{"id":15659,"date":"2021-06-02T05:00:34","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T05:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=15659"},"modified":"2021-06-01T15:27:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T15:27:09","slug":"mudfoot-barker-interview-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=15659","title":{"rendered":"Mudfoot Barker Interview exclusive"},"content":{"rendered":"

One lucky morning around 11 years ago, I was passed a copy of an album called \u2018Ma, They Broke Me\u2019 by the Minneapolis band Rockford Mules, and asked to write about it. I\u2019d never heard them before, but duly placed the CD in the player and pressed play. Something about it immediately struck me. I fell it love with the sound, and spun it more than once that day. Lead singer\/guitarist Erik Tasa soon sent me a copy of his solo album, \u2018Ballad of a Winter Beard\u2019, a far more low-key, melodic affair that ever since has been one of my most played albums. I\u2019m not exaggerating when I say it\u2019s one of my favourite albums, or how many late, drunk evenings I\u2019ve spent listening to it. Now, finally, a new album is on its way, this time under the moniker Mudfoot Barker. Erik was kind enough to join me for a quick chat about about the new record \u2018Murky\u2019, and what\u2019s been going on in the several years since his last release.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>So, it’s been 9 years since the last Erik Tasa solo record and 11 years since the last Rockford Mules record. Is that right? What’s been happening in that time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It has been 9 since my last, but there was one last album the Rockford Mules released the night of our last show.\u00a0Kind of a \u201chere you go, see you later\u201d exchange with our in-town following. It was called \u201cO tulip, I told you so\u201d.\u00a0It was a rocker.\u00a0No lap steel, just dual, down-tuned Les Pauls in conspiracy with each other.\u00a0It was a download release only.\u00a0I will ask the bass player, Craig, if there\u2019s any way I can get it for you if you don\u2019t already have it.\u00a0Since then, Ryan and I recorded an album of music under the name Bloodpine, and put out a record called Fever Prone\/Circus Owned. The guitar has also done its share of hanging on the wall for months at a time.\u00a0Literally gathering dust.\u00a0But out of the respect for all they have done for me, I at least keep \u2018em wiped off and tuned up.\u00a0Then there will be the months that I cannot put it down.\u00a0The need to get something out gets overwhelming. And on my stumbling to catch up with it, it drops another song idea on me. We dance for months and then it dries up again. So just when I think I have it figured out, all I really learn is how much I really don\u2019t know.\u00a0The mystery of it all goes deeper, and I love it and hate it all the more.\u00a0But mostly love it.\u00a0What was the question again? Haha.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Well I\u2019ll definitely get my hands on those missed releases! I didn\u2019t even know about them. But now, a long 9 years later, finally you have a new album coming. What more can you tell us about \u2018Murky\u2019. What\u2019s the inspiration behind it? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

They are my best songs yet.\u00a0If I cannot say that about my new songs then I cannot put them out.\u00a0Even if I cannot say that years later, I need to be able to say that initially.\u00a0It tells me I am keeping up with who I am and documenting what I feel at the time. I have written some real crappy songs I once thought good. You think I\u2019m an idiot now, you should have seen me then. Hopefully the distance between east and west closes up a bit more every time as I get older. The inspiration?\u00a0It\u2019s always life. I have a faith that I look at myself and life through.\u00a0I look to relate and help relieve both myself and whoever might be listening.\u00a0We\u2019re all just trying to do our best and get through the day.\u00a0Music is an easy hand to lend to someone you might never know or see.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Where does the name Mudfoot Barker come from? The last album was under simply Erik Tasa.<\/strong><\/p>\n

My take on John the Baptist. The man wore camel hair coats and ate\u00a0locusts and wild honey.\u00a0He walked the shore of the river on a mission that ended with him losing his life.\u00a0Nothing glamorous or pretty about it. But he stuck to task for a future promise he would not see while barking on the banks.\u00a0I guess I like that.<\/p>\n

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You’ve enlisted fellow Mules man Ryan Rud (also making music under the name Frequency Collisions) to produce this album. What can we expect from it this time round?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Ryan-sounding things.\u00a0We basically put one mic in front of my mouth and one in front of my guitar\u2019s mouth and I recorded the songs live in his living room.\u00a0He did the rest.\u00a0He has been my dear friend forever and I have been a fan of his for just as long.\u00a0I knew he would know exactly what to do.\u00a0And I got to just sit back and watch these songs come to life in ways I was hoping for but had no idea of how to do.\u00a0That\u2019s my dear friend Ryan for you.\u00a0He creates music universes.<\/p>\n

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Any plans to release a hard copy of the album, or will it be solely a digital release? \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Digital for now.\u00a0I have 975 copies of a former project of Ryan and I\u2019s called Spurcut Factory Rider that I thought was going to set the world on fire.\u00a0We pressed 1000.\u00a0So, my gun jumping days are over. If\u00a0at some point there becomes a demand, I will gladly oblige.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>And what’s happening on the Minneapolis scene these days? Anything good we should be looking out for? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I hate to say it but I have not been a part of that scene for some time now.\u00a0I have chosen recluse life of a musical hermit who sits on the south side of the river from mpls.\u00a0I hear the faint sounds of banging drums and muffled guitars coming from that lit up beacon at night.\u00a0Sounds like they are still alive and kicking.\u00a0Just now without me.\u00a0I have taken to keeping a backyard fire stoked and staring up at the sky wondering if that light is a plane, satellite or star.<\/p>\n

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What happened to the Mules anyway? There was almost a reunion recently that never happened? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The final show had a poster of the back of a mule (the ass of an ass if you will) and he was staring out into an open pasture. And that\u2019s how it went down.\u00a0The mule was let go out to pasture.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

And so is that it for the Mules now?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. \u00a0Kind of. \u00a0I have recruited them all to be the backing band on the next Mudfoot Barker record. It\u2019s rather incestuous.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a> After the Rockford Mules finished you came out with the brilliant \u2018Ballad of a Winter Beard\u2019 within two years. But just recently I discovered you had produced more solo music, but it was never available. What\u2019s that all about? And will it all be available at some point? <\/strong><\/p>\n

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I have put out a total of 4 solo records.\u00a0Only winter beard being released digitally.\u00a0The other 3 hard copy only.\u00a0Craig talked me into putting the second one out digitally because he really liked a song I wrote about my grandpa when my grandma died called Carl\u2019s Waltz. \u00a0I don\u2019t know if they all will see the light of day on the internet because I am almost 20 years removed from them being released.\u00a0But who knows.<\/p>\n

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So, what’s next for Erik Tasa\/Mudfoot Barker? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Staying alive, staying in love, another cup of coffee, being the best husband and dad, mowing the lawn and putting up the pool, summers here!!<\/p>\n

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\u2018Murky\u2019 by Mudfoot Barker is available now on Spotify & Amazon Music\u2026 Interview by Craggy Collyde<\/em><\/p>\n

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