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| The Mugwugs hard at work from the drummer's view... |
The inspiration for this post came from something Kevin casually mentioned at the end of our rehearsal yesterday. This is paraphrasing, but he said something like "It would be fun to video a rehearsal and just post the antics between songs." Well, no cameras were rolling, but hopefully the following is the next best thing. And if folks like it, there'll be more where this came from!
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ON Saturday, the Mugwugs gathered together at Scott's home studio near Bertha, Minnesota, to kick off the rust and oil the gears, so to speak. It felt good to get back together again. Indeed, we were veritable cherry blossoms in the spring.
As a band, we typically don't perform much during the winter months (loading in and loading out while battling -20 F temperatures and driving on icy roads in the middle of the night just doesn't seem appealing anymore). Instead, we take advantage of those frigid months to come up with new ideas and then put our heads together in the spring to ramp up for the summer.
That's what we did yesterday.
In the fall of 2024 we had several new songs arranged and rehearsed, and just about ready for prime time. We dusted those off first and we were pleasantly surprised how quickly they took shape again. Then we fished around in the song attic and kicked the tires on a bunch of old tunes we'd not played in a long, long time.
It was fun to just make music again. It was a productive five hour marathon...
But typical of a Mugwugs rehearsal, a majority of the time was spent laughing and analyzing elements of pop culture that most people don't even think about (probably for good reason!).
We kicked off with our usual set opener (the Doobie Brothers' "Listen to the Music"), and as the last chord faded away, Kevin proclaimed: "Yah, yah... is good!"
And the Mugwugs banter began...
"'Yah, yah, is good!' Didn't that come from a cartoon?"
"'Yah, yah...' is that German? Maybe Danish? But you have to say it right... it's got to be gutteral or you sound Swedish."
"Wait... yes! The Looney Tunes version of Hansel and Gretel, they were eating chocolate in the roasting pan. 'Yah, is good!' With Witch Hazel! Remember her?"
"I loved Witch Hazel!"
And here ensues a ten minute in-depth discussion on the merits of the Looney Tunes' Hansel and Gretel; and it was agreed the most enduring characteristics of Witch Hazel were her tiny feet and her buzzing bobby pins.
And if you, dear reader, are already confused, you probably haven't seen a Mugwugs show. This is how our collective minds operate. And that's what you get when we are on stage. We can't help ourselves!
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| "Yah, yah, is good!" |
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| Witch Hazel and her adorable tiny feet and bobby pins |
Other highlights of our rehearsal on Saturday:
(After brushing off David Lee Murphy's "Dust on the Bottle," a song we hadn't played in more than a year)...
Scott: "I think that kinda scratches the country itch."
Kevin: "We've scratched that itch a lot."
Andy: "I think we're bleeding."
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| Scott Wagner: guitar and vocals |
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| Kevin Nyberg: guitars and vocals |
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| Andy Bingham: bass guitar and mandola... a four stringed bass with five tuning pegs! |
After about an hour into rehearsal:
Sam: "Is my snare drum tuned too high?"
Brian: "Yes. It sounds like a marching band."
Sam: "Hey, dick... who asked you?"
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| Sam Branstner: drums and vocals. And three sticks. |
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| Brian "Girth" Budahn: keyboards and vocals. |
(The AI characters above were created by Kevin)
The following conversation is a prime example how the Mugwugs professionally delegate lead vocals on a song. After dusting off The Proclaimers' "500 Miles," a song we hadn't played in about four years:
Kevin: "Scott, you want this one?"
Scott: "Um... Not really."
Kevin: "Wanna arm wrestle for it?"
Scott: "Um... Not really."
Kevin: "I'll let you win!"
Scott: "No, I'll let YOU win!"
Sam: "Guys, just cut off your arms. Problem solved."
Brian: "Okay, okay... I can take a hint. I'll sing it."
Other Mugwugs Rehearsal Fun Facts....
- Brian's keyboard arpeggios on Ronnie Milsap's "Smoky Mountain Rain" made Scott so verklempt he felt faint and needed a moist towelette.
- At one point, Andy put on his jacket and went for a walk. "I'm going to go look for my bass playing skills."
- Kevin offering to step on Brian's genitals so he can hit the ridiculously high notes on ELO's "Don't Let Me Down." (The offer was politely declined).
- F-flat and B-flat are most likely not the same thing.
- Sam can be Foster Brooks without even trying.
- Scott proposing to sing bass on Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World," just like Pavarotti and that other tenor, whatshisname.
- Hoyt Axton actually wrote "Joy to the World."
- Hoyt Axton wrote a lot of songs.
- Who the hell names their kid "Hoyt"?
- Sam is still trying to tune his snare drum to Brian's satisfaction, probably.
- Andy wore a Black Sabbath tie to practice.
- Brian changed The Proclaimers' "500 Miles" to "5,000 Miles," which we agreed was a considerably greater distance to be the man to fall down at your door.
So there you go, a little peek into the world of a Mugwugs rehearsal. We hope to see you this summer!
