
Brett Jordan / Pexels
What scared you the most as a child? For me, it was the album covers put out by I Mother Earth, specifically Scenery & Fish from 1996. I have since faced my fears, but that album haunted me for years, it was something to do with the creepy doll on the front. I Mother Earth are a sensational Canadian rock band from the late nineties. And like many other Gen X parents, my dad had a massive CD collection featuring many Canadian bands, including I Mother Earth.
I did not give the record a listen to until I was much older, as in just last year kind of older. Did you have an I Mother Earth record? I have to tell you, these guys do not sound like you expect with an album cover like that. If you’re familiar with the Butthole Surfers, a hardcore industrial rock band from the 90s, also Bevis and Butthead’s favourite band – yeah, that’s more along the lines of what I was expecting. Their sound is high energy and exciting, the front man of I Mother Earth, Edwin Ghazal, has such a unique voice and addictive energy it is impossible to overlook this band.
One More Astronaut is the hit single off Scenery & Fish, you had to have been out of the country between the years 1999 and 2010 to not have heard this track either on the radio or online. Their sound is impossible to describe, their Spotify page describes it as – and prepare yourself – a combination of Rush, Santana, and King Crimson, with inspiration taken from The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus, Jane’s Addiction, and The Smashing Pumpkins. Can you imagine what that might sound like? Because I can’t. If anything, this should make you even more curious as to what these guys could sound like. Give One More Astronaut a listen and see what you think.
After I listened to the track for the first time, their long list of influences made perfect sense. There is so much to break down in the music of I Mother Earth, it is no wonder they took the alternative rock scene by storm in the nineties.
After listening to Scenery & Fish, and understanding what I Mother Earth is all about, I think it’s safe to say their album cover fits the band completely.