Mutha's Day Out

Mutha's Day Out was an early post-hardcore/rapcore band formed in November 1991 from the town of Batesville, Arkansas. The band consisted of: Mikal Moore (vocals), Brice Stephens (vocals), Chuck Schaaf (guitar), Jeff Morgan (bass), and Rodney Moffitt (drums). They released one album, My Soul is Wet, in 1993 for Chrysalis Records before breaking up.

Background

Mikal Moore (real name: Michael Moorhead; High School Nickname: "Gimme") and Randy Cross conceived Mutha's Day Out through influence of the Beastie Boys, with three vocalists (Mikal, Brice, and Randy). The name was thought up by Brice and comes from a daycare center in Batesville that kids could go to for pre-school in Methodist churches. Jeff had been kicked out of a band he and Chuck were in before Mutha's Day Out because he did not have a car. Right after that occurred, Mikal asked Jeff to be in a band that would sound like "Faith No More, Beastie Boys, and Ozzy Osbourne." When the band first came together, Lance was 21 years old, Mikal was 20 years old, Brice was 18 years old, Chuck was 17 years old, Rodney was 17 years old, and Jeff was 15 years old.

In April 1992, the band traveled to Memphis in search of a cheap recording studio. They found the studio they were looking for belonging to recording engineers Doug Easley and Davis McCain. After producing Mutha's Day Out's first demo in studio, which consisted of over 16 tracks, Doug booked the band to play in the Crossroads Music Festival that week. In the same performance, Mutha's Day Out's first, a representative from Chrysalis Records, Karen DuMonte (who still works with Mikal to this day), was present to see and sign another band. After seeing MDO's performance, they were offered to go to the studio the next day, while receiving a record contract the next day.

The album

They went to the studio to record their only album, My Soul is Wet. Randy Cross left the band the day after they got the record label and Lance was kicked out a week afterwards.

They replaced him with Chuck Schaaf. Halfway through the production of the album, Greenforth Pham, a Vietnamese boy who was a close friend of Mikal and Brice's, committed suicide, and thus the album was dedicated in his memory. The album was finished and then released on October 19th, 1993.

The tour

Mutha's Day Out toured the United States and Europe from late 1993 to late 1994. They were opening for such bands as Jackyl, King's X, Overkill, Sugartooth, and the Bullet Boys. Jeff, at one point during the tour, was in a leg brace having dislocated his knee the night before at a club gig in Birmingham, Alabama, but was still insistent on playing.

During their tour in the United States, they stayed in cheap hotels to lower the cost of the record company's tour bill.

Mortal Kombat

Mutha's Day Out appeared in the 1995 movie Mortal Kombat, during Scene 2, inside the techno bar, while Sonya searches for Kano amongst a large crowd moshing to them. They received a call on tour and were asked to take a few days to go to Hollywood and film their scene. Their song, "What U See," is featured on the soundtrack to Mortal Kombat. It is looped three times to form a four minute song. The looped song also features a short cowbell intro and the removal of the foul language the song had originally contained, although some copies of the soundtrack do have the profanity included. The movie grossed over 100 million dollars and the soundtrack went platinum in 10 days.

The break-up

Mikal left the band in September 1994, but this had been discussed and dealt with already with Chrysalis before the album even came out. They asked him to do the tour for the album, and he agreed. The band brought in another singer from Kansas City, but a few weeks after that happened, the band dissolved.

Today

Mikal Moore is married with two daughters and in a Christian rock band called Gazer. Brice Stephens returned to Batesville after a 2-year stay in Florida and is currently with Jeff Morgan in a band called All Called Liar. Chuck Schaaf played in Jeff's band Rwake until 2002 and has since then formed a band called Deadbird in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with his brother, Philip Schaaf. Jeff Morgan returned to Batesville and plays drums for a band called Rwake and All Called Liar. Lance Branstetter owns his own recording studio in Batesville and helps run a large farming operation owned by his family. Randy Cross is currently a loan officer at a bank in Batesville and teaching banking and accounting classes at a local college. Rodney Moffitt returned to Batesville and worked for the city mowing yards, and now works for a contractor hanging dry wall.

External links

• Official Mutha's Day Out Tribute Site
• Unofficial Mutha's Day Out Website
• Mutha's Day Out Fanpage
• Mutha's Day Out MySpace Profile
• Mutha's Day Out PureVolume Page
• Mutha's Day Out Artist Profile
• Mutha's Day Out Lyrics
• Mutha's Day Out HM Breakdown Magazine Review (In German, Translate to Read)
• Most Played MDO Songs and MDO Fan List