And The Mullens are still putting their punk-influenced garage rock out into the world. Coming soon to streaming platforms, Get What You Deserve will be the band's fifth LP for Pittsburgh-based music label Get Hip Records.
During the era when grunge reigned supreme, Stile never really got into it, and was more interested in Texas psych punk and shoegaze bands. He channeled that influence into his own band.
“I wanted to do something more exciting and do something new,” he says.
The original '94 Mullens lineup consisted of Dallas natives and Galaxy Club stagehands and other Deep Ellum veterans: Matt Mayo on guitar, Rod Baird on drums and Dana Williams on bass. The latter left in 2000, later replaced by Bill Whetsel, who's been in the band for about 20 years.
The current lineup also includes songwriter Stile on vocals and Lee Lazarine (who's been around "practically from day one," Stile says) on guitar and vocals, Mike McHenry manning lead guitar and Rod Baird, who is still on drums.
“The kind of full force that we were going at probably lasted until about 2002, 2003, with a bit of a lag in 2010 and a 12-year gap since our last album,” Stile says. “The Mullens never broke up and we never stop playing.”
The band has released music all over the world on one label since their start, and they still keep a presence in North Texas by playing around town frequently.
“The group never stopped making music,” Stile says. “I’ll write the songs continually. The music never left; we have always played big gigs.”
The group recently returned from playing Carousel Lounge at Austin’s SXSW, which Stile calls "a blast." The group group is no stranger to Weird City, having played in Austin just a few months ago on Dec. 3 at the 13th Floor and past SXSW showcases.
Some of the songs on the 10-track album, which will include their latest singles “No More To Talk About,” and “What You Deserve," had been written as long as six or seven years ago, Stile says.
“The group never stopped making music. I’ll write the songs continually. The music never left; we have always played big gigs.” – Tim Stile
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“I’ve been writing songs all this time and playing all these new songs and recording them at Cloudland Studio with Joe Tacke,” Stile says of the album's production. “We had all these songs in the can for the past two years and reached out to Get Hip and it was going to happen eventually, so yeah we got an album with Jordan Richardson mastering.”
The Mullens are often compared to Iggy Pop's 1970s-era Stooges. Their style and live energy — which differs a lot from the sound during the band's earliest years — have kept fans around.
“It’s still garage rock, and Matt was a bit more '70s influence and the heavy sounds our drummer made, everyone said we sounded like the Stooges, but we weren’t trying to go for that,” Stile says.
The vinyl for the release will be distributed throughout the Get Hip label, with an album release show at Fort Worth’s Lola’s Saloon March 25.
For the singer, the only difference between the new material and the original releases is that Mayo won’t be featured on the new album. There’s much more to come from The Mullens, who are looking to tour Europe with the release.
Right now, Stiles says, the group will probably fly to Los Angeles and Chicago for showcases, but they are no longer interested in touring like they used to — traveling the country in a label-provided van.
