5 Questions w/ Patrick Murphy of Mountain Man

If you grew up in New England like I did, you know how lucky we are to have such a rich and active music scene. It seems like every town in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut have at least a couple punk and hardcore bands that call the frigid Northeast home. Up here, we take pride in our hardcore, and that's why I'm so excited this week to bring you the first Hardcore 5 Questions with a member of one of my favorite New England bands, Mr. Patrick Murphy of Worcester's own Mountain Man. After you read this interview, make sure you head over to myspace.com/mountainmanhcand see what these dudes are all about. Thanks Patrick!

1.)  Please state your name, your role in the band, and a brief history of Mountain Man!

My name is Patrick Murphy, and I play drums in Mountain Man. The intention was to just be a fun side project. Our singer, Josh, had the songs that became the demo written for a while, and was always asking our guitarist, Jesse, and I to jam with him some time. We had some down time from other bands we were working on so we recorded the demo in the Summer of 2009. It was really well received so we decided to make it a full time band; shortly after that, NYC based label Mightier Than Sword Records put out a 10-inch (Vinyl) for us entitled "One." We toured off that for a few months before Think Fast! Records approached us about doing a full length. We released our LP "Grief" with them in February of this year.

2.)  There's a folk band called Mountian Man as well. Ever get any bummed out hipsters at your shows expecting to see a female soft rock trio?

Fortunately, we haven't run into that problem before. I feel like both bands are so different, and the bands that we play with are so different that it never really becomes an issue. Last Halloween we were both playing in Atlanta pretty much down the street from each other. I think they're great too.

3.)  One of the coolest things about MM is how you guys have opted to release your music. First, there was the limited edition CD demo and then the vinyl only stuff. How do you guys plan to release music in the future? Will you ever do another CD release?

It all depends on the release, I suppose. Our label only does vinyl/digital releases now so with them, we'll keep doing vinyl. I would like to do a CD one day, but there is something about having a limited vinyl release that I've always loved about hardcore and punk, and that's something I hope to continue to do.

4.)  How has Mountain Man been affected by declining album sales? Do you mind if your fans download your record for free, and how do you acquire music in your personal life?

A band like us isn't affected by album sales whatsoever. Downloading albums on the Internet is inevitable, and I can't really be upset about that, honestly. The only way we see money from our records is out on tour when kids buy them directly off of us. I would also be lying if I said I didn't download albums, but with that being said, if I like the band, I'll buy a physical copy of the record at a show, or a store, etc.

5.)  Lastly, what were you listening to growing up that made you want to play music? Do you remember a specific album or show that helped get you to where you are today?

Without a doubt the most important records to me are Soundgarden's Superunknown, Nirvana's Nevermind, Green Day's Dookie, Bush's Sixteen Stone, and The Beatles' White Album. Those were the first bands I would listen to or watch music videos of and just be so stoked to be listening and want to sit behind a drum set. Then I got into hardcore through Sick OF It All's Blood, Sweat and No Tears and Earth Crisis' Gomorrah's Season Ends and just kept checking out new bands all the time. Converge was really the first band that made me think outside the box a little bit though, and I think they are still a big influence on me musically.