After first forming over a mutual love of Weezer, Boston natives Mom Rock have since gone onto find inspiration in the likes of Cage The Elephant, Talking Heads and Catfish and the Bottlemen as they now return with their latest thunderous offering I Am The Same.
With its blistering guitar hooks and catchy choruses, I Am The Same sees the quartet deliver one of their most audacious singles to date. Taking influence from the SoCal pop-punk sound that has proven a hit for the likes of FIDLAR and SWMRS of late, their newest belter knocks up one stellar punch after another throughout it almost five minute runtime.
So with the band proving to deliver the goods once again, we sat down with them to find out more about their inspirations and what they have planned for the year ahead.
Hi guys, how are you today?
Mom Rock: Rocking on!
For those that haven’t heard of you yet, how would you best describe your sound and who have been your biggest influences so far?
MR: Some of our biggest influences for our sound as a band so far have been groups like Weezer, Talking Heads, and Catfish and the Bottlemen but also just the house show scene we came up playing in. We owe a lot of our identity, especially as a live act, to playing in loud hot basements and trying to find what made us unique on those bills. If you haven’t listened yet, you can expect big distorted guitars, quirky lyrics, and a sudden urge to call your mom.
You have just released your new single ‘I Am The Same’. Can you tell us how that track came about?
Curtis: It started out as a challenge from a friend to write a song with the title I Am ____ for a show he was putting together of a few artists all writing from that idea. It was definitely intended to spark an uplifting message, but at the time I had just flown home to work during the summer break and after meeting up with a few friends, I had gotten a lot of off handed comments that it seemed I hadn’t changed from who I was in high school. Obviously it wasn’t meant with any bad intentions but being someone who doesn’t look fondly back at their high school persona, it gave me a weird feeling. Ultimately, a part of me thought I would change simply because I was moving to a new place and growing up but another part of me knew that nothing would change if I didn’t actually try to work on myself. In the song, the more logical side of me is mocking the other side for thinking something would come from nothing.
And was there a particular style you were looking for when you wrote it?
Curtis: Having the title of the song already decided was a big help and I knew it was going to be one of our “angstier” songs. When the opening riff came, I had a feeling it would end up being an opener for our set so I catered it with that in mind, making it sound really big and writing lyrics that the audience could easily pick up and sing along to. All in all, it’s textbook Mom Rock.
Can we expect a new EP or even an album from you in the near future?
MR: Absolutely! We’re in the middle of working on two EPs right now, the first of which we’re hoping to release in August and the second will follow up real shortly after. We’re always talking about doing an album because we have more than enough songs for it, so it will happen eventually, but we’re waiting until the moment seems right.
The coronavirus outbreak has obviously affected everyone’s plans, but what have you got in store for the rest of the year?
MR: Aside from those two EPs just a whole lot of writing and recording in general so we can keep releasing music and have a whole new set of songs for our fans when we can do live shows again.
And finally, what are you hoping to achieve as an artist in the years to come?
MR: This is such a huge question for us. We’re really eager to get our sea legs when it comes to touring and would love to hop on a tour as an opener for some of the bands we love like Sports Team, Charly Bliss, Car Seat Headrest, Vampire Weekend, etc. We would love to become a mainstage act on the festival circuit and dream of playing a set as Mom Rock at festivals like Boston Calling/Lollapalooza/Bonnaroo and venues like Red Rocks in Colorado. I would say at the top of the list of goals is probably being busy enough touring and recording that our parents stop asking us about getting “real jobs”.
Mom Rock’s latest single ‘I Am The Same’ is available to stream and download now. Have a listen to it below.
