Page Text: The Band: Just Mustard
by Nathan Hyatt
As your untrained and uncompensated content master, who mainly looks out for myself, I let it fall onto the top of my head the task of telling you what I think of things. My opinion. I do not want to tell you what to think. If you catch me doing that, I have been very naughty and should be dealt with immediately.
I wanted to review a band that I probably should have discovered a long time ago. I also wanted to write a review since I enjoy writing them and blah blah, haven’t done one in ages, blah blah…
That band is Just Mustard.
I was clicking through Google clickbait the other day and stumbled upon an article letting us all know that Just Mustard is the greatest thing since sliced bread. (Not sure if there is a band called “Sliced Bread” but that would be a cool band name.)
I read through the entire article, which I like to do most of the time because I am much better at finishing articles than books. Found it on Gigwise.com . This is not official academic research, so please don’t burden me with notions that I should be sourcing. I have not included the link. If you visit the site and search “Just Mustard” you will not be disappointed, depending on how you define disappointment. This review is about my own opinion.
The band is apparently from Ireland, which I think is a plus. I am not sure why. Ireland is good at making bands and artists I think. Cranberries, U2, Sinead O’Connor etc. It was mentioned that they are pretty new, even though they date back to 2016. New enough.
I searched for a YouTube video within the article that I was sure would be there. It was not. I finally went looking on my own and was mildly disappointed. With the YouTube video. I was determined that this band could not possibly suck as much as I thought it did based on one video taken from one camera at one recent live concert. After all they were connected with Rob Smith of The Cure and have opened for the Godfathers of Shoegaze. Surely anyone associated with the band that played Yen to AC/DC’s Yang during most of my life from the age of 12 on, didn’t just fall short.
I did finally look them up on Spotify (please do not hatch a plot to harm me personally for using Spotify. I am looking into alternatives a.s.a.p. especially since they keep turning the simple act of signing in into a harrowing ordeal. Politics are something I won’t go into in this review.)
I do recommend listening to their (Just Mustard’s) studio material at least through a few songs, which I am now honestly having to turn off.
The best thing I can come up with to say about Just Mustard is that the drummer seems to be solid with rhythm. The sound engineer seems to know how to make the band sound like they have a really talented sound engineer.
The guitar is underwhelming and I only personally have enough experience with acoustic guitar myself to write songs that I do not usually attempt to play for other people. But I know what talented guitarists should sound like.
I know that they opened for The Cure, but that is not saying much. If you are a bigtime band, you do not want the opening act to upstage you.
Just Mustard will not upstage anyone until they learn to get out of their own way.
I really am not trying to be mean here. I hope sincerely that the members of Just Mustard (don’t accuse me of not mentioning the band’s name enough times so that readers can decide for themselves) have great success and awesome lives.
From a business point of view, I can say that I have never been a record producer, but I am rather assured that I would not sign them to a traditional contract.
I think that the writer of the article I had read said they were “haunting”. I do not even find them to be amusing. At best, they are very boring. Listening to them is like winding up at a party and thinking you are at a really cool party and then leaving with really cool people to go do something else. Just Mustard is still the band playing the party. You and the cool people are doing something else. Anything else.
Please do not blame me.
I have listened to “Deaf” “Still” “Frank” and “I am you”.
Nothing has hooked me in.
And it was supposed to.
I am a major fan of The Cure. I love The Beatles and I love listening to The Cure just as much as the historically “Greates Rock and Roll Band of All Time,” The Beatles.
The singer of Just Mustard has a pleasant voice. The drummer is solid? I said that already, right? The songs start off sounding like they are going somewhere?
Please check them out for yourself. I don’t want to keep anyone from listening to a band that does something for them.
I just honestly cannot think of a single song that I want to hear again even once.
I could listen to “The Sweater Song” or a number of other Wheezer songs on repeat, even though I am not a true Wheezer fan.
I love the bands that I think Just Mustard are supposed to sound like: The Cure? The Smiths? Idk? Some Band that doesn’t sound like they would rather be working on something in the privacy of their own room instead of making music? Like biology homework?
Please just listen to one song and then go from there and don’t blame me if you are underwhelmed or just sad. If you want to listen to sad music, there is a lot of really great sad music out there.
I hope Just Mustard develop their musical talent (they have some) and get some breaks and start to make some great music one day.
Someone please help them with the formula.
I think they are really close, but they really need a push.
Maybe from someone like Rob Smith.
This band is like a wild mood swing without the “wild” or the “swing”.
Contact Nathan Hyatt here: ConsAndNons@gmail.com
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