I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: March 20, 2024] Mustard Service

Mustard Service is an indie rock band based in Miami, Florida, formed in 2015. Self-described as “zest pop”, the band’s music draws influences from rock, surf, jazz, funk, and bossa nova.

When they came out and started playing I thought they were joking.  They play with a total wedding band vibe.  There’s soft gently echoed guitars, wavery synths, and a kind of crooning vocal.

And yet, the lyrics are contemporary and funny.

The amusingly titled “Get Fucked” (which has no curses in the lyrics), features this gem:

So when I tell you, hun that I just need to go outside and smoke a blunt, the world seems like it’s spinning, I don’t wanna die, my skin might disagree, but then my heart, it flies, every single day I’m going down.

The songs are all mostly quite short, and yet there were solos galore.  Leo Cattani played a few great keyboard solos (with all kinds of settings on the machine).  And even Augusto “Tuto” Di Catarina had a brief bass solo in one of the songs.

Adam Perez on drums was always smiling and was quite amusing as he introduced “(Your Cat) Don’t Stand a Chance” by saying it was a song about their cat Smoky.  Amusingly it’s about cats fighting, but it’s smooth and discoey.

The band was a four piece for this show with Marco Rivero Ochoa on lead vocals and lead guitar.  Apparently the band has a lead guitarist guitar, Gabriel Marinuchi (or “Nuchi”) but he was not there.  Rivero Ochoa’s solos were good but not amazing or anything.

The story about Larkin for Larkin’s Parkin (they met him at King Fu Necktie and he (Larkin) was really really drunk so he slept in his car) was a great intro to this Philly-based song.  “The Dominoes” was really fun as well.

The highlight for me was that they played “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” which was the first dance at our wedding.  Their version was really good and lots of fun, especially when Leo busted out a trumpet to play the horn section!

I didn’t expect to like Mustard Service from the little bit I listened to them ahead of the show.  But they were really fun and even though they toed the cheesy line pretty closely, I think they always came out on the right side of it.

1. Pleasantries (With Your Lover) ∞
2. Get Fucked £
3. Night in Tulum ⊗
4. (Your Cat) Don’t Stand a Chance ⊗
5. Oh, Honey Baby £
6. Larkin’s Parkin’ ⊗
7. Taking Up Space £
8. The Dominoes ⊗
9. Can’t Take My Eyes Off You (Frankie Valli cover)

⊗ Variety Pack (2023)
£ Zest Pop (2020)
∞ C’est La Vie (2017)