Mother Mother rocks the Marquee

STORY AND PHOTOS BY TAYLOR SHAPPERT

A Mother of a show: B.C.-based Mother Mother played a 14-song set, including a cover of Nirvana’s In Bloom, last Wednesday at the Marquee.  Teen girl band the Beaches opened for them.

Have you ever wanted to meet your favourite band? That’s what 17-year-old Abby Graham did at the Marquee last Wednesday when Mother Mother played there for the first time.

Frontman Ryan Guldemond came out to sign autographs to the group of a half-dozen or so fans waiting in the rain after the 14-song show (see photo for setlist).

“Thanks for waiting sorry – to keep you waiting,” Guldemond said as he greeted the students, introducing himself, shaking hands and giving hugs.

“I really did (like Sheridan),” he said in an interview outside J Wing. “This is our first time in Oakville.” He said he enjoyed the vibe and energy the students gave off at the show. “And the eye contact here, the feeling – it was like everyone was on the same page. It was great,” he said as he and the students stepped under an overhang to get out of the rain.

B.C-based Mother Mother has been on tour with teen girl band The Beaches since the summer. “They’re great,” Guldemond said about the four-piece alt/indie rock band. “They’re young and they’re excited. It’s such a beautiful example of being cool.”

After being in his band for about eight years, it’s refreshing to be in the company of a vigorous, positive energy, he said.

“For us, when I see them I just learn. I don’t think, ‘Oh I have something to teach them because I’ve been doing this.’ I only have everything to learn because they have that fiery, fresh energy,” the 28-year-old said.

The two bands have been playing at venues like pubs and schools. They’re all fun to play, Guldemond said, and he looks forward to every gig. “There’s no favourite, there’s just where you get to. I don’t like to glorify an idea about what’s going to happen; It’s a free way to be.”

Guldemond signed students’ shirts and pieces of paper with a black Sharpie and said he’s been practising his signature since he was a kid.

“A signature is a vessel of ego. We want to get it right because it’s a mark of ourselves. We want it to be artistic, a little bit wild, but also indicative of the phonetics of our name.”

He and the rest of the band chatted to students for about 20 minutes before calling it a night.

“Thanks for coming out,” Guldemond said as he hugged students goodbye.

“Oh my gosh, I loved (the show tonight),” Graham said before the meeting. “They’re my favourite band,” said the first-year Art Fundamentals student as she waited with her friend 18-year-old Christine Lilleyman, a first-year student in the same program.

After the meeting they were both excited.

“I loved it so much. Oh my goodness,” Graham said. “They’re super awesome. I just love them. They’re so friendly.”

“It was really special,” Lilleyman said. “I’m so surprised they took the time out just for people like us. It’s really nice when artists are down to earth like that. And they were very helpful. Ryan was very philosophical. He kept going off on tangents.”