Mudlow
Mudlow are a band from Brighton, in the UK. They are known for their distinctive approach to blues music, cinematic mood, vivid storytelling and atmospheric soundscapes. Way-markers are artists like Junior Kimbrough, Morphine, and Tom Waits, but Mudlow’s sound is entirely their own, earning them a dedicated following at home and overseas.
Since forming in the early 2000s, Mudlow has undergone line-up changes (originally with a full-blown brass section!), but its core has always been the current trio of Tobias (songwriter, guitar, and vocals), Pauly (bass and studio production), and Matt (drums and percussion).
Over the years, Mudlow have released several albums, EPs, and singles. Their debut album, 2005’s ‘Welcome to Mudlow Country’, was critically well-received, described as “challenging, unique, yet infinitely listenable,” and it set the tone for their subsequent releases.
Where are you and what are you doing?
Matt: We’re in Church Road Studios, Hove. Going to mess about with some new songs Tobias has written. Pauly works here as an in-house producer and engineer and it's our home from home when we're working as a band, all our records have been recorded here with Paul at the helm. As eclectic as our music can be, that's why it all has the distinctive Mudlow sound.
You're an English band with a sound and aesthetic rooted in Americana. What drew you to this style?
Tobias: Growing up in Australia it felt like the only things on TV were old American shows and Elvis movies, you can't help soaking up that stuff as a kid. Rock'n'roll, Blues and country have always been the styles of music that speak to me the most.
Matt: American roots is ground-zero for popular culture, we lean into that for sure but like to think we have created a world that is timeless and isn't confined to geographic boundaries. It's Mudlow country, make of that what you will.
Do you remember a song, film, or book that first turned you on to it?
Tobias: Yes… the S E Hinton novels (The Outsiders, Rumblefish, Tex and That Was Then This is Now) all that I absorbed as a kid was there in those books but they also include much darker, edgier themes.
Matt: Tobias and I were at school together, and I remember him recommending those novels to me. I borrowed them from the school library and as teenagers, we would often spend time discussing those stories.
Your songs have always had a cinematic feel to them. How much does cinema inspire your songwriting?
Tobias: I'm telling stories in my songwriting and the sound we create as a band is often described as cinematic. As far as being 'inspired' by cinema I suppose the songs are like short movies in my head. We all love a good soundtrack and a lot of our music is evocative and pretty epic.
Who will play each of you in the Mudlow biopic that will surely be made?
We’re not going to be limited to still-alive actors.. and let's enjoy our born-in-the-1970's Englishness for a moment so….
Matt: Frankie Howerd
Paul: Kenneth Connor
Tobias: Sid James
Many writers and musicians say they can't remember where their ideas come from. Is that true for you too?
Tobias: I remember all my ideas but yeah, not necessarily where they come from, just thoughts that appear without will. I definitely don't sit down and try to conjure them into being, there’s loads of them rattling around in there and the work is in the wrangling. Sometimes a few disparate ideas will meld and something starts to form like a web that becomes the basis of a song.
It feels like there's a lot of storytelling in your songs. Do you start with a story idea, or does it evolve with the music? Do you ever venture into more abstract writing?
Tobias: In amongst my ideas I have pretty clear lyrical stories and then totally separate ideas for music, the ones that fit will find each other if I’m lucky. The songs only really evolve once we’re working on them as a band.
Your music is undeniably from the dark side of the road. Has it become darker as you've grown older, or has age brought hope?
Tobias: Our music has become a bit lighter I guess. Audiences seem to respond to the live shows better when there’s plenty of up-tempo songs, The stories within are still lacking in hope though, otherwise, it wouldn’t really be a Mudlow song!
There aren't many bands who have stayed together as long as you have, consistently touring and producing records. What's kept you going?
Paul: Stubbornness and a complete and irrational refusal to accept the facts like any normal person would!
I suspect a lot of artists fail because they don't start out with an idea of what success looks like. What does artistic success mean to you?
Tobias: Having an idea, see it through to its creation and being happy with the end result.
Paul: We first and foremost make music to please ourselves and we’ve been incredibly successful at that. There’s no point trying to make it with anyone else’s tastes in mind.
Matt: If we relied on numbers as a measure of success we probably would have given up years ago. We work slow and steady and create the best, most 'Mudlow' thing we can.
What advice would you give to young musicians starting now?
Matt: Do whatever it is that makes you happy in whatever way you want to create it. Don’t chase perfection, only think about how it makes you feel.
Paul: Work on your IDEAS. Always ensure your ideas drive the art, use whatever technology you want to help you create but don’t let the tech dictate the rules.
Tobias: Do it coz you like it, coz you’re wired that way.
Best gig story - go.
Matt: Every ‘best’ story that sticks in our mind seems to involve terrible, horrifying events. Not sure how we made it out of some venues with our lives. For example that one time in Nothern Ireland when Tobias introduced the set with the words "Now, I know you've had your troubles but...." or when we were taken down into the cellar of an actual crypt by the venue owner to view security camera footage of us sound-checking surrounded by mysterious floating orbs.
Name a song you wish you'd written.
Tobias: ‘Devil wears a suit and tie’ by Colter Wall. That’s one track that we’ve occasionally played live and it’s on our upcoming covers album
What else can we expect to hear on there? I'm thinking of that Travis version of Hit Me Baby One More Time...
Matt: There aren't any big pop hits on there, we’ve already had someone’s feedback that they didn’t recognise any of the songs and thought it was an album of originals. So, just expect a Mudlow album I guess. I'll tease you though with a couple of artists we've covered: Tracy Chapman, Sammy Davis Jr and Morphine. Eclectic as always.
Paul: They are all songs we like a lot but could ‘Mudlow-up’ enough while still honouring the original. There’s definitely a couple of surprising choices on there though for sure.
This next section is called 'Fantasy Corner'. Here are three questions designed to take you on a magical voyage into your imagination.
*gasp
Are you ready for Fantasy Corner?
think so
Tobias: is this like the ‘middle of Lidl’ ?
Welcome to Fantasy Corner.
OOOH!!
If Tom Waits and Audrey Hepburn engaged in combat, what fighting style would each choose and who would win?
Tobias: Tom would have Tornado-in-a-can like he did in Mystery Men. Audrey would have her beguiling lash-batting that subdues even the gruffest of men. Audrey Hepburn would definitely win.
An asteroid is heading to earth, oh no, and The United Nations has called upon Mudlow to help. You must reform as a prog rock band and blast the asteroid into smithereens by playing a concept album on the moon, which NASA has converted into a giant Bluetooth speaker. What is the name of your prog rock band, what will the concept album be about, and what will you wear during the gig to end all gigs?
Easy! We've discussed this before. We are ‘Thee Fallen Aristocrats’. The concept album will be about the last throes of the British Empire and tea. We will wear (in no particular order) Safari suit and pith helmet, stained cricket whites and a straw panama, silk smoking-jacket and a jauntily angled fez. All will wear monocles and cigarettes in comically long holders. There will be a flatulent butler on stage that serves us refreshing G&T’s, cucumber sandwiches and Black Forest Gateaux. We will reject all our previous cultural touchstones as uncouth and probably make millions.
You each get to invite a famous person to a dinner party, dead or alive. However, you must ensure that the evening contains at least one fistfight, an emotional outpouring, and you get bonus points for vomit. Who do you invite, what do you cook, and what drinks do you serve?
Tobias: Sam Peckinpah, Lobster Thermidore, Dark and Stormy
Matt: Rik Mayall, Fried Chicken, White Russians
Paul: Nina Simone, Greggs sausage rolls, Red Bull.
That’ll fit the brief we reckon.. imagine the carnage.
Thank you for visiting Fantasy Corner.
All: We enjoyed the stay. The weather was a bit shit but the hospitality was second-to-none.
Recommendations time. What are you a) listening to, b) watching, c) reading, d) looking at?
Matt: a) Bohren and Der Club of Gore b) American Primeval c) The Last Dog on Earth (genuinely was the last book I read) by A J Walker.
d) the news (unfortunately)
Tobias: a) Last McDonnells on the Moon by Jake la Botz b) Mr Inbetween c) The Lost Country by William Gay d) My cherry tree, waiting for the blossom.
Paul: a) The Tindersticks latest album ‘Soft Tissue’ b) The Åre Murders c) The Unfinished Harauld Hughes by Richard Ayoade d) I am Martin Parr (documentary)
If one of my books gets made into a film, will you write a song for the soundtrack, please?
Of course! It would be a pleasure.
Thanks, Mudlow.
Cheers Adrian.
Mudlow's last studio album was 2022’s ‘Bad Turn’, a “fevered swamp dream” of a record. Most recently, the dark, epic single ’Headlights’ was released on New Year’s Day 2025, and an upcoming album of intriguing cover versions is scheduled for release in September.