photos by Ben Price
As Baltimore-based post-hardcore/noise rock quartet MAST YEAR prepares to release their debut album, Knife, through Grimoire Records next week, the album’s opening track “Fuckboi” has been premiered through Toilet Ov Hell.
MAST YEAR was formed by bassist Darin Tambascio (Thought Eater, National Sunday Law) and guitarist Noel Mueller (Questioner, Grimoire Records), who started trading riffs online during the first months of lockdown in the Spring of 2020, after which they were joined later that Summer by Ben Price (At The Graves, Immiseration, Foehammer) on drums, and in the Fall of 2021, they released a digital-only demo and performed live as an instrumental three-piece. In the Spring of 2022, Eric Rhodes (Genevieve) joined the band on vocals, bringing a jaunty and chaotic front-man vibe, placing the band’s genre-fluid sound in the realm of noise rock with metallic dregs of post-hardcore in the mix.
The Summer of 2022 saw MAST YEAR performing live, honing the material as a four-piece, and they recorded the twenty-five-minute debut Knife in Mueller’s Tiny Castle studio (Yatra, Myopic, At The Graves). The album was later mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege (Obituary, Sunn O))) -16-) and completed with cover art by Rhodes and Mueller.
Mueller reveals, “This one started out as a pandemic era demo I wrote with Darin, with the working title ‘Plow.’ The bass riff is obviously the ‘real’ riff here, and the guitars are more of a textural element. After bringing in Eric, we were all super refreshed to hear his take on the song, which leans into this fun and kinda unhinged vibe. I love that we’re not so serious of a band that we can’t have a song called ‘Fukboi.’ Also, every time we play it, Eric goes, ‘This next one is called Fukboi… Fukboi…Fukboi,’ and says ‘Fukboi’ over and over until Ben counts us off, which is pretty cute.”
Rhodes, who wrote the song’s lyrics, adds, “I haven’t seriously fronted a band since I was a teenager and I needed a mic to yell at. This music spoke to my noise rock nerve and got my blood flowing. So, I was excited to be asked to yell for the MAST YEAR.”
Toilet Ov Hell writes about the “Fukboi” track, “This is the type of song that you’d hear late at night on a college radio station, fading in and out as you drive around your dead suburban town, hoping the DJ tells you the name of the band before the static overtakes you. It’s a short, chaotic, burst of noise and before you know it, the song is over and you’re left limp and chafed.”
Stream MAST YEAR’s “Fuckboi” first at Toilet Ov Hell RIGHT HERE.
Grimoire Records will release Knife digitally and in a limited CD run on April 7th. Find preorders where “Knife” and “In Tandem” are streaming HERE.
To celebrate the completion of this phase of the band’s journey, MAST YEAR is performing Knife live on April 8th at Baltimore’s The Ottobar, with support from Consumer Culture, Psyop, and Knub. Watch for additional live news to post over the months ahead.
MAST YEAR Live:
4/08/2023 The Ottobar – Baltimore, MD w/ Consumer Culture, Psyop, Knub
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