November 30, 2005
I Wanna Drive You
The Mullens were a mid-to-late 1990s Dallas group that released three albums, the first of which kicked my ass but hard. I saw them perform (for this, I must thank a certain Taiwanese girl) at the Bar Deluxe in Hollywood. 
The Mullens used a raw, stripped-down style that “borrows” heavily from the Real Kids and the Heartbreakers, but with less pretension. It’s as if a bunch of rock ‘n’ roll record nerds found out how to distill the energy from every punk cliche in the book. Basic, well-crafted songs played at high volume. Nothing they did “broke new ground,” but somehow the combination was like a fresh breeze sweeping through a stinky garage. They made it simple, but kept it cool.
Then Matt Mayo moved to Seattle, the band broke up, and 3/4 or 3/5 of the Mullens (depending on who’s counting) went on to form the Sunday Drunks. Another band that formed from the ashes of the Mullens is the High Beams. Now there’s a lot of enthusiastic press for the Sunday Drunks and the High Beams.
Where were these people when the Mullens needed a billion-dollar contract? …Okay, maybe the band didn’t impress all the frowny hipsters standing with their arms crossed by the bar, but who needs to cater to that type of subhuman? (The preceding sentence is what’s known in debating logic as an ad hominem straw-man argument. You’re welcome.)
Fast forward to… today! Until I read this post from the Sex Kittens Compare Scratches blog, I had no idea that Mayo has returned to Texas and the Mullens are back ta playin’ shows agin on a part-time basis. Praise Jesus! (Although where does this leave Washington State’s High Beams?) I guess that means the Mullens weren’t “ashes” after all. Those metaphors are so confusing.
These four songs are from that aforementioned self-titled debut album. Buy it here! Also, crank it up loud; how many times do I have to remind you?
Yes, it’s really this good.
The Mullens - “Your Little Scene”
The Mullens - “All Fours”
The Mullens - “This and That”
The Mullens - “Step On the Gas”
Rick at 9:10 pm
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one must always thank a certain Taiwanese girl….
Comment by wi11iam13 Ñ November 30, 2005 @ 11:16 pm
Heh, and don’t forget the Vultures! Impersonating & quoting memorable Mayo phrases gets done at least 3 to 5 times at each Knockout Pills practice — none of us are really THAT good at it, but sometimes someone maybe comes kinda close. Hats off to the Mullens; a great damn band.
Comment by Jason Ñ December 9, 2005 @ 6:41 am
i saw this blog and thought i’d drop a note. yes we’re playing again now that matt has moved back to texas. he’s living in houston and is already half way thru obtaining his masters degree in literature. with him being in houston and the rest of us being in dallas, obviously we can’t play as much as we’d like. but we’re in the process of getting ready to record the next mullens LP. we’ve got about 12 new songs ready and we’re just waiting til we get a couple of more down and figure out where we’re gonna record. we have a new drummer and we last played in october in austin. we’ll probably play some shows in feb/march or maybe sxsw. the sunday drunks have hung it up and mayo went back to seattle to record a follow up record by the high beams on a visit. but i think that would be all for that band after that. anyway, i’m just pleased to see people welcome the mullens back into action. thanks for the support. hopefully we’ll have a new record to rock your sox off soon. lee.
Comment by Lee Ñ December 9, 2005 @ 1:31 pm
Thanks for the info, Lee. By the way, for those who don’t know things, Mr. Jason Willis was also in the Weird Lovemakers and some people say we look like each other. Poor guy.
Comment by Rick Ñ December 11, 2005 @ 1:09 pm