MRBLHOUS and "Honors Student"
On December 1st, small band MRBLHOUS released a single titled “Honors Student”, following their first release “November”. With a comforting and nostalgic sound, but with fresh faces in the music industry, it’s a great single full of feeling - that “gifted-kid burnout” ideal that oozes into every aspect of your life.
MRBLHOUS is made up of Jasper (vocals and guitar), Cameron (vocals and percussion), and Alex (bass). I talked with the band to get a feel for MRBLHOUS as a whole and see what’s happening next.
Grayson Buckley: What inspired you to create the music you do? Not just what inspired you to start making music, but your personal style and technique.
Jasper: My biggest source of inspiration for the music I write for comes from all over the place really. Sonically I take inspiration from a whole array of bands and artists…I'm a music lover so I'm always looking for bands and artists to get into and I carry around a little bit of everyone I listen to with me. As for lyrics, I take heavy inspiration for how I write lyrics from the deeply personal and poetic lyrics of people such as Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest, Frank Ocean, Father John Misty, Sufjan Stevens, and many others. For me, lyrics are always as personal as I can make them and I always try to put a piece of me in every song I write. It’s a place for me to vent the things I never really get to express normally and that by itself is just one of the many reasons I fell so in love with music in the first place.
Alex: When crafting a song, I always try to leave people with a certain feeling. Personally, I’ve been able to see exactly how bass changes the tone and sound of a song immensely. So each MRBLHOUS track has its own vibe that we create together and with it creates a whole new unique sound. Just about all of us pull influence from every direction, so it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly goes into each track. When it comes to me on the other hand, I try to model myself after a blues-type bass integrated into rock n’roll. This gives me room and plenty of sonic space to create anything I can imagine. I have complete creative control over each track to bring forth a certain emotion, and that’s why I love MRBLHOUS so much.
Cam: Well I’ve been doing music like almost my whole life, it’s kinda just come to me naturally. I got a drumset for my 9th birthday and I instantly started laying down beats and the feeling I got from having this passion really inspired me to learn all directions of drumming, so I experiment with a lot of genres which brings in so many playing styles and sounds you can make. But my personal style really comes from just listening to music, having the ear to know what should come next or what should be added here and there which is a skill everyone every day could use for literally anything - I just incorporate it into a musical standpoint.
GB: Give me a few things about your most recent song, “Honors Student”. What went into it technically, lyrically, emotionally…? Any background you want to give?
Jasper: When Alex and I were writing the first versions of “Honors Student”, we actually put it on the back burner for a while. Something just wasn’t clicking at the time for us, but when we came back to it randomly one day it came together quite beautifully. The mixture of the bass and guitar in the chorus was so infectious, we just kept building upon it. From the intro riff to bridge harmony and final solo, especially when Cam put the drum part on it, it felt like it all perfectly fell into place as a whole song. It’s a song I think many can relate to, you see the “gifted kid” to burnout pipeline happening almost every day and there’s so many people I know personally who have dealt with this as well. As one of the many myself, I found it pretty appropriate to express those feelings of dejection and questioned self-worth that comes from having ever so high expectations set on you that you never asked to be placed on you in the first place. For those who feel like that, I want them to know the sheer absurdness of those expectations and that they’re never alone in their struggles with it.
Cam: Well I wasn’t in MRBLHOUS in the beginning, I joined, later on, so Jasper and Alex had sorta already developed a sound with a couple of the songs having drum parts which really inspired me with their music. So when working on “Honors Student” after that first riff, I just knew what was gonna be played there. I spent maybe like 5 hours putting different drum parts, but I remember throwing my headphones down and going to pee, then when I came back to it, I had found a drum part that fit so when it came to recording the song it was a breeze. It’s always so fun recording with MRBLHOUS because of how much we enjoy each other’s parts, it really feels we have a connection in this band - not just a couple of people playing some stuff but it’s like we are working together to create such a masterpiece, each part is unique and we couldn’t do one thing without the others backing us up.
GB: What’s coming up for MRBLHOUS? Tours, shows, making new singles, an album?
Jasper: Not only have we been planning more and more shows, we’re also in the process of recording our upcoming debut album “infinity and abyss.” I'm honestly quite excited for the future of MRBLHOUS and I highly recommend tuning in to what we have going on, very big things coming soon that we’re super excited to share with you all!
“Honors Student” has that perfect midwest-emo vibe with amazing artistry behind it. Each member’s part blends well with one another, and Jasper’s lyrics on top make for the perfect song to listen to on a late-night drive while trying to get away from it all. That grunge-emo-indie blend works well for this song, and for all of their musical skills - and it takes you to smoking circles on your friend’s balcony, to 2 am during finals week, and to hope for something beyond that.
Keep up with MRBLHOUS on their socials listed below!
Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify
Get to know our Writer, Grayson Buckley Instagram
