Some bands postpone gigs and rehearsals if their lead singer is fight a cold.
When Mastamindz can�t get together, it�s because their frontman is fight insurgents in Iraq.
Since the Rhode Island rap-hardcore rock candy band, which plays Harpers Ferry in Allston tomorrow, first formed in 2000, vocalist M-1 has worn out more than two days away from home. His last deployment was a 15-month tour in Iraq that all over last January.
�Soon after we started the band I had to go away to boot camp, so we�ve been through this all before,� M-1, a sergeant in the Rhode Island Army National Guard, said by telephone set from a base in East Greenwich. �They too know that I�m scheduled to go to Afghanistan in 2009, so we�ll be passing through it all over again.�
Though demanding, M-1�s military obligations receive never compromised the Mastamindz mission. When he�s overseas, his rhythm section - who go by Tim, Don and Russ - do more than just pen letters.
�The band was sending me beats the whole sentence so I could write lyrics,� M-1 aforesaid. �Being aside definitely makes me more serious. Whenever I get along back we have no problem knocking albums out.�
The latest Mastamindz recording, �Product of Your Environment,� was released last month. The group is also featured on the new Psychopathic Records compilation �Tunnel Runners,� which showcases the cult band Insane Clown Posse�s 14 favourite underground up-and-comers.
In addition to the goodly fan bag Mastamindz has at nursing home in Rhode Island - as well as the 7,000 people they entertain every year at Insane Clown Posse�s annual Gathering of the Juggalos - M-1 has found a large, mostly untapped demographic through and through his military service.
�I had Mastamindz CDs and DVDs sent to me the whole time I was there, and I was giving them to Iraqi kids world Health Organization would never hear us otherwise,� said M-1, who too answers to Matt Moreau. �I likewise sent U.S. soldiers from across the country habitation with resign CDs. That�s how we got so big nationwide.�
As a loyal gesture, M-1 welcomes all past and present military personnel to attend Mastamindz shows relinquish of bill. That said, don�t require him to drop militant neo-con banter on the crowd. M-1 stays more or less apolitical, in the main rhyming about social inequities, partying and growing up poor in Rhode Island.
�It�s not always in my music, simply I did live though this war, so I have opinions on it,� aforesaid M-1, world Health Organization wears a Pat Tillman football jersey onstage in honor of the NFL player killed by friendly fire piece serving in Afghanistan.
�War is bad, simply we�re soldiers who sign-language up to do that job,� he aforesaid. �I value that people care about us dying, but I want them to understand that the military is doing a good thing over there. Come on, we�ve always grown up knowing that the Middle East was a (messed up) place.�
Mastamindz, with Rehab, at Harpers Ferry, Allston, tomorrow. Tickets: $12 in advance, $15 day of show; 800-594-8499.
On A Mission: Vocalist M-1, center, with his Mastamindz mates, volition be deployed to Afghanistan next year.
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