Mother Mother Love Mothers

07/30/08 5:16pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

At the risk of sounding immature and rehashing a joke from the second grade, your mother is the reason you're able to do anything at all. She's responsible for the fact that you get up and do whatever it is you do during the day, since she brought you into the world. Ryan Guldemond's mother is responsible for his existence, and inadvertently, the name of his band, Mother Mother.

"We didn't want it to sound like a genre or a rock band," Guldemond says of their moniker. "We wanted it to sound sort of ambiguous, while also seeming important and kind of a large and spiritual thing.

"The word 'mother' sort of has that. There's a real mystique in that word. It was just as simple as liking that and liking the idea of applying that concept to a new band that you're starting."

Mother Mother originally formed as just plain Mother and released a self-titled record in 2005 when they were still a trio consisting of Guldemond, his singing sister Molly Guldemond and her vocal counterpart, Debra-Jean Creelman. That album was re-released in 2007 and renamed Touch Up after the band changed their name to their current one. They later picked up bassist Jeremy Page and drummer Kenton Loewe, who was later replaced by Ali Siadat.

The name change happened because Ryan Guldemond was sick of answering annoying "Why is the band called Mother?" questions. In one interview, he jokingly said he had used that name because he and his bandmates didn't like their mothers and wanted to create a new one they'd prefer.

Though the Guldemonds' mother wasn't amused by the joke, maybe she'll forgive him and his band for releasing their sophomore record, O My Heart, on Sept. 16, which is her birthday. There have been many changes for the band since Touch Up's original release, and they're showcased on the album, which Guldemond says is "vastly different" from Touch Up. He also says it has its own fair share of maternal references.

"I guess it just speaks of a giver, like a higher force, a maternal force. The mother is a bit of a metaphor for a giving force that's bigger.

"There's something very powerful and embracing about a maternal force. You can fall asleep there and feel safe, even if you don't necessarily have a good history with a mother in your family. Just the idea of that presence, whether you find it in other things, I think is grand and encompassing."

Guldemond is keen to nurture his band's musical output and watch it change, and says the best place to do that is on the road.

"Performing live is like your payoff. It just continues to expand and find new ways of showing itself, the music, when you perform live. Touring is great for that because things surface and come out of the cage every night. And to me, that's the most exciting part of being in a band."

You can see Mother Mother get their payoff here:

July 30 Nelson, B.C. @ Lakeside Park (Keep The Beat — War Child Canada Music Fundraiser)
Aug. 13 Whistler, B.C. @ Kokanee Crankworx Festival
Sept. 4-5 Quadra Island, B.C. @ Quadra Community Centre
Sept. 6 Denman Island, B.C. @ TBA