Miami based five-piece Mustard Service (Marco Rivero, Augusto Di Catarina, Gabriel Marinuchi, Leo Cattani, and Adam Rhodes) have spent the past few years forging their own sound: a unique blend of indie rock, surf, bossa nova, and several other alternative genres, that fuse together seamlessly. Labeled as “zest pop”, the self created genre isn’t much of a genre at all, the name more so signifies the lack of genre itself. Additionally, the group releases music in both English and Spanish. Since forming in 2015, the group has released a steady stream of albums and singles, honing their craft and developing their sound.
Their latest release is the 13 track album Variety Pack, a collection of songs that are, as the title suggests, varying in sound and genre. However, the album still feels cohesive. There are tracks that lean into indie rock pretty heavily (The Dominoes) , while others sit more in the bedroom pop realm (Frogs and Pansies).
Poptized had a chance to chat with Mustard Service via email to discuss everything about the latest album, and to dive a bit deeper into their genreless genre.
Brigid: Congratulations on the release of your latest album “Variety Pack,” how are you feeling about the release?
Mustard Service: We’re absolutely over the moon. It’s the first time in our careers that a new release eclipses Taking Up Space which until now was our number one song across all platforms. The Dominoes became our number 1 song last week and we couldn’t be happier to see new music get this kind of reception.
B: Can you tell me a bit about the album/single cover art? I love the cereal box concept, it’s really cool to see the individual single covers featured on the album cover!
M: We have to give a shout out to our queens over at Freaks Design Co. who brought our idea to life and nailed it perfectly. We are a band with very diverse tastes in music and we think that the final product of our work reflects that in a “Variety Pack” of different styles and tastes. We thought the best way to represent that was to have the album cover be a variety Pack of some kind of food so the cereal boxes worked out great and we were able to incorporate the single art into the final album art which we found kind of cool if we say so ourselves.
B: The last single released prior to the album was “Alolé”, which is a track that’s in Spanish. Can you tell me a bit about your decision to release music in both Spanish and English?
M: This is the second time we’ve released a song in Spanish and to be quite honest not much thought went into the decision for either tracks. The songs just kind of come out how they come out and as Spanish speakers sometimes we just start singing our nonsense lyrics (how all lyrics start) in Spanish and these two songs are prime examples of that.
B: You’re based in Miami, has the city had an influence on your sound? What’s the music scene like there?
M: Miami is practically the capital of Latin America and the Caribbean, the melting pot of cultures is so intense that at times it feels like a completely different country. This is obviously going to have an impact on the music seeing as we’ve grown up listening to rap, hip hop, electronic, dance music, rock, hardcore and all the American music figures but also salsa, reggaetón, merengue, cumbia, bachata, and all kinds of afro-Caribbean blends of music. I think incorporating these styles into our music wasn’t so much a choice as it was a consequence of having grown up where we did.
B: When it comes to inspiration, what artists do you look to? Who inspires your sound?
M: A huge one for us has been the Brazilian, Jobim. I think he’s God tier but to name a few I have to mention the Beatles, The Beach Boys, Charly García, Café Tacvba, Bob Dylan, Silvio Rodríguez, Spinetta, Joaquín Sabina, Chico Buarque, Buena Vista Social Club, all of the new wave artists, the post punks, the normal punks, the jazz cats like Mingus and Coltrane, The Strokes, Mac Demarco… I could go on for days but I think all artists draw a variety of inspiration from their collective tastes as opposed to a single artist or genre.
B: You’ve all been making music together since 2015, how has your creative process evolved over the years?
M: It definitely started off as a solo effort, with myself (Marco) being the main songwriter as I worked with producers but starting with our second album, “C’est La Vie” it became a group effort where I would bring in a full song folk style with just guitar and vocals and the band would fill in their parts like the keys, the bass, the lead and the drums. In our most recent album Nuchi and Leo even wrote a few songs of their own like Larkins Parkin, where Leo wrote all the music and I just filled in the lyrics or Alole, All or Nothing, and Song for Marco where Nuchi basically wrote them from top to bottom. We seem to all be contributing more and more to the song writing process every year.
B: This is your third studio album, how do you feel it differs from your previous two records?
M: Aside from us all getting older in the relentless passing of time I think our tastes have changed along with us. I personally had this chip on my shoulder of wanting to write more sophisticated harmonies and melodies, but I’ve grown to learn that there’s a time and place for the nuances that a “cool chord” could bring; it doesn’t always have to impress the jazz kids (I’m looking at you, Leo) aside from that we’ve just grown more comfortable in writing together like I mentioned in the last question.
B: On August 5th, you played Zest Fest as a debut show for the new album. What was that experience like?
M: I don’t think we’ve ever felt prouder. To see the city we grew up in fill up that 800 person venue 8 years after our conception just brings tears to our eyes. The indie and alternative community in Miami has just grown so much in the last few years and we’re just grateful to have had the chance to be a part of it. It was the most fun we’ve ever had and we’re happy to see everyone have a good time.
B: Tell me about the term “zest pop”, which is often used to describe your sound. What does that genre label mean to you?
M: In short: nothing. We think genres and labels are silly little prisons to put artists into and I don’t think anyone should feel they have to only make this or that kind of music. We know we’re an “indie rock band,” but we don’t like to think of it that way so we just called it “Zest Pop.” When someone asks what kind of music do you play? We say Zest pop. And when they ask what is zest pop? We say music played by Mustard Service.
B: Do you have a favorite memory from the “Variety Pack” creation process?
M: Writing and recording an album is long and tedious but you do it cause you love it. It can be frustrating having 5 or 7 opinions floating around the room but looking around and seeing you’re not alone is beyond comforting. Just hanging out with our friends making a song is something I wish everyone could experience. I think my favorite part was watching how many different instruments we could fit into a single song.
Listen to Variety Pack here!
