Here Come the Mummies – Interview

Do not miss Here Come the Mummies this Friday at Lee’s Palace!!!!

Here Come the Mummies is an eight-piece funk-rock band of 5000 year-old Egyptian Mummies with a one-track mind. Their “Terrifying Funk from Beyond the Grave” is sure to get you into them (and possibly vice versa).

We interviewed Mummy Casss and Midnight.

1. Music Overload: This band has been around for almost 16 years now. How scary was the project at the beginning? Was this just an alternative project to have fun and then became big? If you could share with us a bit more about the creation and organic development of the group through time that would be great.
A) Mummy Cass: Our being cursed-by-the-pharaoh-to-wander-the-Earth-for-eternity seems to have backfired, right? Cause we are enjoying ourselves – a lot. We couldn’t have predicted our success way back then, we were just having fun. We caught a couple lucky breaks in the US, and now we’re comin’ for ya Canada!

2. Music Overload: I see that your lyrics are filled with spiciness, jokes, stories and partying. Can you share with us how you come up with your lyrics and/or what is the writing process that you follow, if any? Is the music talking to you or you try to set a direction for each song related with a specific memory or event in life?
A) Mummy Cass: Our lyrics are like a stew. You don’t need a recipe, you just eyeball it. A lot of times we only have a title, then we have to flesh it out.
Midnight: Kinda like having a doorknob and asking, “what sort of house would go with this?”.

3. Music Overload: Does “I Spy” have as a unique or different characteristic that you did not have previously as a group?
A) Mummy Cass: We like to dangle our collective big toe in Latin-infused pop. This is the latest result. There’s “Horizontal Mambo” out there, too.
Midnight: Very refreshing.

4. Music Overload: Can you share with us a happy moment you recently had as a group?
A) Mummy Cass: So many. We got to play gigs with some of our favorites recently including Mavis Staples, KC and the Sunshine Band, a private gig with The Jacksons, and we sat in with Umphree’s McGee at the Summer Camp Music Fest ’19.
Midnight: Sold out shows in Atlanta, and Indianapolis. Good times.

5. Music Overload What do you like about HCTM? What is it that keeps you all together and enjoying doing music together?
A) Mummy Cass: We’re all curious musically, not one of us is normal, and we don’t care about what we are supposed to be doing, we just do what we do.

6. Music Overload: I am sure you have plenty of stories related with an unexpected songwriting process. Would you mind sharing the craziest inspiration for a song you have had throughout your career either with HCTM or with any other project you have ever worked with?
A) Mummy Cass: Well, sometimes songs just land on your shoulder like an eel. “Pants” is that way. “Single Entendre,” too. I guess “Attack of the Wiener Man” is fairly unexpected. There was a hot dog vendor in Indianapolis that kinda looked like a serial killer. The words are pretty straightforwardly about a hot dog guy, but it still sounds naughty.
Midnight: Win.

7. Music Overload: We have seen that live music is using more and more the school of David Bowie, Kiss and Alice Cooper to have “personas” on stage rather than musicians being only musicians. (e.g. Ghost, Iron Maiden, Nekrogoblikon, Galactic Empire, etc). Do you think this is the future or something new musicians should consider as a good option to step up their game for on stage presentations?
A) Mummy Cass: It is a great way to up your game, and it is probably the future, but we are stuck with it whether it is good for us or not.
Midnight: If you pull these bandages off, our decrepit flesh comes along, right off the bone.

8. Music Overload: We are always interested to know what the last five songs our interviewees have played on their Spotify/apple music/CD player are (or however you consume music). Are you listening to anything in particular for the last couple of months?
A) Mummy Cass: “Maybe your Baby,” by Stevie Wonder; “Water” by Fulton Lee; “Serpentine Fire” by Earth, Wind, and Fire; “Hot Pants Road” by the JB’s; Commodores, Ray Charles, Otis Shubert.

9. Music Overload: Using only unexpected materials, colors, shapes, flavors, experiences, tell us how your music sounds to your own self?
A) Mummy Cass: It’s like a nine-layer dip where the beans play guitar, the cheese is on bass, there’s a hot-sauce synth, drumsticks made of chicken, and it’s topped with guacamole vocals and creamy innuendos.
Midnight: You forgot the coconut.

10.Music Overload: Last but not least, if there were no boundaries at all, what would be your craziest wish or dream if you could ask for it in this moment? 
A) Mummy Cass: No boundaries? That’s easy – apply moisturizing cream and get some sleep.

Follow Here Come the Mummies at their web page :
www.herecomethemummies.com