Here’s the fourth entry in a series of interviews with artists and musicians we enjoy and respect. In these “double interviews,” bands ask each other a series of three questions. No agendas, no awkward plugs, no corporate bullshit.

This time, we’re catching up with Mahi Mahi, Providence’s original two-man dance inferno. These dudes were total legends during their tenure around the ‘00s, transcending the noise rock and dance music scenes to create something weird and wonderful. And people noticed. Mahi Mahi headlined a number of festivals and other high-profile gigs around Providence during their reign, but always stayed rooted in a strong DIY ethos. For us, watching Mahi Mahi do their thing was a hugely formative experience during our early days. Over the years, we’ve watched or played with Mahi Mahi probably 25 or 30 times, from sold-out benefit shows in Providence to anarchic house parties in rural Massachusetts. Best band friends forever!

Mahi Mahi shredding Dan’s living room circa 2009. Photo credit: Matt Heisler.

Harry (A Troop of Echoes): One of the philosophies in Mahi Mahi was no sequencers and no backing tracks. How did this originally start, and how did it shape the way you write?



Josh (Mahi Mahi): During our beginnings and up through HE NO WA, we would play to some backing sequences that I wrote on a little Korg thingy. Pretty neat sounds, and it was inspiring in it’s own way to have that inhuman layer that we could play around. That got old pretty fast. With our mediocre sound system, we would sometimes struggle to stick to it and we’d be focusing on that too much. We shed that element and it felt great! The idea that we had “techno”-ish music, but with a real human feel was neat and seemed to really jive with the energy of the dancers. As far as shaping our writing, I’d say it didn’t shape our writing, which I think is the best case scenario.



Paul (Mahi Mahi): Yeah we definitely didn’t want to depend on sequencers or backing tracks. But we did have fun experimenting with them a few times,and had a couple of songs we used them in. But what NOT using them added for me was my personal challenge to play and BE the sequencer, playing drums while simultaneously playing a bassline was so much fun..and something I still enjoy trying to master. Always trying to take it to the next level…

Pete, trying to make the sax sound like a slide guitar. Photo credit: Freddie Ross, as usual.

Paul (Mahi Mahi): Hate to go for the easy question..but I am pretty damn curious, where do you guys get your inspiration from? I haven’t been able to put my finger on what artists might have inspired you guys. Fugazi has to be in there somewhere…

Pete (A Troop of Echoes): We get inspiration from a lot of different places. We didn’t really have one band that was like the “touchstone” of our sound, or a primary influence. Each of us listened to very different music, but we were also definitely influenced by bands we grew up watching together early on - Lightning Bolt, The Slip, Zox (and you guys, not to make this weird). After we found our feet I think we started to get motivation in just collectively looking for cool new sounds, or coming home from tour and being so sick of playing the same songs over and over that you throw everything out the window and let yourself really jump into some new stuff you’ve never done before. Can we make a guitar sound like an organ? Can we make a sax sound like slide guitar? That kind of thing.

Mahi Mahi’s legendary performance at Foo Fest, 2006. Photo Credit: AS220.



Dan (A Troop of Echoes): You guys have played some pretty memorable shows: Foo Fest, Indie Arts Fest, opening for Battles, etc.. What were some of your favorite moments performing as Mahi Mahi?

Josh (Mahi Mahi): There were so many great moments! Shortlist (in no particular order):

1. Philly basement show where we blew the power a million times as everyone freaked out dancing and asbestos dust filled the air, and we played for about 90 minutes, repeating songs multiple times.

2. Playing in some basement down in N.K. That hot sweaty scene, where kids started stripping and I was looking at Paul like “these kids are in high school, are we going to get arrested?”

3. The night that we covered the Purple Rain album (with Jamez Day on guitar).

4. The couple of shows at AS220 when we played on either side of the stage while the crowd danced in the middle.

We harnessed some magic for sure.



Paul (Mahi Mahi): Pretty much all the shows Josh mentioned! I will add the Future Friends Fest show. It was somewhere out in the woods and just about every one of my favorite bands from Providence at that time played. We played at like 11:30 or midnight, and set up all our gear on the slanted hill right in the grass and dirt. It was so cool at that time of night because it was starting to get foggy which accentuated our cheap light set up….epic night. And overall, one of the best “vibes” shows we’ve played. Another show that stands out and I wish I could remember what state it was…Josh will remember…was a basement show kind of in the middle of nowhere, no other bands showed up, and there was only about nine people there. It was a guarantee that we were not going to get our guaranteed pay that was arranged. It didn’t matter, we still set up all our stuff, and we still played with the same amount of passion as if we were playing in front of a club filled with people!

A Troop of Echoes: Apocalypse Rock for the Discerning Consumer. Photo Credit: Katie Brunero.

Paul (Mahi Mahi): I’ve always appreciated how you guys don’t always go for endless dark and gloomy chord progressions. A lot of bands get trapped and feel more comfortable creating with a strictly dark color palette. The notes and colors you guys use always, for me, portray a sense of a struggle…but always give way to a very hopeful and optimistic feeling. Have you guys ever thought about opening up the gates from hell and creating an album to listen to as we head into the apocalypse?

Harry (A Troop of Echoes): Funny you should mention that…waaaay back in 2010 at the release show of our first album (which you guys headlined, thanks!) one of our friends wrote a short story about us based around the concept of “Apocalypse Rock,” and another friend drew illustrations. Think “Mad Max” meets “Providence loft shows.” We only made about 30 or 40, but they sold out as soon as we put them on the merch table.

Dan (A Troop of Echoes): Early on, a lot of our songs were pretty balls-to-the-wall aggressive, noisy, fuck-off riffs, all that jazz. And it was a blast. But at some point, we got a little tired of that. We felt trapped, and wanted to start exploring some other sounds. It took us a while to figure out exactly how to do that (which we talk about more in our recent interview with Roz Raskin), but after a year or so of writing total garbage, we re-discovered how to make good decisions, which laid the groundwork for The Longest Year on Record.



Pete (A Troop of Echoes): Having said that, and having just made an album of slow jam hypnosis, I’m personally totally down for making our next one the soundtrack to the apocalypse.

Mahi Mahi killin’ it at Liberty Fest, shortly before someone got hit with an errant firework. Photo Credit: Bob Otis of Dropdead.

Dan (A Troop of Echoes): What are you guys currently doing musically, and how have your experiences in Mahi Mahi influenced what you’re up to?

Josh (Mahi Mahi): Music has been great for me lately. I can’t get enough of it. I’m so happy to be able to have it as an outlet. Whether it’s playing a TON on my nylon string guitar, piano and upright bass, or singing and venting with my current project Beta Motel, music is like my built-in therapist. It’s so important to have expression as a “release-valve” to get our demons out.

As far as Mahi Mahi’s “influence”, that idea gives me feedback. Mahi Mahi is a great project and what we’ve done contains so much of our heart. I say heart (singular) because creating with Paul at times felt like we were one voice. I hadn’t experienced that type of chemistry to that degree before Mahi Mahi. The main chunk of many of our tunes remained mostly intact from the first jam of the idea. It usually just worked, so we didn’t have to fiddle as much. It felt like we were channeling more than writing sometimes. So, long answer-short, I suppose that my experience in Mahi Mahi showed me that if the chemistry ain’t there… RUN!

Paul (Mahi Mahi): Since leaving Providence, it’s been tough trying to find like-minded people to create with, but I’ve had a few production gigs and have written music for singers, burlesque dancers…and even a witch! Currently working on a solo project as well as starting to work with this cat named David Blais (Project name: Cassandra Effect). Like Josh, music is a constant in one way or another. Providence was a tough place to leave on the creative tip, and Mahi Mahi is definitely a tough act to follow. Still reaching for what’s next…and I am hoping a Mahi Mahi reunion can happen soon…

Pictured: The Future. See ya later, meatspace.

Paul (Mahi Mahi): Speaking of the future…considering how technology is advancing at such a violent pace, and the nature of it has become such that just about anybody who can operate a blender can make complete pieces of music without having to put in the time to learn the ins and outs of an instrument, do you guys think this will affect the quality of music in the future? And if so, how?

Pete (A Troop of Echoes): Man, super interesting question. I have no idea (laughs). I have split feelings about it. On one hand you definitely see some bands putting out material and getting recognition before they’ve actually developed the ability to, you know, put on a good live show. And it feels really easy to slam this and say they don’t know what they’re doing. And it’s true that doing certain things digitally isn’t as hard as learning to play a physical instrument and we have to respect that. But on the other hand, I’ve had the experience of dealing with disability and physical limitations myself, which sort of makes the question look different to me. Now I sort of think of it as, “who should be allowed to participate in music?” If your hands aren’t strong enough to play drums or guitar, should you still be able to get the sounds out of your head and into other people’s? For me I think the answer has to be yes. But we still give total respect to bands that can go into the studio and nail everything in one take.

We’re patiently waiting for a Mahi Mahi reunion (and the release of their final album). In the meantime, check out their official releases on Spotify, plus some unreleased studio tracks and live cuts on Soundcloud and YouTube.