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Photo by David Vincent Goodwin

Roy Mitchell-Cardenas, Mute Math bassist, dazzles the crowd.

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Photo by David Vincent Goodwin

Mute Math featured a variety of unique instruments, including a ‘keytar’ and a synthesizer made mostly from Atari parts.

Mute Math took to the stage at the Orbit Room last week on Tuesday. Their Grand Rapids show marked the exact halfway point of their Fall of 2009 Armistice tour.

Fans were already in line hours before doors opened, many sporting Mute Math apparel, and standing on their toes, trying to catch a glimpse of band members as they moved back and forth between the buses and the venue.

Death By Dancing and As Tall As Lions opened for Mute Math that night, each playing a shortened set.

Death By Dancing was a bit of a surprise for everyone attending the concert, since the tickets and website listed As Tall As Lions as the only opener.

They started the show strong, and although few recognized the name, many were left with a sense of urgency to find out.

As Tall As Lions followed Death By Dancing, giving what many assumed was the reason for two openers.

Dan Nigro, As Tall As Lions’ singer, had developed vocal nodules, their bassist explained, while touring with Mute Math, and had opted to skip the Grand Rapids show in order to take time off and heal.

The band instead played a forty-minute jam session that some who had attended earlier shows on the tour said was a lot better than As Tall As Lions’ usual performance.

Then, it was Mute Math’s turn. The crowd was wild before the band even entered the building.

There were eruptions of applause every time a roadie brought out or set up a new instrument, and there was an especially loud roar at the sight of Paul Meany’s trademark keytar.

By the time the band did take to the stage, the audience’s reaction was deafening.

“The Nerve,” the opening track on Mute Math’s sophomore album, “Armistice,” was also the first song on the night’s lineup.

The performance included fan favorites like “Chaos,” “Plan B,” and “Typical,” while also incorporating almost every song from “Armistice,” the album their tour was promoting.

Of course the encore was almost entirely based around one of the band’s most well known tracks. “Reset,” a mix of written material and

improvisation so incredible it has easily become the pinnacle moment of Mute Math’s live shows, is the crowd favorite.

The encore itself lasted for at least half an hour, as the band played through “Pins and Needles” and “Spotlight,” before ending on “Reset” and “Break the Same.”

Before starting the “Armistice” tour, the band had claimed that they had been working on some new elements for their concerts.

They practice and brainstorm for their performance almost all the time, said a Mute Math representative. “It’s like all they do is play a show and then plan what they’re going to do at the next one.”

During the summer, Mute Math’s manager, Kevin Kookogey, told fans that the band saw the difference between their old performances and what they were planning for their next tour as the difference between middle school and community college.

One of the most notable additions was when Darren King (Mute Math’s drummer) placed his bass drum into the hands of people in the audience and then stood on top of it, only to jump off, backwards, into the crowd a few moments later and crowd surf back to the stage.

The other members of the group also contributed to the added stage chaos. Roy Mitchell-Cardenas, the bassist for Mute Math, incorporated the use of a bow on his stand-up bass.

He also utilized the impact of striking a propped up kick drum with one hand, while forming chords on his bass with the other hand to create a harmonious percussion.

Paul Meany, Mute Math’s lead vocalist and keyboardist, often jumped on top of his keyboard and then off again, at a couple points even doing hand stands on it, mid-performance.

Despite the constant movement, the quality of the music was never compromised.

Another huge element of their shows that was certainly present at this Grand Rapids performance was the use of lighting.

Electronic, stand-up drums shot out projected fireballs upon being struck by band members, and heavy backlighting led to an almost Germanic expressionism of the musical and often percussive elements on stage.

Even in their older shows, some form of strong backlight was present in order to emphasize certain moments where action and sound purposely combined.

But most of these elements seem to be with great purpose: to keep the audience’s energy up.

“They [Mute Math] seem to draw their energy from the audience,” one fan pointed out, discussing how the worst Mute Math performance he had ever seen was when the band played in Tokyo, and was at least ten yards separated from their audience.

At this concert, the audience was only a couple feet away, a barrier often broken by the band.

One of the greatest moments was at the presentation of what fans lovingly refer to as the “Atari,” a home-made, guitar shaped synthesizer the band constructed primarily out of Atari parts.

The instrument appears at every concert for one specific song and is played by Paul Meany before he passes it off into the audience for fans to play.

After the concert, a large number of fans stuck around outside, waiting for an hour in on and off sprinkling rain to meet with the band members who excitedly obliged.

Fans thanked the band for their show that night, as well as the music they’ve produced, some even expressing to the band members how the band’s music had shaped lives or inspired direction.

Their music has been from the start an attempt to break molds, whether musical or ideological.

They’re not a Christian band, but they are attempting to inspire restoration.

Even in the hardest times, they’re fighting for armistice in the hope for a truce.