Mugstar - the return of Liverpool's underground heroes

Mugstar group shot in a graveyard with lens flare

One of the last bands to record a session with the late, great DJ John Peel, Liverpool’s Mugstar have long been underground heroes.

However, despite several critically acclaimed LPs, they’ve remained a cult band. Unlike many moderately successful groups though, they haven’t buckled and continue to turn in records of a consistent and powerful quality. Rooted in kosmische and the pioneering Krautrock bands, they’ve blended in their own influences while playfully indulging in the genre’s penchant for improvisation, even collaborating with ex-Can frontman Damo Suzuki on Start From Zero to shore up their classic prog credentials.

With new LP Magnetic Seasons, there’s a desire to innovate while keeping the essential elements of the band intact, and this expresses itself in the approach to its writing and recording.

“The first side is probably more in keeping with what we’ve done before, which was organised and written before we went in to the studio,” explains drummer Steve Ashton. “But then we did a lot more experimenting in the studio – we had time to improvise a bit more and allow the tracks to grow.”

Knowing that the goal was to produce a double album helped sharpen their focus, but it also left breathing room for greater experimentation, with the more structured tracks earlier on the record and the expansive, improvised tracks later.

“The way we recorded and experimented in the studio meant there was a lot more space in the tracks than we’ve utilised before,” says bassist Jason Stoll. “When we called the album Magnetic Seasons, we didn’t even think of it as four distinct sides, as in, four seasons, that was something that somebody pointed out to us later on.”

Although it’s led to difficulties replicating the songs live as the band work up a live set with the material, Ashton explains that they changed up which instruments were being used, which “made us just approach, not the writing, but the improvising kind of differently. It’s good when things are more unconscious and more intuitive.”

It might seem odd that one of the modern psychedelic genre’s most well-known proponents are unsure whether
the term applies to them, but that’s the case. “At first it was quite odd being characterised as ‘psych’,” admits Ashton. “But over recent years it’s become a broad umbrella term. There are so many psych festivals, and the range of bands that you get at those festivals is really wide.”

As the band describe past projects and future plans, their enthusiasm is infectious. Not content to just exist on their own terms, Mugstar are determined to enjoy the ride. Asked what they love about music, there’s barely a pause as they queue up to answer.

“It’s that music is so individual for people,”says Stoll. “If one person plays an ‘E’ chord, another person will play it differently from the next one… it’s so varied and it’s so weird as an artform, because there’s no physical presence.”

“I have it on all the time,” adds Ashton. “It’s not a case of ‘Am I going to play music?’ Instead, it’s ‘What am I going to play?’ There’s never enough time to play it all.”

Laughing at his bandmate stealing his answer, guitarist Pete Smyth pipes up: “Music just totally excites me, like Steve said. There’s hardly any moment of the day apart from maybe when I’m sleeping that I’m not listening to music.”

PROG FILE

line-up
Pete Smyth (Guitar, vocals, keyboards), Neil Murphy (Guitar), Jason Stoll (Bass), Steve Ashton (Drums)
sounds like
Atmospheric Krautrock with a modern edge
current release
Magnetic Seasons is out now on Rock Action Records

For more, visit Mugstar’s website.

Latest in
Mogwai
“The concept of cool and uncool is completely gone, which is good and bad… people are unashamedly listening to Rick Astley. You’ve got to draw a line somewhere!” Mogwai and the making of prog-curious album The Bad Fire
Adrian Smith performing with Iron Maiden in 2024
Adrian Smith names his favourite Iron Maiden song, even though it’s “awkward” to play
Robert Smith, Lauren Mayberry, Bono
How your purchase of albums by The Cure, U2, Chvrches and more on Record Store Day can help benefit children living in war zones worldwide
Cradle Of Filth performing in 2021 and Ed Sheeran in 2024
Cradle Of Filth’s singer claims Ed Sheeran tried to turn a Toys R Us into a live music venue
The Beatles in 1962
"The quality is unreal. How is this even possible to have?" Record shop owner finds 1962 Beatles' audition tape that a British label famously decided wasn't good enough to earn Lennon and McCartney's band a record deal
The Mars Volta
“My totalitarian rule might not be cool, but at least we’ve made interesting records. At least we polarise people”: It took The Mars Volta three years and several arguments to make Noctourniquet
Latest in Features
Mogwai
“The concept of cool and uncool is completely gone, which is good and bad… people are unashamedly listening to Rick Astley. You’ve got to draw a line somewhere!” Mogwai and the making of prog-curious album The Bad Fire
The Mars Volta
“My totalitarian rule might not be cool, but at least we’ve made interesting records. At least we polarise people”: It took The Mars Volta three years and several arguments to make Noctourniquet
Ginger Wildheart headshot
"What happens next, you give everyone a hard-on and then go around the room with a bat like Al Capone?!” Ginger Wildheart's wild tales of Lemmy, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Cheap Trick and more
Crispian Mills and Bob Ezrin
“We spent seven months on David Gilmour’s boat and almost bankrupted ourselves. But Bob encouraged us to dream big”: How Bob Ezrin brought out the prog in Kula Shaker
Buckethead and Axl Rose onstage
Psychic tests! Pet wolves! Chicken coops! Guns N' Roses and the wild ride towards Chinese Democracy
Ne Obliviscaris
"Exul ended up being recorded at 10 different studios over two and a half years." Ne Obliviscaris and the heroic story of their fourth album