London-based band The Mustard Seed will release their single “Staying In Your Lane” this Friday.
The Mustard Seed is a re-band re-brand of The Dom Clark Trio. I have previously described Clark’s music as being “impossible to date, as it has bits and pieces of the music of the past and the music of the future alike.”
“Staying In Your Lane” fulfills that prophecy, as Clark continues on in a fusion of jazz-funk-rock goldness.
The Mustard Seed consists of: Dom Clark on guitar, trumpet and vocals; Andres Miranda on guitar; Conor Cotterill on bass guitar; and Enmanuel Moreno on drums.
I spoke to Dom Clark about the band’s origins and the upcoming single:
LP: What made you want to do a band re-brand?
DC: It felt like it was time to change the name once Andres was fully on board - we were no longer numerically a trio, and the extra guitar made the sound more guitar-orientated and a bit less jazzy. I always thought the name was a bit too jazzy for our sound anyway and never liked having my own name on there. so it felt like a good time for a reset. I think I can just about not cringe when I say the name which is probably as good as a band name can ever get. And of course, it’s named after the studio and our DCT album was “Music From The Mustard Seed” so it all relates back as well.
LP: Who are your influences?
DC: I think we have a wide range of tastes between us, but the bit where we all overlap is a shared love for classic ‘60s bands - The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Santana - plus Motown and ‘70s soul and funk.
LP: Tell me about the single “Staying In Your Lane”: What made you want to write the song? What was the writing/recording process like? And what made you want to release this song specifically as The Mustard Seed’s debut single?
DC: Musically I never try to write a song; I just get ideas when I’m messing around. I usually get a new batch of songs during the World Cup as I’m sat around with a guitar on my knee watching football and I think it’s one of those!
Lyrically, it’s obviously a road trip song and for me personally it’s something I was motivated to write as that’s always something I've loved - from long hours on caravan holidays as a kid, to my first holiday with my mates as soon as I learnt to drive, and my last holiday with my partner round California. It’s always a great time for music listening, too, as people aren’t in their own worlds with earphones, it allows you to listen together and share the moment. I love the Beatles song “Two of Us” and wanted that type of feeling; it's even got a reference to it in the first verse!
The process was music first as usual. Then, I did a rough phonetic draft of nonsense lyrics, which I don’t normally do - but I was inspired by the Get Back doc. I think this helped finish it quicker than usual as there’s already some words down and just have to fix the meaning - sings nicely as well because of sticking close to the phonetic draft. Then it was just a case of getting it all down in the studio. Andres’ guitar brings some blues and rock which I wouldn’t be able to do myself, and I’ve never had that with the trio so that was great. And to complete the Beatles love-in got it mastered at Abbey Road!
LP: What’s next for The Mustard Seed?
DC: We’re doing a launch gig for the single and band at Fabwick in Hackney Wick on Nov 22nd and have a second single “Once Upon A Summer” mastered and ready for release early 2025.
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