Mental Weather – An Xperience Interview

A band is a beloved thing, an expression of that which can find no words but only notes and beats and sonic moxie. Mental Weather is the progeny of members of popular area bands Horse Grave and Ice Queen, and they put out their own groove.

Photo credit: Christopher Simple.

RRX: You just had your first show three months ago, right?

Chris: I believe it was three months ago, it was August 22nd. It was a benefit show, a memorial show for our friend Sarah at No Fun.

RRX: That was your first show?

That was our very first show, yes.

Kaiser: I was also pretty close with Sarah. We were trying to decide when we wanted our first show to be, and we were offered a few dates, and that was one of them. It felt really fitting for me because our band is called Mental Weather, which is another way to phrase mental health. And it felt appropriate for me because a lot of what me and Sarah talked about was our struggles with mental health.

RRX: That was where Mental Weather came from?

Tyler: Not necessarily. I was reading a book. It was the way that someone was describing mental health. It really resonated because I was having a hard time naming the band.

RRX: There are former members of Horse Grave and Ice Queen in the band. Is that correct?

Chris: Current members, but yes. Horse Grave’s playing the Tune Low Die Slow Ho Ho! show at Empire Live, and Ice Queen just played a Rock the Pantry benefit at the Hangar for Oakwood Community Center, so both bands are alive and well and doing great. Hopefully, we get a show together, definitely double duty.

RRX: OK, so you’re in a new band while you are in those other bands. Obviously, you want something out of this, something new, or else you would just stay in your other bands, respectively. What are you looking to expand into?

Jay: Tyler and I were sitting out in front of one of our favorite local establishments, and Tyler wanted to start a band, kind of in the vein of the Plasmatics or Amyl and the Sniffers, kind of like a little punky kind of rock. And I said, “I can get a hold of people right now. We can see if we can start a band.” So my son Devin, who plays drums in Ice Queen, I contacted him and he was in right away. He practiced with us the first time, but it was too much with his schedule. So then we got Dylan. But then I called Carp [Chris Carpentier], and he was in. So within five minutes, we had a band, going more in, like, the punk kind of vibe as opposed to more of the metal stuff that Horse Grave and Ice Queen do.

Dylan: In Horse Grave, I play bass, and I play drums in Mental Weather, so it was nice to hop back on the kit for something really fun and energetic with some friends; take a different turn than the more number-intensive stuff of Horse Grave grooviness.

RRX: It’s been three months, and I know that’s not a lot of time at all, but have you guys played since then?

Chris: We’ve had four shows so far, and we have two more on the books. We’re playing 11/29. We played 8/22, and we played 9/11. We’ve played back-to-back shows, Il Bordello and Desperate Annie’s. We have November 29th at No Fun – a show I put together with some upstate local bands. It’s also a food drive for Albany Food Not Bombs, and then we have another show at Desperate Annie’s for Super Dark Monday on December 15th with Age of Pain and one other band to be announced.

RRX: Are you guys looking to put something out, to put some songs together? How’s that going?

Jay: My bandmate, Ice Queen’s Steve Hammond, does a lot of recording and producing stuff for other bands, and Ice Queen recorded right at our practice space in the Oakwood Community Center, so we’ll talk to Steve when we’re ready. We’re probably gonna record with Steve over there. Right now we have seven songs; probably like to get a few more down before recording anything.

RRX: Tell me a little bit about your fans. You know, nobody ever asks that question, yet it is all about the fans.

Tyler: I feel like a lot of our fans are people that we just know, ‘cause all of us are pretty regular. We go to a lot of shows, especially at No Fun. Chris is a part-owner. We’re all people who spend a lot of time in No Fun. Chris has Wizard Burger. Both Jay and Dylan are in two different bands, so I feel like our fans are people that are our friends, but also people that are around the places we hang out, especially No Fun.

Jay: I mean, we’re big members of the local music scene, community, and everything. So when word got out that all of us were starting a band, people were excited because “We all know you.” A lot of friends and everything. It’s been fun. We played at that basement show in Albany, so there were a lot of people who had never heard us before, and we played in front of people and got some new fans. And playing up at Desperate Annie:  Saratoga, people that don’t always come down to Troy. We played in front of some new fans up there, too. I like spreading out and playing in front of different crowds and stuff.

Tyler: I know this is probably really vulnerable for me to say, but I mean, just because people know who we are as, like, people and friends, I didn’t really expect people to automatically like what we do. I’m grateful for every time someone gives me a compliment about our playing our set. It’s one of those things where I’d like to think people would be, like, into it, but it’s always great to hear people’s feedback. I’m always grateful when a new person comes up to me at a show and likes what we’re doing.

Dylan: I think if I had to describe at least the prototypical Mental Weather fan that we’re going for: queer. We’re a pretty, pretty gay and trans-friendly band. Personally, I’m married to a trans dude, lots of transness and queerness going around over here, and usually in the crowds that we play to. We have a young crowd, early twenties.

Chris: I feel like the early twenties seem to be maybe the crowd and the scene that we get booked for, but it’s also our crowd. It’s a very diverse young crowd. We have fun, but the content has a much more serious message. But we don’t take ourselves too seriously. I think everyone’s mad in their own rights and respects towards other things, but we’re just a punk band playing fun punk music, and it’s got an edge to it, and it’s got a message.

 

 

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