Mother Mother formed in 2005 and have released eight albums across their career. In summer 2020, the Vancouver indie rock band experienced a curious phenomenon: Several older songs, including “Hayloft” and “Arms Tonite” from their second album, 2008’s O My Heart, suddenly became massively popular on TikTok.
Nearly two years later, vocalist Ryan Guldemond says Mother Mother still have no idea how the band’s music found this new audience. “There’s no Patient Zero, you know?” he says, Zooming in from Vancouver. “I think that’s what adds to the beauty of it. It’s just so cloaked in mystery.”
However, this newfound popularity has buoyed the band as they released a new album, 2021’s Inside, and started touring again. Guldemond checked in and shared the impact of their TikTok fame, how it’s influenced the band today and what they’ve learned from the situation.
When were you first starting to get the sense that the songs were taking off?
We noticed that our other platforms were growing, such as Spotify and YouTube. It didn’t make sense, because we were off-cycle [and not releasing or promoting new music]. There was nothing new happening for us at that time. But our management was able to trace the growing metrics to TikTok and noticed that there was a large community of young people vibing, connecting, and sharing early Mother Mother music. That was driving the streams on the other platforms and the hits on other platforms. So it started to make sense.
I like that your earlier work was connecting. When you’re a younger musician, you’re maybe a little less self-conscious when making music, and you’re trying to figure out your voice. It’s interesting that fans really gravitated toward that era specifically.
Yeah. I think that it’s a classic syndrome that the early work is often [freer] by virtue of its naivete. You haven’t failed or succeeded yet. And both of those outcomes can interfere with the creative process. Because if you succeed, then you’re trying to recreate it—and if you fail, then you’re trying to reinvent. All of that trying, it’s so heady. It’s so intellectual. Creativity is anything but cranial. It’s a heartspace endeavor.