Photo by Zig Criscuolo
Legendary and long-running Boston garage rock group Muck And The Mires have returned with another new single, “She Blocked My Number,” off the forthcoming EP Take Me Back to Planet Earth. Allston Pudding is proud to premiere the music video for it, which can be seen below.
The band – which consists of Muck, Jessie Best, John Quincy Mire and Pedro Mile – has long been hailed as one of the country’s premiere garage rock groups, receiving such recognition from E Street Band member and garage rock aficionado Steven Van Zandt. The band’s fun and messy rock and roll style is a throwback to the proto-punk groups of the 60’s like The Kinks and most specifically, The Sonics. Like The Sonics, the band’s tongue-in-cheek, never grow up style of humor is on full display here, with the ‘60s throwback complementing the modern day lyrics.
“She Blocked My Number” clocks in at only two and a half minutes, but it uses every second of it. The band muscles through a speedy pace, with predictably jangly guitar and full-band riffs. There are no solos and little in the way of a bridge; just all four members locked in unison and rumbling through a post-breakup song. The vocal rhythm is instantly catchy – again a multi-person affair – and intentionally lacks the emotional gravitas of the lyrics. This again works perfectly as a throwback to the original garage rock era, with a cool, careless attitude.
“She blocked my number, and now there’s nothing I can do” Muck sings just seconds into the song. It’s a line that would sound depressing from most singers, but Muck sounds like he’s already moved on from the fact. The emotion matches the music, a careless and bouncy earworm that sounds as fresh as it does nostalgic.
Photos by Dena Flows
The lyrics of “She Blocked My Number” do invoke a recent technological reference, a deliberate choice that plants a British Invasion-sounding song in the modern era. This follows their previous single, “Zoom Breakup” which firmly places this EP in this cursed year of ours. It’s an interesting choice, given how much of the music sounds like it could’ve been released in 1964.
The music video for “Number” also follows this path, with the band playing on what appears to be a talk show or TV performance of some kind, but in front of the same pure white background that’s used in car commercials. It has the same effect as the tedious attempts to do late night shows from home that we’ve seen during the COVID era. The monotony doesn’t take focus though, because the band’s exuberant energy is the strongest element emanating from this video. Just shy of twenty years together and Muck And The Mires prove they still have the energy and humor to hang with the bands of today.
The music video for “She Blocked My Number” can be enjoyed below, and the forthcoming EP Take Me Back to Planet Earth can be pre-ordered through the Muck And the Mires Bandcamp, with a release date of September 25th, 2020.