1 Please introduce yourselves
Hi, I’m Brooke – lead singer and guitarist of MuddiBrooke
2 Favourite moment of the year?
It’s got to be when we were main support for Ugly Kid Joe – those guys are so lovely, but absolutely nuts!! Their crowds are amazing, so full of life and so easily to bounce energy off of; moshing, singing things back, chanting – that crowd are ready for anything and everything! Supporting them has been one of the best highlights of our career so far.
3 What’s your dream festival & who would you love to perform with?
I think I speak for all of us when I say we would love to play Download Festival. With us all being from Derby, we’ve all grown up with it in our doorstep, so it’s become a natural goal to play it. I’ve been going on-and-off since I was about 11 years old, it is a brilliant festival with a great atmosphere.
Another one of our bucket goals would be to support any one of our influences; Deftones, Highly Suspect, Nine Inch Nails, Skunk Anansie.. just to name a few! Saying that, we have got Maid Of Stone Festival coming up very soon and one of the headliners is another one of our influences; Black Stone Cherry! It’s blown our mind to share a poster with them, cannot wait to share the stage with them too!
4 What’s your take on AI and fake bands flooding streaming services?
I think AI is a great tool. I would personally never use it for music, but I’m always on Chat GPT asking it stupid questions. When it comes to music and art though, I think it’s missing the point. A lot of pop music has been soulless for years, but there’s still people behind the writing of those songs that have developed the skills to capture people’s attention sonically, and in that, it’s still art. AI music hasn’t stemmed from anyone’s emotions or experiences, so personally, it doesn’t stir up any emotion in me. Plus, there’s the whole side of who the royalties go to, etc.
In short, it’s bad, it shouldn’t be here, but I can’t see it going anywhere anytime soon, so we might just have to suck it up.
5 Physical vs Streaming. What’s your opinion on how they affect the music industry now & the future?
When we sell merch at shows, our CDs and Vinyl are always the most popular item. It does baffle me why CDs still do so well, because what are people playing them on?! But I’m not complaining in anyway; keep it coming!
Steaming figures aren’t great, but if someone buys a CD for, let’s say £10; they can then play that CD as much as they like. By the end of it, they may have played the CD as much as they would have streamed it to get us to £10. I know it doesn’t quite work out that way, but it makes you feel a bit better about it all.
Artists should still be making more out of their art for all the effort that is put in though – I believe it’s an argument that will sadly always be there.
6 People are making noise complaints when moving into properties near live music venues. What would you do to keep both parties happy?
This winds me up no end. I wonder whether it could be in the agreement as they buy the properties; if they could maybe be made aware that there is a venue near by before they move in. Venues don’t seem to have much of a voice when it comes to this, it’s a shame.
7 What’s your take on shows with mobile phones being banned? Is it good for concerts to be documented or are cameraphones too intrusive?
It is a bit annoying when you can’t see your favourite band because of the sea of phones being held up in front of you. I’ve been guilty of it in the past – recorded one of my favourite songs on my phone, but then when I get home, it’s very rare I’ll watch it back; it just takes up memory space on my phone. Which has made me wish I’d just lived the experience in the first place, without my phone.
8 What song do you wish you’d written and why?
Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ – because well, that would be your pension sorted wouldn’t it. But hey, I don’t do music for the money…
9 What’s your favourite tour story?
Last summer, we had two festival appearances in one day. Brighton’s Pride Rock and Just Push Play in Bury St. Edmunds. With a 2:30pm set in Brighton and then a set at 6:15pm in Bury St. Edmunds, it was safe to say we were pushing it for time.
When we finally rushed off stage and out the door form Brighton, Google Maps was saying our arrival time would be 6:15 (the exact time we should be hitting the stage). We unbelievably made it with 20 minutes to spare (and yes, we stayed with the speed limits…)
10 Any releases planned?
We have just finished recording our debut album. We spent 10 days recording at a residential studio in Wales with our producer, Luke Morley (Thunder) and renowned engineer (and owner or Flip Flop Records & Studios) Nick Brine.
We are currently in the process of mixing and mastering, then we will shortly be in the process of releasing the first singles in the next few months. It’s all very exciting!