MRH
JMAN
Righteousness, A Butterfly, and a Return
Billy Pharoh Ramsey
Who would have thought that in 1993
when a couple of friends got together
to do a “side-project” band that it
would have turned out like this? That
is the beginning of the band that has
one of the largest followings in music
today; Mushroomhead. Although
they have gone through several members, some leaving, one passing the
basis of the music of MRH has always
been the same. Fast forward twenty
years and you will see the same “side
project” band playing at SoundWave,
the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem
Festival Tour and touring with the
likes of I.C.P. and Madball after Mayhem. Currently they are touring to
support their latest album named after
fallen band mate J.J. Righteous as well
as the former band photographer Vanessa Solowiow. Skinny had the following statement about the dedication of
the album to their fallen friends:
“The album was already being
written when a lot of these things
had occurred, once the album was
done was when we decided to do a
proper dedication. It wasn’t really
written for the memorial of it, but
once it was done a lot of it reminded us of ‘them’ so we felt it was the
right thing to do to acknowledge
all the work they had done.”
The bright note to this very dark and
heavy album is the return of J Mann on
vocals. YES, three vocalists and three
drummers in the band. WHY? Why
not!
The Righteous and The Butterfly
(TRATB) is by far one of the top albums
of 2014. The solid lyrics, skillful musicianship are orchestrated masterfully
by the masked men of MRH. In recent
interviews with the band members the
album speaks to everyone in their own
way. Church, one of the bands newest members, tells EMP that the album
just came together as all the members
got together and it just “flowed” out of
them. Included on the album is a cover
of “Rumor Has It” from Adele that is
one of the heaviest tracks and gives a
whole new life to the song. Church
goes on to add that on this album “you
can hear every member of the band’s
souls on here and no one has had a