MOTHERTOMB: FROM A NORTHERN MICHIGAN GARAGE TO #5 ON THE DOOM CHARTS
Chance and Alice Gawlinski talk DIY doom, overcoming fear, the strange story behind Mothertomb, and finding freedom through music
There are plenty of ways a band can form. Some...
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MOTHERTOMB: FROM A NORTHERN MICHIGAN GARAGE TO #5 ON THE DOOM CHARTS
Chance and Alice Gawlinski talk DIY doom, overcoming fear, the strange story behind Mothertomb, and finding freedom through music
There are plenty of ways a band can form. Some musicians meet through other bands, some answer an ad looking for members, and others spend years searching for the right lineup.
For Northern Michigan doom/sludge outfit Mothertomb, it started with a broken boiler.
That unlikely chain of events eventually brought Chance and Alice Gawlinski together with drummer Mike, leading to a completely DIY project that has now made a serious impact on the underground. Following the release of their debut album Dying to Live, Mothertomb landed at #5 on the monthly Doom Charts, putting the Northern Michigan outfit alongside some of the biggest names in the underground doom and heavy music scene.
During a recent appearance on The Zach Moonshine Show, Chance and Alice sat down to talk about the band's unusual beginnings, their DIY approach, musical influences, Alice's journey from severe performance anxiety to embracing the stage, and what it has been like watching their music reach listeners around the world.
IT ALL STARTED WITH A BROKEN BOILER
Mothertomb's origin story sounds almost too perfect for a doom metal band.
Chance explained that when the boiler in their house went out, a repairman named Mike came by to take care of it. While working around the house, Mike noticed the collection of albums covering the walls of Chance's garage.
The two started talking about music.
Then came the revelation that Mike was a drummer.
Chance was a guitar player.
A jam session followed, and Mothertomb began to take shape.
"We got together, we kicked out a couple jams and the rest is history from there."
It's one of those completely random moments that could have easily gone nowhere. Instead, it became the foundation for a band that would eventually attract attention far beyond their home state.
DIY FROM THE GROUND UP
One of the most impressive aspects of Mothertomb's story is just how much of their music was created without relying on outside machinery.
The band recorded their album in a converted garage that became their home studio. Alice handled the artwork herself, while also writing the lyrics and developing the vocal melodies.
Then came the reaction from the underground.
Landing at #5 on the Doom Charts was a major milestone for a band operating almost entirely on its own terms.
Chance summed up the experience perfectly:
"We're just four people up in rural northern Michigan, man. We made that whole album ourselves out of a garage turned into a home studio. So super humbling that we got that reception just given how DIY everything was."
For Mothertomb, the DIY approach isn't simply a budgetary necessity. It's part of the band's identity.
Alice explained that doing things yourself can sometimes produce something more personal and unexpected than outsourcing every part of the creative process.
"You never know what you can do until you put yourself in that position where it's like, well, what if we couldn't outsource it and we had to do this thing?"
That philosophy runs through everything Mothertomb creates.
FROM REHEARSING IN THE DARK TO OWNING THE STAGE
Perhaps the most compelling part of the conversation was Alice's story of overcoming her fear of performing.
When Mothertomb first began rehearsing, Alice struggled with severe performance anxiety. So much so that the band would literally rehearse with the lights turned off because she didn't want the other members watching her.
Chance remembers those early rehearsals.
"When we would get together to rehearse, she didn't even want us to be able to see her. So we would actually have to practice in the dark with the lights off because she just didn't like the idea of being exposed."
But something changed once the music started.
Once Alice felt free enough to let go, the voice was there.
That confidence eventually carried over to the stage.
Alice admitted that before playing her first shows, she wasn't even sure she would enjoy performing.
Then she discovered something completely different.
"Well, we performed and I was like, 'Holy shit, that was amazing.' It just totally unlocked a whole 'nother level for me and I absolutely love performing now."
What began as fear ultimately became one of the most fulfilling parts of the project.
Alice described the transformation as a matter of challenging the limitations she had placed on herself.
"I really can write songs. I really can sing them. I really can actually do this. Like, why the hell not?"
That attitude seems to fit Mothertomb perfectly.
FINDING THEIR SOUND IN THE DARK
Mothertomb's music draws from a wide range of influences, including classic rock, 60s and 70s psychedelia, doom metal, Alice Cooper, and Type O Negative.
For Chance, some of those influences go back much further.
As a kid, he was exposed to the Satanic Panic-era propaganda surrounding rock and heavy metal. His mother even showed him the VHS Hell's Bells: The Dangers of Rock 'n' Roll, intended to warn children about the supposed dangers of heavy music.
Instead, it had exactly the opposite effect.
The tape featured AC/DC's "Hell's Bells."
Chance heard it.
And he was hooked.
"What was intended to scare me away from it actually turned me on to it."
Decades later, those early influences have found their way into a sound that balances heaviness with atmosphere, groove and psychedelic darkness.
Alice pointed specifically to Type O Negative's October Rust as an important influence on the band's approach to creating atmosphere.
"Creating an atmosphere is really important to us."
That emphasis on atmosphere is a major part of what gives Mothertomb their identity. Their music isn't simply about being heavy. It's about creating a world for the listener to enter.
MORE THAN GENRES AND LABELS
Another interesting part of the conversation went beyond music itself.
Alice discussed the tendency people have to place themselves into rigid categories and then allow those labels to determine what they believe they can or cannot do.
For her, Mothertomb became another opportunity to challenge those assumptions.
"Sometimes we get so locked in on labels that we deny ourselves experiences that could actually reveal something different."
It's a fitting philosophy for a band that itself refuses to be confined to one narrow box.
Doom, sludge, classic rock, psychedelia, gothic atmosphere and heavy metal all have a place in the Mothertomb universe.
THE WORLD IS LISTENING
Mothertomb's rise isn't limited to Northern Michigan.
The band has begun seeing listeners from around the world, including a growing audience in Europe.
Alice spoke about the unique relationship European audiences have with heavy metal and the sense of independence she sees in the way fans discover and support music there.
"One thing that I really appreciate about the European culture is that they decide for themselves what they want to listen to and what they like."
For an independent band creating music from a garage in rural Northern Michigan, reaching those listeners is a pretty remarkable development.
And perhaps that's what makes Mothertomb's story so compelling.
There was no major label machine behind Dying to Live. No massive recording facility. No carefully manufactured origin story.
There was a broken boiler.
A garage.
A collection of records.
A drummer who happened to notice them.
Four musicians willing to create something themselves.
And a willingness to push past fear and see what might happen.
The result is Mothertomb, a band that has gone from DIY rehearsals in the darkness to a #5 Doom Charts finish and an expanding audience beyond their home state and across international borders.
If Dying to Live is any indication, Mothertomb's story is only getting started.
LISTEN TO MOTHERTOMB
Mothertomb's album Dying to Live is available now.
Listen:https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/mothertomb/dying-to-live
The full conversation with Chance and Alice Gawlinski is available on The Zach Moonshine Show, where the pair go much deeper into the band's formation, influences, creative process, live performance, DIY philosophy and the journey behind Dying to Live.
Full Tracklist:
Battle Of The Bands Top Six Winners:
1 - Trivan - CROWNED WITH DREAD AND POWER - (1,820,615 votes)2 - Another Demon - Reduced to Ash - (1,131,398 votes)3 - Dienasty - Borrowed Frame - (295,813 votes)4 - Soul Of Sheol - Paradise Is Not For Us - (24,769 votes)5 - AETHERFALL - THE GIRL WHO NEVER FELL - (24,542 votes)6 - Unspeakable Tales - Reanimator - (8,142 votes)
The Zach Moonshine Intro
7 - Venom - Black Metal8 - Obituary - Buried Alive (Venom cover)9 - Six Feet Under - In League With Satan (Venom cover)10 - Wizard Tattoo - Part I The Fall
Mothertomb - Interview featuring Beware/Mountain Hag
11 - MURSKAUS - MURSKAUS12 - Burnt Witch - We Hate You - (Electric Wizard Cover)13 - The Red Mountain - The Devils Whiskey (feat Zach Moonshine)14 - Egokills - Brainbanger15 - Smoulder - Crush The Neophytes16 - Ola Englund - Means To An End17 - HXTXD - Replaceable18 - Catharia - Winter Solstice19 - Soul Reborn - My Last Breath20 - Just One Fix - Phantom Lord (Metallica cover)21 - Funeral Witchery - 7 - The Black Moriah22 - Boris Billing - I’m Coming Home23 - Sinistrum - Scourge Awakened24 - Phenomy - Death May Die25 - Threnody - Flashlight over Filth26 - Embryectomy - Chainsaw Symphysiotomy27 - Necropanther - One and Only
Full show streaming at Mixcloud:
the interview segment is also available on Youtube, Spotify, Apple:
[jrEmbed module="jrYouTube" youtube_id="ZRxTP2h1Kqo"]
Super huge shout out and thanks to the 283,684 metal maniacs that tuned in to the live broadcast!
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