INDEPENDENT SUCCESS
Alternative rock duo enjoying freedom after cutting out middleman
Middle Class Rut is reaping the rewards of cutting out the middleman. The alternative rock duo got rid of their agent, record label, publicist and others and has taken on the roles themselves. The duo also took to Kickstarter to fund the recording of their third independent release, “Gutter.” Fans were so enthusiastic to help that the duo exceeded its goal of $25,000. The album is tentatively expected to be released in late July or August.
“It feels really good, and it’s rad,” said vocalist and guitarist Zack Lopez. “It’s long-term. It’s great not to have to sell 100,000 records to break even. When we pay for initial costs, it’s good. Finding a great label is awesome but too limited to what we can do on our own.”
The third independent release developed over a year. Lopez and vocalist and drummer Sean Stockham live in different states. The duo got together more than once a month and began stockpiling songs.
“The first (independent) record was real warped and stripped-down, and the second record was more loopy and this record combines both of those,” Lopez said.
It was important for the duo to write and record music in the same room.
“I think we tried one time the idea was to send me a riff and I recorded something over it,” Lopez said. “It wasn’t great at all. It was disjointed and sounded like we had sent it back and forth. It sounded like we were in separate places. … We are doing things we never would have done. It’s supercheap to fly over to spend three or four days and do it on the spot. Even if it’s just me recording Sean playing drums. When I am by myself, I have his energy in the room.”
The alternative rock duo are ready to get back on the road.
“It’s been the longest we’ve been without playing (live),” Lopez said. “It’s been two to three years since we played. Even getting back to writing a record and preparing a live set. The three full-lengths and three EPs, creating a set is a whole other monster. It’s rough playing songs we haven’t played in a while. We thought, no way this is ever going to work. We ran through (the set list) for a couple days at my house, and it came back to us. It does come back. There is no substitute for a show practice and to sort of get out there, and (after the)
third, fourth, fifth show you reach a stride.”
Lopez and Stockham worked out just over 20 songs for the set list.
“No way we can play that much,” Lopez said. “We pulled a good chunk from each (fulllength album and EP). We broke out more than we need. We’re trying not to play the same set every night. A lot of it is from the first year, and there are three or four from the new record. We want to keep it dynamic without it getting too boring.”