Mugstar are an English rock band, influenced by kraut/psych/space/noise rock such as Oneida, Sonic Youth,

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and

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

. Since 2003 they have issued several full-length albums, a split release with Mudhoney and two live albums performing on stage together with

Damo Suzuki , better known as Damo Suzuki (ダモ鈴木), is a Japanese musician who has been living in Germany since the early 1970s and is best known as the former lead singer of the krautrock group Can. Biography As a teenager, Suzuki spent the late 196 ...

. Mugstar recorded one of the last-ever Peel Sessions with the late John Peel on 5 May 2004. Record labels: Rock Action, Important Records (U.S.A.), Cardinal Fuzz, Weird Beard, Agitated, Evil Hoodoo, Rocket Recordings, Trensmat, God Unknown, Chunklet Industries (U.S.A.), Hands In The Dark / All Time Low, Lancashire & Somerset, critical MASS...

History

Mugstar formed in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, England. Their first single, "Spotlight Over Memphis", drew attention from John Peel, who played the 7-inch on his radio show. It was after the next 7-inch, "Flavin' HotRod", that Peel offered the band a Peel Session. A split 7-inch with Hunting Lodge followed. A mini-album on Kabukikore Records, "Dark Matter", came next, closely followed by a session for

BBC Radio One BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

Huw Stephens Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music. Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...

. In January 2006 the band released "My Baby Skull Has Not Yet Flowered". The band's self-titled debut album was released on CD at the end of 2006 on Sea Records, and on Critical MASS Records as a limited run of heavy weight vinyl in 2007. Mugstar then started a productive relationship with Ireland-based

Trensmat Records Trensmat Records was an independent record label based in Ireland. It specialised in drone (music), drone, noise music, krautrock and grooves. All releases were on Vinyl record, vinyl in limited editions. The label's name was a made up word, bas ...

with a run of limited 7-inch singles. One of these releases was a split 7-inch with Seattle's Mudhoney, with both bands doing covers of

songs. During this time Red Panda and Mugstar featured on a one-sided 10-inch single, each performing half of "

Tam Lin Tam (or Tamas) Lin (also called Tamlane, Tamlin, Tambling, Tomlin, Tam Lien, Tam-a-Line, Tam Lyn, or Tam Lane) is a character in a legendary ballad originating from the Scottish Borders. It is also associated with a reel of the same name, also ...

", a song made famous by Fairport Convention. Mugstar signed to Important Records, who then released "...Sun, Broken..." CD in March 2010 and their third album, "Lime", was released also on CD in November 2010. For Record Store Day 2011 Mugstar contributed a cover of "I Got the Six" by

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for "I'm So Agitated", a 12-inch also featuring Carlton Melton, The Heads and Kool Aid, on Agitated Records. The "Lime" album got its vinyl release through Agitated Records in September 2011. These were followed by a split album on Rocket Recordings with New York's Oneida - called "Collisions 2" - and a 40 minute remix of "Serra" (from "Lime") by Loop's Robert Hampson. "Ad Marginem" - Original Film Soundtrack. Vinyl album with DVD, was released in September 2012. The film / album launch was celebrated with Mugstar performing the soundtrack live to film screenings, at Liverpool's Bluecoat and Rough Trade East in London. (The screening with live soundtrack has subsequently been performed a number of times... in Bishop's Castle, at the Roadburn Festival in Tilburg (NL), The Cube Cinema, Bristol and most recently in 2018 in the Music Room at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.) The release of the band's fifth album, ''Axis'', followed in late 2012. In April 2013, they performed a radio session for

Marc Riley Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961 in Manchester) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music. Formerly a member of the Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Ta ...

on his BBC 6 Music evening show. For Record Store Day 2013 Mugstar released ''Centralia'' their sixth album on the Cardinal Fuzz label. Mugstar released ''Start from Zero'' a live album - recorded with

in Liverpool, summer 2012 - on Important Records in January 2015. February 2016 saw Mugstar performing a second radio session for

on his BBC 6 Music evening show. The double album: ''Magnetic Seasons'' was released in 2016 on

Rock Action Records Rock Action Records is a Scottish, Glasgow-based independent record label, founded and maintained by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. The label has showcased such diverse talents as Part Chimp, Errors, Chris Brokaw, Trout, The James Orr Complex ...

. The singles and rarities compilation album: ''Collapsar - Skull Scorchers & Neuron Phasers'' was released in December 2017 on double heavy vinyl format by Evil Hoodoo Records. In 2018 Mugstar performed together with

for a second time. This was for Wrong Festival at the

Invisible Wind Factory Invisible Wind Factory is an events venue based in a former factory in Liverpool, UK. It opened in 2016 and has hosted a range of gigs and other events. Building The building is at 3 Regent Road, to the north of Liverpool city centre and nea ...

in Liverpool. The recording was released on Weird Beard in July 2020. Mugstar's latest studio album "Graft" was released on the Cardinal Fuzz label in October 2020.

Discography

* "Spotlight Over Memphis" 7-inch - critical MASS Records (10/03) * "Flavin HotRod" 7-inch - critical MASS Records (05/04) * ''Peel Session'' BBC Radio 1 (10/04) * Split 7-inch with Hunting Lodge - Farm Girl Records (11/04) * ''Dark Matter'' Mini-Album CD - Kabukikore Records (03/05) * ''Trail Singles Comp.'' CD - critical MASS Records (10/05) * "My Baby Skull Has Not Yet Flowered" 7-inch - Lancashire & Somerset Records (01/06) * ''Mugstar Album - CD Sea Records / Vinyl critical MASS Records (11/06) * "Bethany Heart Star" 7-inch -

(01/07) * "Born To Go" 7-inch Split with Mudhoney -

(11/08) * "Tam Lin"' 10-inch Split with Red Panda - Lancashire & Somerset Records (12/08) * "Technical Knowledge As A Weapon" 7-inch -

(08/09) * ''...Sun, Broken...'' Album. CD Important Records (03/10) Vinyl re-issue Cardinal Fuzz Records (2014) * ''In Search of Hawkwind'' Tribute Album with Kinski, Magoo, Bardo Pond, Mudhoney, Acid Mothers Temple, Moon Duo & White Hills. CD - critical MASS records (2010) * "Red Shift" / "Blue Shift" 7-inch - Champion Version (10/10) * ''Lime'' Album. CD Important Records (11/10) Vinyl Agitated Records (09/11) * ''Collisions 2'' Split album with Oneida vinyl - Rocket Recordings (10/11) * "Distant Sun" Serra Remix by Robert Hampson Vinyl album / CD - Agitated Records (11/11) * "Black Fountain" Split 7-inch with Carlton Melton -

(12/11) * ''Ad Marginem'' Original Film Soundtrack. Vinyl album with DVD - Agitated Records (09/12) * ''Axis'' Album. Vinyl / CD - Agitated Records (10/12) * ''Centralia'' Album. Vinyl - Cardinal Fuzz Records (04/13) * ''Travel Expop Series #2: Great Britain'' split album with The Oscillation / Ben Nash / Listening Mirror Hands In The Dark / All Time Low Records (08/13) * Split 12-inch with Cosmic Dead - Evil Hoodoo Records (2014) * ''Start From Zero'' Album. Recorded live with

. Vinyl only - Important Records (01/15) * Split 7-inch with White Hills - God Unknown Records (03/15) * "Kabuki Skull" / "Goat Head" USA tour 7-inch - Chunklet Industries (05/15) * ''Magnetic Seasons'' Album. Double Vinyl LP with download / CD - Rock Action Records (03/16) * ''Collapsar: Skull Scorchers & Neuron Phasers'' Compilation album of singles and rarities on double heavy vinyl - Evil Hoodoo Records (12/17) * ''File #733 U.F.O. Further Investigation'' Various Artists Double Vinyl LP featuring two new exclusive MUGSTAR tracks - Granite Trees & Drones on Drones - on the Modern Harmonic label (11/19) * ''Invisible Wind Factory'' Album. Recorded live with

. Vinyl with download - Weird Beard Records (7/20) * '' Graft'' Album. Vinyl with download - Cardinal Fuzz Records (10/20)

Band members

* Steve Ashton - Drums * Neil Murphy - Guitar * Marc Glaysher - Bass * Joe Hirons - Guitar/Keyboards Previous members: * Pete Smyth - Guitar/Vocals/Keyboards * Jason Stoll - Bass * Chris Stevens - Bass * Adrian R. Shaw - Guitar/Vocals * Martin Ward - Guitar * Luke Mawdsley - Guitar * Rob McLean - Vocals

References

External links

Official MUGSTAR Website

Band's Bandcamp
{{Authority control English space rock musical groups English progressive rock groups Musical groups established in 2003