Math the Band
Please picture this for one moment: a keyboard and drum factories both blow up at the same time, propelling multiples of each instrument into the air… About five seconds later, a plane carrying a gong drops it’s payload. All these instruments land- intact- into a school playground where thirty kindergartners on massive sugar highs then merge and begin playing wildly on the instruments. At the same time they all begin to sing at the top of their lungs about the silliest of topics- leading you to connect with your inner child in a way you can and can’t put your finger on. This is what it is like to listen to Math the Band.
Taking their name from the Woody Allen movie “Shadow and Fog”, Math the Band originally started in 2003 by Kevin Stinehauser. Additional members came and left over the years, none lasting for more than a few weeks. Zach Burba of iji, however, would become the band’s semi-regular drummer, with the two bands touring together regularly and Burba being flown in to play high-profile gigs. It would be Justine Mainville who would be Math the Band’s only permanent 2nd member joining in 2006 and being with the band ever since.
2007 brought the release of their debut album Banned the Math, a 40+ minute epic showcasing everything they had accomplished up to that point. Like ten Andrew W.K.’s on synthesizers and drums, anyone who go a copy knew it did not let up for one moment and they enjoyed every second of it. Two EPs soon followed (due to the band wanting to get music out to their fans as soon as they can) titled Eep! an EP! and Nature.
During this time, Math the Band developed a reputation for their live shows. Besides being road warriors, playing 150 shows minimum a year, their performances have been described as nothing less than bonkers. Anyone who does not believe that a guitar, keyboards, and a drum machine can add up to a good show will have that theory completely obliterated after just 10 minutes seeing this band. Crowd surfing, rafter hanging, and 10 foot high jumping everywhere where they are performing are all common place at a Math the Band show. Both band and audience expect some form of bodily damage to take place at a show and, in fact, Kevin has said that about 10 % of all shows led to hospitalization.
The band began to work on their second album in 2008. Originally intended to be a concept album about the magic eye (the short answer to what that is the face you make to see those 3D puzzles). This was scraped by Stinehauser, however, when getting bored with the idea of writing a whole opera. Instead, the band worked on creating nine focused tracks of their rocket speed brand of pop. Besides deciding now to end every track with a gong, the band improved their song writing greatly, and if it is at all possible, the happiness that comes from the band seems even more prominent. These songs were released as Don’t Worry on Slanty Shanty Records in 2009.
Currently the band has so many projects that it’s hard to believe that the band members find time to eat or sleep. Besides plans to issue Don’t Worry on cassette for the label Lost Sound Tapes, there are also 12” picture disc and 8-track versions of the album in the works as well. A brand new album is also already being worked on that they hope to have out by the end of the year, along with a visual album that the band plans to self release on VHS. To top it all off, the band plans to release the triple album of their brother band Acoustic Math on cassette. There also is the bands plans to do a Midwest/ West Coast tour with Japanese, space punk, nuts Peelander-Z in the early months of 2010.
As of right now the band is still on tour supporting Don’t Worry. See them play live to understand the pure joy from making music and playing live can lead to broken bones and head injuries at concerts.
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More information about the band can be found at:
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Math the Band – Tour De Friends
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