California hard rockers OF MICE & MEN — Aaron Pauley (bass, vocals), Valentino Arteaga (drums), Alan Ashby (guitar) and Phil Manansala (guitar) — have announced an exclusive Twitch partnership and will be streaming on the service going forward.
As of July 1, the band will stream live on the service multiple days per week. The debut stream is set for Thursday, July 1 at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET. Subsequently, the band will go live on Twitch every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 11 a.m. PT/ 2 p.m. ET. This gives fans plenty of opportunities to interact directly with the group and to watch them as they write and record new music in real time on the service. In addition to inviting fans into the writing process, the band will engage in question-and-answer sessions and will discuss past and forthcoming releases.
“We’re so happy to get the opportunity to stream exclusively on Twitch,” says Manansala. “Over the last year, I’ve been streaming and got to be a part of an amazing community I had no idea existed but am happy that I discovered. Twitch is the streaming service that cares about each community and gives power to the streamer, and we couldn’t be more excited to be involved.”
Now is the perfect time for OF MICE & MEN to further engage with fans on Twitch, as they used the service throughout the 2020 quarantine that was a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. During that period, the band wrote and recorded both the “Timeless” and “Bloom” EPs, which were released in February and May of this year, respectively. Twitch allowed the band to interact with its fanbase in the absence of live shows.
In other OF MICE & MEN news, the band will release the final EP in its planned trilogy that will comprise a full album later this year. Leading up to that EP, OF MICE & MEN will use Twitch to give fans insight into the latest material.
OF MICE & MEN enjoyed a groundswell of activity around the well-received “Timeless” EP. The three-song collection was described as “crushing” by Revolver, and as “thought-provoking” and “cinematic” by Loudwire. MetalSucks celebrated the new material as a “call back to the band’s heavy roots,” while Knotfest enthused that it’s “a gut-punch reminder of their dynamic songwriting and unrelenting heft.” The single “Obsolete” dominated SiriusXM‘s Octane channel upon release.
At its best, heavy music produces songs of escape and catharsis. Few bands demonstrate this ethos as powerfully as OF MICE & MEN, the multifaceted metalcore machine whose mission is to make the soundtrack for every heartbreak, melancholic rumination, and moment of triumph. It’s a potent and perfect storm of elements. A bombastic and uplifting roar familiar to fans of LINKIN PARK; a layered crunch akin to the DEFTONES; thrashing old-school riffage a la SLAYER and EXODUS; the sensual atmosphere of SADE or RADIOHEAD; swirled into a singular sound uniquely OF MICE & MEN.
Across a half-dozen studio albums, the group’s combination of crowd-moving breakdowns, staccato rhythms, and soaring melodic vocals bridged the gap from the underground to the world at large. Their songs catapulted them onto massive tours with LINKIN PARK and RISE AGAINST (2015); SLIPKNOT (2016); and FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH and IN FLAMES (2017).
At every turn, no matter what obstacles presented themselves, the four men at the OF MICE & MEN core since 2016 never lost sight of the strength of their connection to the audience or each other. They refocused and persevered at every turn, delivering massive anthems that work in the most intimate of punk clubs, the biggest of European festivals, and American rock radio formats alike. It’s all about the songs themselves and what they mean to people at the end of the day. The music of OF MICE & MEN begins as something deeply personal shared among the quartet. Once they’re turned loose, they take on new meaning, adding to the soundtrack of people’s lives.
