Interview: The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors
The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors is an alternative prog band.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
-Craig Schmuhl (Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Synthesizers, Programming)
-William Candelario (Drums/Percussion)
-Trevor Martin (Live Guitars/Keys)
-Tyler Novak (Live Bass)
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors? How long has the band been around?
Prior to starting "The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors" (TMHCE), I (Craig) played in a Death Metal band by the name of “Hate Storm Annihilation”. William has played drums for a wide variety of artists as a regular gigging Jazz musician, as well as a variety of Boston based Rock/Indie bands during our college years. I started working on early TMHCE music around 2015, but TMHCE had officially become a thing in 2017 when myself and William started preparing for our first full length “A Humanistic Perspective”.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
The name was initially created by me (Craig) when I was in High Schmuhl. It doesn’t really mean anything, but felt like a perfectly “out there” type of name to get people asking questions. I’d like to think of The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors as a title that feels indescriptive enough to where you can’t really assume anything about the band’s sound until you’ve taken the time to sit, listen, absorb, and reflect. The music’s definitely meant to put you on these fun little prog journeys through various sounds/styles without every really being just 1 thing. We have never changed our name.
Who writes your songs?
I do. (Craig)
What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
At this point, most of the lyric writing has been VERY reflective of the modern times and the themes that seem to go hand and hand with em. Social issues, politics/religion, some more personal stuff. All the fun parts of our current existence haha. And yes! I’m actually in the middle of writing a story for a future record that’s getting into things I haven’t really had a chance to mess around with until recently.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
Honestly, it’s the same bands that have been inspiring me my whole musical life. Depeche Mode, The Melvins, Genesis, The Cure, Failure, NIN, Linkin Park, The Smashing Pumpkins, Rammstein, Metallica, Nile, Chevelle, A Perfect Circle, Porcupine Tree, Hate Eternal, etc etc. I understand this list reads VERY weird. All over the place. But every one of em (and more) have shaped the way I write, and I genuinely believe if it wasn’t for my ear being so open to all these various sub-styles there wouldn’t be TMHCE.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
Nirvana, for sure. I know there’s not really a whole lotta cross over between our sound and theirs, but there was just something so impactful when I had first heard “Nevermind”. It single-handedly changed my life forever.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect..
Big fan of standing in the venue bathroom and just get’n the voice warmed up for about 10-15 minutes before we start setting up. I don’t really warm up for guitar any more. The 10 minutes we take during sound-check to get the band ready is usually more than enough time for me to run some scales, get my left and right hands coordinated, and get the show going.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
Finishing our upcoming full length. I can’t really say a ton now, but I can absolutely guarantee William, Dan (our Mixing Engineer), and myself have never worked harder on a single body of work in our lives. It was a project 100% completed during the lock-down, and I can honestly say you can FEEL it when you play it back. So much emotion, so much heart-ache, just an album that really felt like it’s what ultimately “got me through” those times. I can not wait to share it with everyone.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Failure, King Crimson, Depeche Mode. Main reason being that I would LOVE to watch them all play every night. It would be an absolute dream to close out ever day with a side-stage Depeche Mode show. But also, I feel like the fans of those bands would enjoy us to some degree or another.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Keep an eye on our socials. TMHCE has A LOT coming the rest of this year, and I would love to be able to share as much with everyone else as possible.