Can you please introduce yourself to the readers?
Hey guys! I’m Eli Truitt and I’m the vocalist of Mugshot.
What led to the inception of Mugshot?
So our drummer/producer Connor and I have been friends/band mates since we were kids, and Mugshot was started when we met our guitarist Michael. He had some demos he wanted to record with Connor, and we started collaborating after that.
You recently released a crazy heavy new EP called ‘Empty Heaven.’ Does this release follow a central theme or does each track have its own meaning?
Yes! The main theme of Empty Heaven is suicide, and was inspired by the loss of multiple people we knew as well as people we looked up to. The album is actually split into two parts, the first half and second half. The first half of the record is more personal and talks about cheating, deception, and loss, while the second half is a little more political and talks about discrimination and suicide. The main point we wanted to get across is that this life is all we have, no matter what your background is and it is too valuable to give up.
The cover art for ‘Empty Heaven’ was created by Trey Meyers of Tomb Void. How do you project your ideas out of your head to get the vision across clearly to the artist?
That’s a good question, we actually had a lot of different ideas for what we wanted the art to be. But once we decided on Trey, we actually gave him a lot of creative freedom to just listen to the album and make what he thought would represent the album visually. The main part we wanted represented was the dichotomy between the two sides of the album.
The track “Good People,” featuring Peter Rono of Kanonashi, is one of my favorite’s off the EP. Peter fits the track perfectly. When it comes to bringing features on, what is the process like to find the perfect voice?
To be honest, we wanted Peter from the beginning. He’s been a good friend of ours for years and Kaonashi is one of our favorite bands in the scene. So I definitely had Peter in mind when I was writing the the vocal parts, but he actually did a majority of the writing for his part which was dope!
There is a noticeable gap between ‘Dull Boy’ and ‘Empty Heaven.’ Were there certain circumstances that led to such a gap between releases?
There were a number of reasons why it took so long for us to put out a new album, but honestly the biggest thing is that we wanted to make sure we were gonna release the best product possible. A lot of the songs on Empty Heaven we’ve actually been playing live for a couple years now, and we’ve change them according to how the crowds reacted. This new record is basically the result of us touring for 4 years and getting feedback from our fans.
In some recent Facebook posts you mentioned you’ve been added to some playlists on some streaming platforms including Apple Music, TIDAL, and more. Do you notice more traffic when your music is hit with a spotlight like that? If so, what advice would you give upcoming artists trying to get on a playlist?
Oh absolutely. Getting on playlists and platforms like that is super important and it’s been one of our main focuses with this new album. That’s a big part of why we decided to join BloodBlast, their main goal is to spread the music on streaming platforms so more people have a chance to check us out. We would definitely recommend contacting every resource you have in terms of promoters, as well as using different services like Distrokid to put your music out independently.
I saw social media comments from the fans asking if/when ‘Empty Heaven’ will be pressed on vinyl. Physical mediums have made an astonishing comeback in recent years, living in the digital age which format do you feel holds more weight? Do you feel like a certain medium is the best choice for pleasing the established fans while still trying to bring your music to new ears?
We’ve honestly been super surprised by how many people that have requested physical versions of Empty Heaven. We’re still figuring out logistics, but we definitely plan on having multiple physical pressings. During the pandemic I would say that streaming and online platforms are the most important in terms of getting more listeners, but on tour it’s really important to have physical pressings because that’s what a lot of fans want the most.
Dream tour with Mugshot on the bill?
I think it’s fair to say that all of us are very inspired by Slipknot. They represent a lot of what we set out to do with our music so they would be the ultimate goal to play with. We’d also love to be able to tour some of our homies in Kaonashi or Kublai Khan.
Anything else you would like to tell the readers before we go?
Thank you to everyone who has check us out and thank you to everyone who’s been supporting us since the beginning. We are just getting started.
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