked up by a German label and it was called "The Best Of Muck And The Mires". It was a fictitious name I gave the demos. The thing kind of took off. Here I was without a band, asked to tour. So I put the band together after the album was already out. From there we just kind of became a real band based on a fake band's album.
Q - Reminiscent of Herb Alpert's story. He put out an album where he played the trumpet and used session musicians to play the other instruments. Then offers to play in person came in and he had to put a band together.
A - Right. I'm like a modern day Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass. (laughs)
Q - Now all you have to do is start your own record label like Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss did. (A&M Records) I'm not even sure, based on everything I've been told, that record labels are doing any signings these days. But, with that in mind, have any major labels contacted you and offered you a deal?
A - Well no, not lately. If you turn on the radio I think it's very apparent what is appealing to mainstream radio and record companies. We're certainly not the flavor of the day right now, nor is Rock 'n' Roll in general. You don't even hear the word Rock even talked about anymore. It's always Pop groups, which they've always been referred to even back in the '60s. Right now it's Hip-Hop, Country, anything but Rock 'n' Roll. I really don't foresee a record label coming to sign us, but that's okay. It's not our priority to get signed to a label. Our priority is to kind of just be able to get out there and perform and be heard, and you can do that without a major record label. Our guitar player was signed to A&M Records, so he can tell you all about what that world is like. The bottom line is we want to have fun and we're doing it. We'd certainly welcome a record deal, but it's not our priority to go and get signed right now.
Q - Your guitarist was a solo act or part of a group?
A - He was in a band called The Ape Hangers. They were featured in a movie called Empire Records. The movie was a flop, but the soundtrack was a smash hit.
Q - You wanted Allan Williams to sign you and he wouldn't do it.
A - (laughs)
Q - Did he say why? I'm assuming at that point he was just too old.
A - He's sadly passed away now, but that is a true story. We went to Liverpool (England). I'll try to make it a quick story 'cause it is an eight hour story. We ended up hooking up with Allan Williams. We were over there playing The Cavern Club. We met Allan Williams and took him to dinner. He proceeded to take us on the pub crawl of Liverpool, which was absolutely amazing. It was all the spots where The Beatles used to drink. We got him pretty loaded, (laughs) on wine. So I popped the question. I figured, "Why not?" I said, "Mr. Williams, would you manage us?" He was like, "No. I won't manage you!" So belligerent. (laughs) It was nice to be turned down by the man who turned down The Beatles.
Q - The problem was he couldn't do for The Beatles what Brian Epstein did for The Beatles. He didn't have enough clout.
A - It's so funny you say that. When we first met Mr. Williams that night it was almost exactly what he said. He said, "You know I could almost take them so far," and he held his hand up over his head. "But Epstein," he raised his hand higher, "Epstein was able to take them all the way."
Q - Where did this name Muck And The Mires come from? The British definition of muck is "To engage in aimless activity." The American definition is "Soft, moist farmyard manure."
A - (laughs)
Q - So, which is it?
A - I think I prefer the British one. As I said, the name originated from the home demos and the whole thing was a joke. So, I was just looking for a '60s kind of name that was funny. It's really from The Honeymooners because Ed Norton had a friend named Jim McKeaver whose nickname was Old Muck And Mire. So, we became Muck And The Mires. It just had a good ring to it. It definitely confuses people, especially when you go to countries where they don't speak the language. They ask you what it means and it's very hard. (laughs)
Q - What's on tap for the group's future?
A - We're definitely going to try to get back internationally again. We just did Spain, but we've played everywhere. We're going to be playing throughout the U.S. We're going to be headed towards the West Coast the end of the year. We have New Year's (2022) in New York City and a few other trips to New York City. Lots of stuff in Boston and most importantly we're working on a new record.
The views and opinions expressed by individuals interviewed for this web site are the sole responsibility of the individual making the comment and / or appearing in interviews and do not necessarily represent the opinions of anyone associated with the website ClassicBands.com.
