Mother Mother with guest Dustin Bentall & The Smokes, Saturday, June 15, 7 p.m. at the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park. Tickets: $48.50 at ticketmaster.ca. General admission, all ages.
VANCOUVER-BASED indie rockers Mother Mother make more than just music, they also make memories.
"We have quite a lot of younger fans," says frontman Ryan Guldemond. "They really get into it and are devoted in a different way than us. I mean, adults make lovely fans too, but there's just something about being 12, 13, 14, in that area, and really into a band. It means a lot."
Making their live music accessible to their under-19 fan base is "paramount" for the quintet.
"If we had our way we'd just only do all-ages shows," Guldemond says. "What it does is builds a lot of groundwork for nostalgia that will last the rest of your life."
Guldemond, who grew up on Quadra Island, fondly remembers making the trip to Vancouver in the mid-'90s for the Lollapalooza music festival. There, the pre-teen was awed by Sonic Youth, Hole, Cypress Hill, and other musicians in their heyday.
"It was all a lot to take in and very exciting," he recalls. "It was at the time around when I discovered guitar playing, so it definitely fuelled that fire."
A tiny spot in a sea of spectators, Guldemond dreamed of being the one onstage. It was a lofty fantasy at the time, he admits.
"So it's pretty cool that it kind of turned out that way."
Mother Mother consists of Guldemond (vocals/guitar), his sister Molly Guldemond (vocals/synth), Jasmin Parkin (vocals/ keys), Jeremy Page (bass/horns) and Ali Siadat (percussion/electronics). The Juno Award-nominated band, known for their tri-harmony vocal arrangements and dynamic instrumentation, released their fourth studio album last fall under the Last Gang Records label. Their radio hits include "Oh My Heart," "Bit by Bit" and "The Stand."
Fans young and old can see the five-piece band play June 15 at the Malkin Bowl at Stanley Park, along with guest, North Vancouver's psychedelic country rocker Dustin Bentall and his band The Smokes.
It was after a similar all-ages concert at the Commodore Ballroom that Carson Graham secondary students Leah Newson and Jasmine Price first got the idea to write a musical based on the songs of Mother Mother.
Months ago, the students reached out to the band on Facebook and asked permission to go ahead with the musical.
"Yeah, go for it," Guldemond replied. "And keep us posted, we'd love to see it."
He visited the school in February to help the drama students rehearse the production, Oh My Heart, which centres on high schooler Ana, confronted with a new love while she tries to reconcile her difficult past. Newson and Price adapted Mother Mother's lyrics to suit the storyline.
Guldemond caught one of the performances last week and assures he isn't being biased when he says it was great.
"I thought it was funny and clever. I thought the writing was good and the kids were very endearing."
As for his upcoming gig at the Malkin Bowl, Guldemond says Mother Mother will perform tracks from their 2012 release The Sticks, the most conceptual album in their discography, themed around escape from modernity and retreat to a simple, more natural way of living.
The lyrics can be taken quite literally, but Guldemond says, "I see it kind of more as a metaphor for enlightenment, or shedding the ego, the city being the ego and the forest being the true self."
The band will also play a "cocktail" of music from their entire repertoire.
"We kind of like honouring those old songs anyway," Guldemond says. "It is popularly believed that bands sort of spite their hits from days past and I think, you know, those hits or those songs that helped you gain more exposure are your good friends and they should be at the party too."
