Mumford’s

Nate Logsdon: Well, definitely what we love about Ames, Iowa is that the scene is really collaborative. There’s a really warm, positive vibe among all of the bands, and…we’ve also noticed that in a lot of other communities, so that’s definitely…that’s something that we feel really strongly about that we love about Ames, but it’s definitely not something that is opposed to other towns. I know a lot of other towns have that, too, and a lot of communities like— even Denton, and lots of other towns of this size, too, have a similarly collaborative, non-competitive, really rich vibe. So, there’s a lot of diversity in the scene, but everyone supports each other. That’s what we love about it.

Nate: It’s just taking matters into your own hands, and having a concept, and instead of thinking that you need a label or you need something outside of yourself, or you need a manager to accomplish your goals, just saying, ‘I am an artist’ or ‘I am a music fan and I want there to be music in my town’ or ‘I want to put out my own album,’ and just going for it, no matter what, no matter what your circumstances are. Just believing that you have the abilities in your hands or in your community to achieve your goals.
Chris Lyng: It can even be something like, ‘I have no idea how to do this, but I’m just going to do it!’ You know? ‘I’m just going to figure it out along the way.’ A lot of the projects that we’ve been involved in have been that way. When we start we have no idea what we’re doing, and then it’s like, ‘Now we know how to do this thing!’ At the end of it.
James Doxon: A lot of that goes along with the DIY thing. Involving the community, having volunteers to help you out with DIY things, and just involving them, and getting them to think that about themselves, that they can do whatever they want to do.
MB: How important is the Internet to your band and to DIY music?
Nate: Extremely important. We book all of our shows through the Internet. We do pretty much all of our promotion online, so it’s hard to imagine— we never toured in the pre-Internet era. When we started booking tours, we would book them on MySpace, which, now we don’t do that anymore, but…We came after the whole calling people on the phone, sending them press kits and stuff like that. Our entire experience of touring has been through finding venues online, emailing people, keeping connections strong after we meet people through social networks.

Nate: Just that we have a lot of passion and energy, and that we really mean what we say and we mean what we play.
James: Have a good time. Dance.