Unsigned Spotlight: Messmaker
Showing a maturity of style and sound that has developed through years of travel, relationships, heartbreaks, and reinventions, MESSMAKER’s music contains talent, passion, and lyrics that come from the heart. The result? A big, bright, and lovestruck slice of anthemic indie rock.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Michael McFarland: Lead Vocals, Guitar
Freja McNeal: Drums, Backing Vocals, and Samples
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Messmaker? How long has the band been around?
Michael: How far are we going back? I guess the first would be the Super Powered Auto Mechanic (S.P.A.M.), we were a ska band (HUP!). Then ZuZuPaPa which became Conduit 4 which became Sneakthief. After that I was with Aviatik… Nick from Walk the Moon described us as “Progressive Alt-Punk”, and I think that was pretty on-target. From there I started a solo project which eventually evolved into a band, which is now called MESSMAKER. That evolution really began during the 2020 lockdowns, though it wasn’t until the beginning of 2022 scientists recognized MESSMAKER as its own species.
Freja: I played guitar in a few bands back in high school and my first year of college (shoutout to Drowning Ferrett and Burn the Courtyard). The first band I drummed in was called The Beloved (post-hardcore/metal-adjacent), and then played drums for Go On Gunslinger, a 4-piece rock band. Before switching to drums in MESSMAKER, I played bass and handled backing vocals in the previous evolution of the band.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
Michael: The solo project that eventually became MESSMAKER debuted with an EP called “Michael McFarland Made a Mess”. When we played full-band shows, as a reference to that, we chose “Michael McFarland and the Mess Makers” as the band name. Somewhere during the 2020 lockdowns there was a tectonic shift in the approach to that project, and it felt weird to have my name at the top of everything. Basically, it’s like if Tom Petty rebranded so he was lead singer of a band called HEARTBREAKER. Which, if we’re being honest, is a pretty rad name for a band.
Freja: You should see the list of names we didn’t go with.
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
Michael: I do most of the songwriting, often in collaboration with my dude Steven Charles, who’s a phenomenal writer based out of Nashville. He & I write together every week, and maybe one out of every 20 songs we write turns into a MESSMAKER tune. From that point, there’s a lot of group effort that goes into getting a song to its finished form, from within and without the band.
Thematically, there’s an undercurrent to a lot of the songs of, “Life is hard. Like sometimes it’s REALLY, REALLY hard. But there’s always hope, and there’s always a path out of the darkness.” I’ve dealt with a lot of physical and mental health struggles over the course of my life, and can’t count the number of people who’ve been there for me; if we’re able to do some fraction of that for other people with our music, then we’re on the right track. So while the specifics may change - writing about universal topics, current events, or personal struggles - I can’t foresee that kernel of hope at the center of everything going away.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
Michael: It’s hard to say for sure how much they’re inspiring what we’re creating, since there’s often such a lag time between when a song is written and when it’s released, but I can say that lately I’ve been listening to a ton of The Band CAMINO, Manchester Orchestra, MUNA, and The Maine lately.
Freja: Definitely Royal Blood, at least in terms of live performance. I’m always so impressed with what they do as a 2 piece, and Ben Thatcher is an absolute beast behind the drum kit.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
Freja: I'm not sure if there's one band/artist that inspired me in particular, but to name my top 3, I'd have to go with Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, and blink-182.
Michael: Honestly, I think I wanted to be in a band before I’d really been to an actual concert - I didn’t get out much as a young’n. There were, however, a few albums that made me think, “THAT. I want to do THAT.” Top of that list are probably Eve 6’s Horrorscope, Our Lady Peace’s Happiness…Is Not A Fish That You Can Catch, and U2’s The Joshua Tree.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …
Freja: My pre-show routine is pretty typical. Aside from some vocal warmups and stretching out my arms and legs, I always have my practice pad with me, so I’ll typically bust that out ahead of our set and run through a few rudiments to get my hands and wrists loose.
Michael: The amount of water I drink before any given show is ridiculous, because my body is weird; if I have anything to drink between songs, the entire next song I’ll be fighting back the need to let a full-throated belch rip right in the middle of a chorus. So I’m just pounding back water until 20 minutes before we go on, and hoping my body sends that to my vocal cords and not straight to my bladder. It’s a dangerous game.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
Michael: The last show we had a bunch of folks that had never heard us before chanting for an encore (that we totally had NOT prepared for!). It may may seem like a small thing, but making that kind of connection with an audience is what drives me to do *gestures at rehearsal space in disarray* all of this.
Freja: I'd have to go with the same answer for this one. I've been playing in bands since my mid teens, and not once had I been asked to play an encore until that show. It was a really good feeling.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Michael: I’d love to tour with Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls, not just because they’re one of the best live bands out there today, but I also just really want to hang out with them. Also, my uncle Eddie - he passed before I was born - was in a band called Fox Chase with Steven Tyler before Aerosmith got going, it would be rad to tour with them and create some sweet time-travel paradoxes.
Freja: I’ll second Michael’s Frank Turner answer, and I’d also add Jimmy Eat World, just because they’re an all time favorite of mine.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Michael: Ooh, can I add on two beefy five-layer burritos and a large Baja Blast? And diablo sauce please.
Freja: And a chicken quesadilla!
Michael: Oh yeah, and we’ve got a new single out called “We Are The Architects”, and we’d love for y’all to give it a spin!