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photos: Kaytlin Dargen

With five full-length releases and a slew of EP’s under their belt, the mighty midwest emo rockers Hot Mulligan have shown no sign of slowing down since their formation in 2014. From playing to massive festival crowds and arenas opening for legendary acts such as Fall Out Boy and Pierce The Veil, to throwing it back to tiny no-barricade rooms, the self-proclaimed #1 Hot New Band has proven that there is no stage they cannot dominate.

The band’s most recent release The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still debuted at #27 on Billboard’s US Independent Albums chart and has rapidly become a fan favorite. The album showcases the first-ever guest feature on a Hot Mulligan track (“Island in the Sun” featuring Cory Castro of Free Throw), gut-wrenching moments that will rip your heart out (hello, “Monica Lewinskibidi”), finely crafted chaotic yet dynamic singalongs (“It Smells Like Fudge Axe In Here”), and no shortage of silly song titles that the quintet is known for (c'mon, did you not just read the previous song title?).

Recently, The Noise had the chance to chat with Hot Mulligan members Chris Freeman (guitar/backing vocals), Ryan Malicsi (guitar), and Jonah Kramer (bass) to talk in depth about their latest release as well as what to expect on their upcoming nearly sold out headlining tour.

To see what the band had to say about filming naked at 9:00 am, why they covered their feet in peanut butter and jelly, and the possibility of a duet with Big Sean in the future, be sure to read below. Don’t forget to check out Hot Mulligan’s upcoming tour dates here and be sure to listen to The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still now available via Wax Bodega here.

There's been a lot of growth on this record, both musically and on a personal level. For example, Tades mentioned his sobriety, which is one of the standout themes of the album. How do you guys feel you've grown individually since the last album was released?

RYAN MALICSI: Well, I feel like as a group, it's like every record we do consecutively we get just a little better at working as a team and knowing each other's strengths. So I don't know, I felt like the record kind of came together — not quickly because it took a while, like we had a lot of studio time — but it felt very natural and it's like [when] we do what we do now it feels very cohesive in that way.

JONAH KRAMER: Personally, I would say we're all just kind of getting to that — like we're all near 30, so we're all kind of just maturing a little bit. Not too much obviously, there's still like dick and fart jokes in the song titles and I don't think that's ever going to change, but I think we're all just starting to grow a little bit more. 

And then musically, for myself, I can just say that touring almost non-stop for the last couple of years has, I think, just made us all better at our individual instruments and we tried to bring that to the new album and just play the best parts and write the best parts we can.

CHRIS FREEMAN: I think this time around everyone's like...well, I mean, the band is complete now with Jonah [Kramer] on bass. So everyone's got their role and we've been playing together so consistently for the past few years, so I think everyone is more trusting of everyone's parts on their instruments and this record was super collaborative. So yeah, I think we grew in just trusting each other and expanding our box a little bit more on this record. 

And then, personally, I feel like we were on tour so much and recording so much music before we did this one that it was kind of hard to grow at all until we got into the studio for this record and things started to slow down a little bit.

That makes sense. Were there any moments on the record that you're most proud of personally whether it's a specific riff or lyric or production element at all?

Chris Freeman: “Slumdog Scungillionaire” is like my favorite arrangement on the record just because of how linear it is and its experimentation with time signatures.

Jonah Kramer: I would also pick “Slumdog” just because I feel like it was the most challenging for everyone, it seemed, to grasp just all the different time signature stuff Chris was doing and figure out where we fit in and how to play the parts the way they should be played. But it was a very satisfying experience once it all came together.

Ryan Malicsi: I thought “And A Big Load” was really fun to put together, especially on my end because it's a pretty straightforward song and I like that kind of stuff where the parts don't have to be super complicated to feel satisfying and then I still get a guitar solo so that's fun.

The album has a feature from Cory Castro of Free Throw which is the first feature on a Hot Mulligan song to date. What made this the perfect time to debut a feature?

Chris Freeman: You know, I think it was kind of the perfect time to do one just because we haven't done one thus far. I think, what's the song? “Monster Burger and a $5 Beer” is originally the song that I asked Tades if maybe we should have Cory feature on. And he was stoked to have Cory feature on a song, but picked out "Island in the Sun" instead. So that's how that one happened. That's pretty cool. 

Are there any other artists that you'd like to see on a Hot Mulligan song in the future?

Ryan Malicsi: Probably Big Sean.

Just throwing some asses on a Hot Mulligan song.

Ryan Malicsi: Yeah!

I could see it. To be honest, the possibilities are endless. 

Chris Freeman: It would be cool to collaborate with someone and like do a duet sort of song.

Like maybe an acoustic type of duet?

Chris Freeman: That could be sweet. 

I could see that. I mean maybe with Big Sean. 

Ryan Malicsi: Yeah maybe with Big Sean [laughs]. 

The music videos for this rollout were honestly hilarious and super well shot. Can you shed some light on what filming those videos was like and how important it is guys to have cool music videos in a world where music videos honestly kind of suck most of the time?

Jonah Kramer: The first video we shot was "Fudge Axe" and that one was very silly, but it felt like we were just filming a music video that was kind of funny. The next two days we filmed the Big Load video and both of those days just felt like complete fever dreams because it started with us getting completely naked outside and filming those scenes. Like that was the first thing we did around like 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning. But everything from there just kind of...it just kept getting stranger. New things kept appearing. And yeah, it just felt completely like we were in an alternate reality. 

But yeah, I think making the music videos fun and silly just takes away a lot of the pressure and the feeling that you have to try to look cool in a music video and be this person that maybe you're not. It just makes it really easy and something that I look forward to rather than dread. 

Ryan Malicsi: Yeah, there's definitely a moment in the "Big Load" video where I feel like maybe it was talked about prior, but I don't remember anyone saying there were animals involved. And then I went to the restroom in a porta potty and I came out and Tades was walking a cow on a leash. So yeah, it was a fever dream. 

You're still wondering if parts of it actually happened or not?

Ryan Malicsi: Yeah, like we were naked at 9:00 in the morning and then we were in like high-top chairs getting our hair and makeup done for other things and it's like “this is really confusing of a day.”

But to add on to the importance of music videos, I feel like not only is it a good way to shine light on personality and the general un-seriousness that we kind of portray, it's also just nice for the archive. Like in 15-20 years when, you know, maybe we're not playing rock music for a living, that's something that people can still go back and find and be like, man... I think it's important for historical reasons. 

Chris Freeman: Yeah, man, those guys were naked.

Yeah, you guys have quite the archive. That's for sure. 

Ryan Malicsi: Yeah, I don't know, instead of just listening to the record years down the line, it's like cool to kind of still immerse yourself in whatever that like branding or like aesthetic was.

With there being a lot of conversation in the music world, especially this year with Taylor Swift finally owning her masters, it reminded me of when you announced a while back that Hot Mulligan finally owns their back catalog. Can you explain why that was so important to you as an artist and what it means to you guys to finally own them?

Chris Freeman: Yeah, I think the streaming world has changed a lot of things and especially like how artists earn money versus when CDs or vinyl sales were the big deal. Like I have lots of solo artist friends who earn their income just with their streaming stuff because they own their masters and they get all their money straight to them. 

And we had a couple run-ins with record labels who were not being honest with the amount of money that we were supposed to get and delivering a bad final product to our fans and like a bad customer experience. And now that we own our masters, we're just more in control of what we can do with our own music and able to like see how much money comes in from that every month and that sort of thing, as opposed to trusting some guy who's blindly robbing you.

Jonah - With this being the first full-length release that you had a chance to be part of since being an official member of the band, were there any ideas that you'd been sitting on that you were excited to bring to the group or did you guys have more of a collaborative effort once you got into the studio?

Jonah Kramer: No, there wasn't anything I was sitting on that I brought. It was definitely like... every song is very collaborative, it usually starts with Chris kind of mapping out the chords and the structure. But I would say I felt more prepared this time than with the Warmer Weather EP. I was way more nervous going into it, not confident in trying to write some of my own parts, and this time I felt a lot more prepared.

Were there any songs in particular that you had a heavier hand in bringing to life on this record or was it kind of just writing your own parts for each song?

Jonah Kramer: I would say the only song that wasn't necessarily [me] just coming in and like writing the bass or contributing the bass part was [when] me and Chris worked pretty closely together on "Milam Minute" and I played the piano part that's in the background. That's the only example I can think of something that wasn't just a bass part. 

Besides the piano element, were there any other instruments that any of you guys dabbled with for the first time on this record?

Chris Freeman: This was the first record we used a lot of like sequenced synthesizers as opposed to doing like MIDI and doing it on the computer. So we used a lot of analog synths and stuff like that and drum machine.

Ryan Malicsi: I played a mandolin for the first time and I don't think that song even made the record or if it did I don't even remember what song it's in. 

Oh god a mandolin, that's crazy. 

Ryan Malicsi: It was really hard. It's really tiny. 

Were there any songs that when you were writing them you knew that they were going to translate well live?

Chris Freeman: I'd say “And A Big Load” and “It Smells Like Fudge Axe In Here” just because we kind of wrote those with that sort of in mind towards the end of the record.

Now that you've played a couple of record store shows and an album release show at The Roxy, how does it feel to finally play some of the new songs live? Are there any songs that you haven't played yet that you're excited to debut?

Chris Freeman: It feels good to play the new ones live. It's sick to finally play some new music after a few years of playing the same songs over and over. We haven't played anything from the second half of the record yet, so I'm super excited to get into any of those songs. But especially like “Slumdog” or even...uh shit what's the fast one that's short?

Ryan Malicsi: Um “Cream Of Wheat”? 

Chris Freeman: Oh “Cream Of Wheat” I'm excited for too, but it's not that one. It's the...uh I'm reading for it. “Let Me See Your Mounts.”

Ryan Malicsi: That's what that one is?

Chris Freeman: Yeah, that's the fast one. 

Ryan Malicsi: I'm excited to play “Monica Lewinskibidi.”

Jonah Kramer: Same. 

Yeah, that one's been kind of going a little viral. It seems like that one's the heavy hitter of the album that seems to be resonating with fans a lot. Were you expecting that at all? 

Ryan Malicsi: I feel like that was one where...we wrote that what? First on the record? Was that the first song?

Chris Freeman: Yeah, that was pretty much the first thing. 

Ryan Malicsi: Yeah, I feel like that was one where we were just like, as soon as Tades put vocals down, we were like, “Yeah, this rocks. This is a good song.”

Chris Freeman: Yeah, but it seems like it's picking up more steam than...like if I thought it was going to do as good as it's doing right now, we probably would have picked it as a single. 

Ryan Malicsi: That's true. Yeah. 

Chris Freeman: But I knew like, emotionally, people would really connect with it, but that doesn't always do the best for what constitutes a single or what you think is gonna pick up the most on the record. But I'm stoked that fans are really connecting with that one. 

Yeah that one's definitely having a moment. I think I even checked like the streams on Spotify and if that one's not the most streamed on the album, it's definitely pretty high up there, which I thought was pretty cool to see.

Chris Freeman: Yeah it's the most streamed one that's not a single. 

The memes are hilarious too, where it's like “they've got me crying to this song called Monica Lewinskibidi."

Ryan Malicsi: I think the terrible title definitely helps for sure.

Circling back loosely to Free Throw, they’re a band that has been going viral on TikTok lately. I've seen a post recently making the rounds that shows a picture of Kurt Cobain with some text over it that says “imagine telling him he needs to make short form content to engage the algorithm” or something to that effect. How do you guys find a balance between having a personal life and having to create content when it's the new standard in the music industry?

Chris Freeman: Yeah, I think it's kind of funny that you bring up that Kurt Cobain meme. Because you know, with Kurt Cobain, he wasn't making fuckin short form content and you could tell he also kind of didn't want to do some of those interviews and stuff that he was doing. And I would say that's kind of the equivalent. We just don't have that as much now, but like they were telling him like, “Hey get in front of this camera and like put yourself on MTV in this way.” I mean it's apparent in some of his writing and stuff that he really did not want to be doing some of that stuff. I would say, you know, we don't do some of the same things now, like there's not as many MTV interviews and all of that shit, but it's just as hard.

And we're also more susceptible to people becoming really attached personally because the form of content we do have now is that short form, like direct to consumer, me to you, presentation and I think that's a little tough. But in order to find a balance of real life and having to do that, you just don't do that much at all. 

Just protect what you can.

Chris Freeman: Yeah, protect what you can. 

Makes sense. And you're not wrong with interviews of Kurt Cobain, you could tell when he would rebel in some of them and push back and really just not even want to be there in some cases.

Chris Freeman: Yeah, I mean, like there's that performance where...what show were they on? And he has to lip sync and he just makes a big joke out of the situation. And that's kinda what we did with the short form content on this [album] rollout, like putting peanut butter on our feet because we didn't want to sit in front of the camera and make TikToks.

And those are the posts that go viral. Funny how that works, right?

Chris Freeman: Yeah, I guess so

You've been in writing sessions recently with bands like Super Sometimes and Wakelee. Were there any bands that maybe took you under their wing or showed you the ropes when you guys first started out?

Chris Freeman: You know, not in terms of writing songs or anything like that, but Knuckle Puck was the first band to bring us out on tour and give us an opportunity. Foreshadowed by the first time we were given an opportunity to open what felt like a big show was the Knuckle Puck / Real Friends holiday show in 2017 at the Metro in Chicago. And then it was only a few months later [that] they brought us on our first support tour. So that was really cool. 

And The Wonder Years feel like a big brother band to us, I would say for sure. We've done a couple of runs with them now and every time we see them backstage at festivals, it's just like a great time catching up with each other. You have some life advice from being on the road so much. Soupy saying like, “the first thing you need to do is try to buy a house.” Yeah, just a great group of guys.

Your guys' upcoming tour is nearly sold out well in advance. What can fans expect from your headliner?

Jonah Kramer: Well, it's a stacked lineup, people already know that. So you're going to see a lot of great bands in one night. We're leveling up production, so it'll be a little bit more than just like the regular Hot Mulligan show if you've ever been to one. And we're going to play a bunch of new songs, a couple old ones and that's pretty much it.

What's next for you guys whether just as a band or even just on a personal level? What are some goals or maybe some milestones you'd like to accomplish in the future?

Chris Freeman: Oh well I'm stoked to put together the production for this headlining tour and bring a bigger show to our fans and to be able to play under circumstances we've never really considered before. There's going to be *this information has been redacted to avoid spoilers*, so I'm really excited for that and to just make our live show even better than it has been.

Ryan Malicsi: Yeah, I would agree with that. I'm excited to go to Europe with Pierce The Veil. I'm excited to headline and bring new songs and new production out. And then probably just like world domination after that

Jonah Kramer: Yeah I'm just looking forward to playing the new songs [and] seeing how people react to them. We're going to a couple of new places I think next year, so. That's always like my favorite part of touring, just going somewhere I've never been before probably [or] wouldn't go otherwise and getting to experience that.

You brought up the Pierce The Veil tour. You guys have been playing some underplays in small rooms recently, and now you're about to play in some massive rooms. How do you find that balance, or do you approach it the same way as you would as a small room?

Chris Freeman: Kind of approach it the same way. Just walk into it, rip the gig.

Ryan Malicsi: It [can] definitely feel like there are major differences in the way that those shows like feel, but you can't really do anything to prepare for one versus the other. You just get up and rip the gig just like Chris said.