Michigan pop-punk band Hot Mulligan has been signed to No Sleep Records, but according to vocalist/guitarist Chris Freeman, the band’s journey has been “unexpected.”
The band was formed in 2014 in the U.P. (upper peninsula) of Michigan.
“There’s no music scene up there, so I either had the choice to watch dads play Led Zeppelin covers in the local bars or do nothing at all but play in my basement,” said Freeman.
After booking their first tour, the band moved south to Lansing, the state capitol. Only two of the original members of the band were able to make the move: Freeman and vocalist Tades Sanville.
“I was playing drums, we had two guitarists, a bassist, and Tades … Tades and I were the only ones that moved to Lansing. One of the guitarists went to college … We realized everyone had to be in one area to make it work.”
Since the move, the band has hired new members. Freeman switched to vocals and guitar.
Last week, the band announced with a post on their Facebook that their recent EP, “Opportunities,” was gone forever.
“It was our best received EP yet, and a lot of people were really unhappy thinking that it was gone forever. We posted it and a lot of people were like ‘Hey, why is this going away, why won’t you tell us what’s up?’”
Following the outcry from fans, the band announced several days later that they had been signed to No Sleep Records.
“(Getting signed) was surprising for all of us, I guess, and a little eye-opening to know that we actually did something that we’ve wanted to do for a long time.
Hot Mulligan also announced that their debut EP would be remastered and rereleased. The album will also feature a bonus acoustic track, “Deluxe Capacitor.”
“We just put a new acoustic track on it,” said Freeman. “When we decided that we were going to do the re-release for sure, I know I didn’t want to just like take it down, put it back up … We didn’t want to just record a different version of one of the other songs on the record, so we went with an acoustic track and I think that’s probably one of our favorites now on it.”
As for the future, Freeman says the band plans to do “a lot more touring,” as well as release their first full-length album.
“We’re going to push harder than we ever have now that we have more resources.”
Hot Mulligan’s new single, “Deluxe Capacitor,” is currently streaming on Alternative Press. The remastered EP saw a digital release on March 31 and is available on the No Sleep Records store at www.nosleeprecords.com, hotmulligan.bandcamp.com, Apple Music, Google Play and Amazon.
