In our latest spotlight interview, we sit down with Ross Peacock of electronic pop quartet Mwahaha and chat about tracks from the self-titled album, the live shows and motivation, amongst other things.
S] Talk us through ‘Swimmer’ and what you were inspired by the most during its recording process?
R] “‘Swimmer’ came from running my Jomox drum machine through my Korg MS 20 and getting this cool percussive note progression, water seemed to keep emerging as a vibe within the tracks, even if they had no connection with it. With swimmer we decided to make the connection lyrical as well, to start the album out with a swimmer who is diving in and then travelling through each layer of the album. The listener becomes the swimmer.”
S] What about the tracks ‘Love’ and ‘Rivers And Teeth’ – can you take us through the inspirations behind those?
R] “‘Love’ was inspired by love, the good the bad and the ugly. ‘Rivers And Teeth’ was a completely different song when it started. We wanted to take the listener out of the music environment for a minute and into a more visual and cinematic soundscape environment. The start of the day is always a bit tough for me, it feels like being swept into a river full of teeth. But there are always different phases. There are intense, calm, surreal and very real parts of every day. The song takes you through some of these.”
S] The live show looks pretty epic. Did you enjoy developing that with the other band members?
R] “Developing the live show is always an interesting process. I did enjoy it. We wrote most of these songs away from the live process so it was interesting to see how they came across live. Some better then others. Some had to change a bit in order to be performed live but it is interesting how there is always a different energy to the live versions.”
S] Given your history with other bands, Ross, what’s inspired you to stay motivated and keep creating with Mwahaha?
R] “I feel like we are onto something with Mwahaha. I find the music interesting and meaningful on many different levels. We aren’t quite where we want to be but it feels like we are on the right path. This keeps me motivated.”
S] You also work on video game soundtracks? How does that inspire you differently to building music with the band?
R] “I’ve only done a bit of video game work but I love it when I get the chance. I think the main difference at least is that I have been asked to create a track or vibe outside of my comfort zone, which is a bit intimidating at first but thus far has ended up being a great learning experience and has yielded some interesting results.”
S] As a band (and artist) constantly building a profile, and gaining more attention by the day, what are your major challenges?
R] “Money.”
S] If you could build a Frankenstien’s monster out of the Mwahaha sound, what would it be made out of?
R] “The head of The Beatles, the arms of Aphex Twin, the legs of David Bowie recording on the mysterious island of Miles Davis, in the sea of ‘Bitches Brew’.”
