Hot Mulligan - Why Would I Watch

My first experience listening to Hot Mulligan was stumbling across their song "There Was A Semi Fight On I-69." It was something that immediately clicked with me. Not just on a sound level, but right down to the emotion. This was back around 2018 or 2019, and since then they've pretty much maintained a spot in my top three bands. A few years later, in 2023, they'd release their album "Why Would I Watch," an album that I've probably cried to more than any other.

It's not that every single song has this one to one emotional connection with me, but there is something on nearly each song that hits me so fucking hard. Right from the opening track, "Shouldn't Have a Leg Hole But I Do," it was hard to keep myself together on first listen. Even now, a few years removed, still hits. The feeling of being trapped in depression, nothing able to pull you out; it's so hard to escape. It's comfortable. I've never felt free from it.

"And I Smoke" has such a catchy chorus for what it's about, and it's another one I feel on an intensely personal level, even if it's probably for different reasons. I'm constantly anxious over everything, I constantly feel like I'm being examined at all times. Hearing noises from other rooms always makes me anxious, even though I live with just me and my cat. The stress in Tades voice captures the panic so accurately.

The following track, "This Song Is Called It's Called What's It Called" is tied for my favorite track. I don't know exactly if the way it hits me is the intent or not, but I don't think that matters. For me, it's the feeling that time is constantly passing. I think so much about all the missed opprotunities, lost connections. How much I've forgotten to time. It's the lines "Nothing hits as hard the second time; it's all lost it's charm but not it's signs" that absolutely breaks me. It's extremely hard for me to get through this song without tearing up.

Perhaps the most accessible track on the album, "No Shoes In The Coffee Shop (Or Socks)" covers problems I think a lot of people can relate to, but it still its. I'm someone who constantly thinks on every mistake I've ever made. The thoughts never go away. It's prevented me from doing so much. It's left me unable to move on. It's kept me trapped. It's prevented me from getting any sleep because I get filled with anxiety. It's caused me to spiral. It's funny, because I'd describe the song as honestly being fairly dancy, yet this is the response I have to it.

I'm skipping a few songs here, but I want to highlight my other favorite song, "John "The Rock" Cena, Can You Smell What The Undertaker." It's such a god damn powerful song. The song itself directly deals with religion having cause Tades' body dysmorphia. For me, it sort of hit's at the two angles seperately rather than together. I struggle with my own appearance to a pretty heavy degree. I do not like looking at myself most times. I can't stand it, a lot of the time. The amount of break downs I've had looking at myself is uncountable. "I can't hide enough" is exactly the lyric I need to describe the feeling. There's very few parts of my body I feel even "okay" about. The religion angle is much lighter for me, so I don't feel there's much reason to go super into it. More or less, I've just felt a lot of me was wrong because of how I was raised on religion. I've more or less learned to deal with this part, kinda.

This is.. different, from my other music posts (so far), but it's sort of why I say don't look at these as reviews. The sound of the album IS important, but it may as well just be me repeating about how strong the instrumentals are, how impactful both vocalists are. How each lyric is extremely well written. I genuinely do think this album is perfect. But the biggest aspect to me, is the emotional connection I have to it. It's an album I'd recommend to anyone who I guess wants to know me better, because I relate to so much of it.