Mazinga have been bringing the noise to Michigan from their home in Ann Arbor with their self-proclaimed “maximum cosmic punk” for nine years now and in that time have wowed audiences all over the metro Detroit area.
The Ann Arbor scene may be jam packed with experimental jazz and minimalist electronica, but Mazinga are the worthy successors to hometown heroes the Stooges in terms of plugging in a guitar and just letting rip.
On Friday, Oct. 17, Mazinga play at Blondies in Detroit alongside Death In Custody, the Arrogant Bastards and the Handme Downs, while November sees the release of their new EP, “Open the Blast Doors.” Metromix spoke to guitarist Chris Taylor about the band’s past and what the future holds…
What's the history of your band Mazinga?
We formed in November of 1999. We formed in Ann Arbor; three of the band members lived together at the time and we’ve all known each other since childhood in the late ‘70s.
We just decided to start a band. I’m the guitar player and I wasn’t going to be in the band at first because the bass player had to be taught how to play bass. The guy that was going to play guitar decided that he didn’t want to play with a beginner so I took the guitar on.
Who are your major influences?
We’re influenced, basically, by rock ‘n’ roll music of all kinds. One of our main influences would be the MC5, the Stooges, the Misfits, stuff that’s post-punk.
Describe Mazinga’s sound…
We call it “maximum cosmic punk.” We’re high-energy rock ‘n’ roll music in the traditional sense. It’s all about comic books and sci-fi stuff.
Is this a healthy time for rock ‘n’ roll in Ann Arbor because the scene over there is very eclectic?
It depends on what you consider rock ‘n’ roll music. Personally, I don’t think it’s a healthy time. It’s hard to say. There’s a music scene right now that’s not very conducive to rock ‘n’ roll in the way that I see it, but it’s definitely going well. There’s a huge music scene, it’s just not rockin’.
Are you pleased with the way the new record turned out?
Very much so. It’s a five-song EP. We’re going to self-release it at first on limited CD release, and then we want to get it out there so people can download it. We’re hoping to do a vinyl release with digital downloads included. This is our second EP.
We’ve also released one full-length album and five singles. This new record sounds a lot better in terms of recording quality. I guess we’ve been working with someone who knows how to record rock ‘n’ roll guitars, drums and stuff. It seemed like the people we worked with before were more into indie music. They didn’t really get the loud, fast rules of rock ‘n’ roll.
We produced it ourselves and recorded it with a guy called Kevin Sharp out of Metro Recording Studio. He’s the guy that’s putting on that Kick Out The Jams show at the Crofoot on October 30.
Do you have anything special planned for the Blondies show this weekend?
We always bring something extra special – namely, the rock. We’re just like four dudes with guitars and drums. We have our outfits and our thing going on, but really we just try to go out there and rock as bombastically as we can. We try to give it our all, and we don’t care if there are five people there or 500. We’ll be playing all of the songs from the new EP too.
What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
Hopefully, we’ll record a full-length album, and then we’ll play as many shows as we can. We’d like to do some touring but it’s hard to get in a position to do that when you’re working 9-5 jobs. I’ve got a mortgage payment to make so it’s hard for me to drop everything and go touring for five months. It’d be nice to have people putting money into the band. Maybe one day.
