The Mules Release a Double-Single!
Top row: Guitarist / recording engineer Geoff Mack works with bassist Mark Petrella. Bottom row: Geoff records percussionists Brian Dettor on washboard and Jimbo Lehmann on Vibraslap
Some of you may be old enough to remember the old days, when singles came on actual two-sided disks, and two sides meant two songs. There was an A side, the one that got promoted and played on the radio, and a B side that was never as good, but came as a nice little bonus track. So when the Mules started planning our 16th anniversary show, we decided to make the occasion even more special by releasing an old-fashioned two-song single (though this one would break tradition by coming with two A-sides). Mules bandleader Geoff Mack and keyboardist Dick Bay had each recently introduced a new original song to the band, so the timing was perfect for a double-single.
The Mules ordered a week's worth of pizza, hung up a "Do Not Disturb" sign and sequestered themselves in Mack Shack Studios (more commonly known as Geoff's spare bedroom). In a handful of sessions over several weeks (which required more pizza) they laid down the instrumental and vocal tracks, did the mix and put the finishing touches on their latest release.
Geoff’s new song is a hypnotically rockin’ tune called “The Lantern,” and not surprisingly for those of you who know Geoff, The Lantern is a bar. More specifically, it’s a bar in New Orleans. The song’s protagonist is secretly in love with the singer at the Lantern, and night after night returns and sticks around for her whole set, even if it does mean a hangover the next morning. The tune is a perfect vehicle for Geoff’s vocals and his insistently gritty guitar, as well as Charlie Fager’s moody pedal steel.
Dick had been wanting to write a New Orleans / Mardi Gras anthem, and the beginnings of this song had been on his back burner for years. It was binge-listening to Louisiana music during the last Mardi Gras season that inspired him to finally finish “Living It Up (Down in New Orleans).” Vocalist Sandy Geller brings playful energy to Dick’s evocative lyrics. Mark Petrella provides a New Orelans-esque bass line. Percussionist Brian Dettor propels the song with washboard, tambourine and triangle. But the star of the percussion track is a gizmo called a “Vibraslap,” which drummer Jimbo Lehmann played on the recording, but which Brian plays for live performances (while still juggling his other three instruments).
Listen to Miracle Mule’s first-ever double-single here (or search wherever fine songs are streamed):