Feel Like the Main Character of a Dystopian Movie With Babe Ruthless’ EP ‘Mountain Majesties’

by LEXI MCCOY

LA's Babe Ruthless released Mountain Majesties earlier this month, an EP of four grunge-y surf inspired garage rock songs that will make you feel like the main character of some kind of dystopian film - which makes sense for a pandemic album inspired by comics and sci-fi movies.

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Mark Martino has been consistently releasing solid tracks since 2018 as the solo creator of Babe Ruthless' self described "psychedelic garage punk" sound, touching on subjects like isolation, change, and feeling like an outcast.

Mountain Majesties feels like the perfect summer album to blast at the skate-park or at the beach with your friends, but the songs hold an underlying meaning that make them all the more relatable and enjoyable.

We talked to Mark about Mountain Majesties and the future of Babe Ruthless.

Tell me about the writing and recording process of the EP. Did you write it over the pandemic? Did you record and play everything yourself or have collaborators? Any difficulties or challenges?

Writing Mountain Majesties was tough because the pandemic made me not wanna write or record at all and everything going on was so depressing. After a few months I got the urge to start trying to write again and eventually I wrote a bunch of songs and started recording them on my Tascam 8-Track Portastudio which is what I do everything on. I always do everything myself, and I find when I get in the zone I don’t wanna stop so I do it all! The 4 songs that made it to the EP were the ones that stood out the most and felt more personal.

What were your inspirations for the EP as a whole? Are there any themes throughout the EP?

I read a lot of comics and watch a lot of sci-fi movies so I got to do that a lot more during quarantine and I definitely drew a bunch of inspiration from it. One book I read was Black Hole by Charles Burns (which I named a song after!) and it’s about a virus that turns people into mutants and it’s very wild especially reading about a virus while dealing with a real life virus! I actually got into a lot of Honky Tonk and old school Country which I think helped me get moody and that’s something I think is gonna stick with me for a while! Overall the EP touches on disassociating but finding yourself through that and coming out a new person.

Tell me about what inspired the song "Moon Sick"

Moon Sick was the first song I wrote when I hopped back in the saddle and the version released was the first and only version recorded cause it was too perfect! I was listening to the Night Beats a lot and loved that moody vibe they bring while still punching you in the face and I thought I NEED to do that. The lyrics are about coming out of the creative funk but also about how I feel I changed over the past year like a metamorphosis and that’s something I’m proud of!

Tell me about the song "Black Hole"

I wrote Black Hole right after I read the graphic novel...Black Hole! It’s not about the book directly but it’s about the mood I was in after I read it. The book really touches on loneliness and being an outcast and I think we were all lonely during quarantine. It’s just about being lost and kinda staying lost. The music though doesn’t represent that and it’s probably the most reminiscent of my older songs where it’s fast and very garage-y!

Anything else you want people to know about the EP or Babe Ruthless?

I think any art coming out of the pandemic is amazing! Everyone took a bad situation and turned it into something beautiful! I know a lot of people who thrived just creating and that’s what inspired me to finish this EP and really get the train rolling again! This is kind of a fresh start for me and I’m excited!

What's next for Babe Ruthless?

As things start to open up playing shows in 2021 seems very optimistic so I can’t wait to get back on a stage! Definitely a music video or two! I’m also gonna keep the upswing by recording more and hopefully releasing more stuff this year!

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Listen to Mountain Majesties by Babe Ruthless and keep up with us on Instagram for more comic book records

Words by Lexi McCoy

Photos by Aaron Kudler