Embracing The Sunshine With FUMING MOUTH

Interview by Kris Peters
Music has a way of providing comfort in a wide variety of
ways.
To the general music consumer, that comfort is a more personal
enjoyment of the music, the lyrics, and the message, but the
cathartic nature of music also extends to those making it.
When Fuming Mouth vocalist Mark Whelan was diagnosed with
life-threatening Acute Myeloid Leukemia he could have accepted and
reacted to the news in a number of ways.
But he chose his band and music.
And that option helped him harness his thoughts and problems into a
body of work that, although already close to completion, would
provide support, encouragement and hope in his time of need.
Some of the tracks were reworked and rewritten to reflect his new
battle, but mostly Whelan turned his potential life negatives into
a constructive force of nature that helped drive his creative
output while also strengthening his resolve.
That product was unleashed on the world last week when Fuming Mouth
released their second album Last Day Of Sun, a triumphant sonic
release of hope and courage against seemingly insurmountable
odds.
HEAVY caught up with Whelan, drummer James Davis and bass player
Pat Merson to find out more.
"It's been good, for the most part," Merson nodded when asked how
fans have responded to the album.
"It seems like the live reception has been good," Davis added.
"I've seen people singing along to the songs and reacting to the
music so that's been cool."
We press the boys to tell us more about Last Day Of Sun musically
and what they were going for with it.
"Just something really heavy, really brutal," Whelan replied,
"truly metal and beyond just death metal into worlds of heavy
metal. Beyond that into some more melodic territory that you might
hear, but ultimately bringing it back to big bands like Judas
Priest with big guitar solos and making it more of a dynamic album
than just one low tunes brutal death song after another."
In the full interview, the boys talk about the two singles released
and if they are a good representation of the album as a whole,
Mark's battle with leukemia and how it impacted the album, what
message they hope people will take from the album, recording with
Kurt Ballou in Salem and what effect that had on the finished
product, the early days of Fuming Mouth, their initial vision for
the band and how it has changed since, live shows and more.