It wouldn’t be a proper rock show with a little blood, sweat … and a trip to a knee specialist?
That’s the scene for The Mystery Lights’ frontman Mike Brandon, a couple of weeks before the band’s debut at Edmonton’s Purple City Music festival.
“I didn’t even hurt my knee doing something cool like jumping off an amp,” he laughs. “I banged it climbing onto a stage. But it is not in good shape.”
Still he insists the show will go on. It always does. “I’ll be meticulous, cautious,” he says. “But I’m stoked. We love Canada, and this will be our first time playing Edmonton.”
Formed in the early 2000s by Brandon and his friend L.A. Solano, The Mystery Lights originally started out in the skate-punk and garage scenes.
The early days were rough and fun, he says.
‘We used to book shows ourselves and no one would come. We’d play to the bartenders and announce from the stage that we needed a place to stay,” he remembers. “We’d crash on floors. We had no money and didn’t know what we were doing. It was kinda fun that way, though.”
By 2016, however, a Daptones Records rep heard about their gritty, psych-infused rock and launched Wick Records, a rock imprint, inspired in part by the desire to represent The Mystery Lights.
“It was crazy,” Brandon says. “We were such big fans of all the Daptone soul stuff. The fact that they wanted to start a rock label after hearing us, it meant a lot.”
Almost a decade later, the band’s in a good place. “It’s more comfortable now, for sure. We still love the chaos but it’s got to be fun. We’re older now. If it’s not fun, we don’t do it.”
Their latest release, Purgatory, came out earlier this year. It marks a fresh chapter for the band after suffering burnout after their last album tour.
“We burnt out bad. I was not going to touch another guitar again. I was pretty done with music after the Too Much Tension tour,” he says. The break provided by the pandemic and some lifestyle changes (drinking less, for one) helped bring him back, he says.
“I started writing for me again, like I did as a teenager. No expectations, just fun. And now I’m inspired all the time.”
That energy is palpable on Purgatory, which the band will be playing heavily at Purple City, alongside “a bunch of old stuff” and some brand-new material.
“We’re really, really excited to come to Purple City,” he says.
What about his knee? “My body finds a way of healing, Wolverine-style,” he says. “I’ll be fine. Just maybe no jump kicks for a while.”
The Mystery Lights play Saturday night, September 6, at the Purple City Music Festival. They also play September 7 at the BLOX Arts Centre. For more information on the band, look here.
“It’s Alright” by The Mystery Lights:
