A Q&A with Under the Mountain

From Canada. Heavy. Rock. Here’s Steve & Curt from Under the Mountain…

How did you choose to cover ‘Black Velvet’ for your latest release?
Steve: Black Velvet was originally written by Christopher Ward and performed by Alannah Myles in an awesome 80s fashion, a song that was basically dedicated entirely to Elvis Presley. Growing up, Elvis wasn’t as huge of a presence to me, but the sentiment stays the same about other musicians that we’ve lost along the way. Just a couple examples being Lemmy, Bon Scott, David Bowie, John Bonham, just to name a few.

What was the hardest part about putting this release together, and why?
Curt: Hardest part about putting out our latest release was Covid. Delayed filming, barn swallows sh*tting on us, car troubles.

Who produced the release – what did they bring to it?
The song was produced by Anthony Sharkey and the video was produced by Raymond Knight. Both of these productions were insanely professional! Sharkey was also audio engineer and mixing engineer and he absolutely killed it! I think if we were to have produced it ourselves it just would have been left lacking so much that was put into it. That being said, it is great to produce our own stuff, but Tony has been basically our band’s fifth member for a long time, so him producing is basically the band producing it… just a lot better. As for the video, Raymond Knight is an absolute powerhouse in the film industry on Vancouver Island and we couldn’t imagine this video being any better.

What do you want the listener to take away from listening to your music?
Steve: To me, our music is just heavy and rocking and I never really imagined people getting much more out of it than that. After talking with a few fans on some of our songs, they see the lyrics and performances meaning much more and actually helping them through certain situations. I think a lot of people hear whatever they may find relatable and if that’s the case with our music, I couldn’t be happier about it!

How does a track normally come together? Can you tell us something about the process?
Curt: Usually starts with a riff; that gets thumbs-upped by the band; then we build structure; then we refine it.
Steve: For me, I have always written lyrics after the music has evolved. I’ve never been able to write music based off of lyrics, but I can definitely write lyrics based off of the music.

What band/artists have influenced you the most since you started this project, and why?
Steve: Personally, my music tastes are constantly changing and evolving. I’ve noticed quite the trend that my writing always seems to be evolving in the direction that my musical tastes go in. When the band first started, my favourite bands were Clutch, AC/DC, Pantera, Soundgarden… Throughout the last decade, I’ve listened to a lot of different music and now my favourites would be Elder, King Buffalo, King Gizzard, The Atomic Bitchwax… It’s hard to say who has influenced me the most – a lot of artists have influenced me a lot.

Bassist Curt (above) and vocalist/guitarist Steve (top image) from Under the Mountain

When the world is back to normal where would you like to tour, and why?
Steve: There has been some discussion of touring in Mexico and other places in central/South America as well as Europe and maybe even Asia. I just want to get playing again – this Covid thing is driving us nuts!

If you could pick one track for our readers to listen to in order to get a taste of your music, what would you pick, and why?
Steve: This is an impossible question. We definitely do not have one song that would give you a solid idea of what we’re all about… How about two? I would say the song rock n roll really gives a good vibe of our just straight up, balls to the wall, don’t give a f*** rock n roll kind of style, and PPT is our heavier side and shows that we can have a bit of a psychedelic progressive kind of sound as well.

What ambitions do you have for the band/your career?
Curt: Ambitions is a tough question. ‘Making it’ as a band is vastly different from what it was in the past. The goal is to please enough ears globally to earn enough support to be able to make music without the need to supplement income with construction jobs.

Finally, as you leave the stage, what are your parting words?
Thanks for coming to support our drunken habits!

For more info visit: facebook.com/UndertheMountainband