Hot Mulligan Interview - Chris and Ryan

We had Kelly and Ryan zoom all the way to the Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park where they got the chance to speak to Ryan “Spicy” and Chris from Hot Mulligan — I was also hiding behind the scenes waiting for the concert to start. Right after sound check we talked all about their signature Reverend Guitars, what it’s like on tour, and the Emo Revival!

These guys never seem to put those guitars down! Even after working with Reverend for over 10 years, Chris and Spicy (Ryan) can’t seem to get enough of their signature models.

Chris and Spicy hold high standards, and they can’t stop raving about Reverend. “They hook up a lot of small artists. It's fantastic. The first guitar I got from them was the Reverend Buckshot with this hot-ass single coil pickup in the bridge. I was drawn to that immediately. It was the chronic blue colorway with a tortoise shell pick guard.” It’s been 10 years and he still remembers his first Reverend like it was yesterday.

Chris says he also played a lot of different guitars but after configuring the pickups to the Nuevo 90 and the P90, he started to just enjoy it. Chris said to Ken Haas “I love this one. He said ‘Awesome. Would you like to put it in your signature guitar?’” They only added a few kill switches for “vibes” and there it was a finished guitar model.

Spicy talks about his love for the Jet Stream and how it influenced his guitar. Spicy said “After Chris’s guitar came out, the question came of like, all right, so like what do you want different in the guitar? And kind of the only thing I could that I ever really asked Ken for was a pushpull knob to get the two pickups to work together.” It was many years in the making for the both of them. Now they don’t have to switch guitars mid set and they stay in tune. Chris and Spicy say Reverend has the best bang for your buck and you shouldn’t have to spend $4,000 just to love your gear.

We can’t talk emo and escape the Vans Warped Tour. Hot Mulligan performed on the main stage on their Warped Tour debut this year. “It was a dream come true. I never got to go as a kid, and I always dreamed of just attending and maybe one day being able to play the Ernie Ball stage.” Which is a lot different then playing THE main stage in the middle of the day. Looks like dreams do come true!

Kelly asked if the “no crowd surfing” rule was still in effect? Chris said “I didn't see signs up anywhere for it, and if they were up, no one no one listened to it.” It’s always good to know that crowd surfing is alive and well.

What genre does Hot Mulligan think they are? Well, Chris says “We reluctantly say ‘post emo.’ Some people would say mid west emo, some people say it’s pop punk, some people say it’s emo. As long as they show up.” 

AMS’s Ryan (not to be confused with the Spicy Ryan) says emo got a bad word for being very sad and frowney music but there is so much uplifting stuff Hot Mulligan creates. “I think the lyrics are mostly emo but the music is more pop punk.” Chris and Ryan seem to agree. Looks like Ryan figured it out! But in all honesty it will always be hard to put a label on a band that’s trailblazing.

For anyone not in the tri-state area, Stone Pony Summer Stage is a BIG deal! “We played this venue a few years ago on the Sad Summer Festival just as an opener. Last year we played just down the road at See Here Now. It's really crazy to think that we are here as headliners now.” Oh and Joyce Manor is supporting Hot Mulligan, and they have been in the scene for awhile. They have had a massive influence on everyone in Hot Mulligan. Spicy said, “When they are like ‘Yea they will take the offer to support you.’ Okay we are all going to throw up.” In the good way… I hope! The openers and supporting sets were also electric and fitting for the show.

To keep up the energy on tour, Chris even quit drinking! Chris says, “This year I quit drinking, so that's helping me wake up earlier and not feel as groggy every day and giving me some more energy.” 

Spicy says “Yeah, I mean like a tour like this isn't so bad at all cuz it's all domestic. It's mostly in the same time zone and it's only a few weeks. But this year we've been hitting the international stuff pretty hard and that there's no way around that fatigue.” It’s good to see that the guys are taking care of themselves, even when it gets tough on those international tours.

With the amount of fans Hot Mulligan has, the band meets a lot of people. Chris says “The hardest part is we meet so many people for one day at a time here or there over the years. And if it’s been a few years since you saw someone you only interacted with for 20 minutes, they might remember you and you might forget them. And that honestly makes me feel really horrible every time.”

Kelly asked if they have a favorite fan interaction. Chris says “They happen a lot of the time. We just had someone in Richmond who said it was their first concert ever, and this guy must have been 35 years old. And that blew my mind that we were the first band that he chose to show up and see. And when I hear stuff like that, it just warms my heart.”

Ryan from AMS said “A friend of ours from work, this is his first concert. He's coming today for this show.” Spicy said “A friend from work? A guy that works in the music industry?” I guess it’s hard to believe a 25 year old hasn’t been to a concert before!

His name is Nicolas Rifflard… the guy who wrote this blog! If you are looking for more blog content and Reverend gear you can find it here at American Musical Supply Don’t forget to subscribe to the AMS YouTube channel to catch more artist interviews and keep streaming Hot Mulligans music on all platforms!