Talking Daniel Johnston, The Austin Underground, And "The Mountain And The Wolf" With mozworth

"The realness that comes out of pain is what I think artists are supposed to be doing."

I got a chance to catch up with Austin-based indie/alt rock band mozworth hot off the release of their Daniel Johnston cover “Story of an Artist”. Their first EP has been swirling around the Austin area since 2024, and they’ve released a few singles since then. The singles are more my style personally, which is a good thing because it means they are growing. We talked about their new album too, which is in the works. It’s a concept album based on dual energies. I’ve heard some demos and I’ll just say, I’d start paying attention to them now, because they’re the next big thing. “The Mountain” will be in my rotation immediately on its release. We got into the importance of ideas in the craft of making a song, inspiration stemming from the least expected places, and Daniel Johnston’s influence on Austin. It’s an insightful conversation for musicians and listeners alike.

Interview edited for clarity and conciseness

Wax: Why don’t we start with the basics, would you like to introduce yourselves? How would you describe mozworth to someone looking to try out your music?

Michael: Meet the band: Michael Bozworth (Me) on lead vocals. Mark Heaps on lead guitar and backing vocals. Jack Schultz on bass. Mike Hall on drums.

We just released “Story of an Artist” which is our way to honor the late Daniel Johnston and connect with the city of Austin who holds him dear. It's our first release with Mike. We are currently four songs into the next body of what we are calling “The Mountain & The Wolf”.

Wax: You guys are from Austin of course and it seems the city means a lot to you. How has being in Austin helped you as a band? Do you have any recommendations of artists in the area?

Mark: Austin still has many lesser known venues helping up and coming bands find a place to play, they have their own communities. If you're willing to be grass roots and scrappy you can get out there and play. We've done a lot in South Austin, venues like SABG (South Austin Beer Garden) and more are giving artists fresh opportunities. There's a scene around places like Sam's Town Point, Far Out Lounge, The Little Darlin', and more. I think a growing live music scene is re-emerging, but it's more grass roots than ever and farther away from downtown. But thanks to bands like Die Spitz, who really advocate live music, it's really helping create an audience seeking live music in Austin. Also, even though SXSW is way more corporate, unofficial opportunities adjacent to SXSW still bring artists to the area, like our showmates for the "It's a Van Fest" lineup.

As for local bands, I'm really digging Being Dead and Cornmae. We're excited to play this coming Tuesday with Fin Fin and Shrill Yell, over at Shiner's Saloon on Congress Ave (7:30pm show starts). Both really good local bands.

Michael: Austin is at the top of the list for reasons that mozworth exists. I'm still a new resident. I moved her blindly in 2022 with my family. We knew no one. We took a risk. The first friend I made was a fellow skateboarder. Our daughters attended the same school. He was also a former music promoter and had moved to Austin over a decade ago. He showed me the resources that Austin had. Beyond that it was the energy of the city. There are many creatives here and I can feel that and I'm motivated to be among my people. Austin is a place that I've met several friends that I know I'm going to track with for life. I can't say that about other cities I've lived in.

I met the guys in the band after moving in. I met Mark as a neighbor. His family brought our cat back after it had escaped. I met Jack through Mark. I met Mike through our former drummer Ken. When I moved here, I had no intentions of doing the mozworth project. It was only after experiencing the city, the art, the people, that the switch flipped. The EP that emerged had the Austin skyline on the cover.

Wax: Wow so Austin really brought the band together then. I feel like being in a city like that really brings out the culture and spirit in people’s music. Do you have any influences that you look towards when making music? Any that most people haven’t heard of?

Michael: Of course Daniel Johnston comes to mind. While he is Austin famous, he is still obscure. The band takes inspiration from him. Personally, I love that he gave himself more freedom than most to create. It's common for artists to over think an idea rather than follow intuition. Daniel had less of a filter and could let art flow out. I channel that into my own writing. I’m comfortable walking into my studio and just recording ideas and iterating until I have something. We are now exploring that as a band writing together.

Most of the songs comes from 80's/90's guitar driven alternative rock. To name a few The Pixies, Weezer, Flaming Lips, and The Smashing Pumpkins. We each bring own influences outside of that.

Wax: I know Johnston was a big inspiration for Kurt Cobain too, who knows maybe you all are the next Nirvana. Do you think every musical idea is worth putting into a song? Even if it’s not the original vision, is there something to be gained from each idea?

Michael: Nirvana was a special band for a special time. There was a big difference in their sound and what mainstream rock looked like. Kurt was also a voice that resonated with a lot of people. It's hard to imagine another moment in rock like that. Something that lines up for me with Daniel and Kurt is integrity. Both dealt with a lot of pain and music was a way of dealing with that pain. The realness that comes out of that is what I think artists are supposed to be doing. That's something I strive for in my own writing. While this all leans toward very serious music, I think you can also make equally enjoyable music that isn't serious at all.

To your question, I don't think you should disregard certain ideas as “not worthy” of a song. Try everything and have fun with it. There are a lot of happy accidents. Because we're all busy, we record demos and pass them around. Everyone is trying and passing around new parts. We also get together and have writing sessions. While I seed the idea for a song initially the band will stretch those ideas. We iterate until it feels finished. We incorporate that material in our live sets to see how it resonates. 

There are definitely ideas that are not a part of my original vision, but I welcome it because the music then becomes a deeper conversation between musicians. The guardrails come from the song itself and what it's trying to say. If the ideas are reinforcing the main focus of the song there is space for it. If they start to undermine what the song is trying to do, it's usually pretty obvious and we tweak it.

Wax: Very true words about Nirvana. It’s been said before but I think there’s definitely some truth in the idea that the best art comes from pain. That connection from writing as a band, and having the song grow with each members’ influence is something that a lot of bands strive for. There are very few that really balance that well though. Do you have any advice you would give to a younger version of yourself, or a new band to get that balance?

Michael: Trust is key. You need to be working with musicians that all work well together and towards the benefit of the project. Be open to each other's ideas, and go the extra mile to try everything you come up with. Collaboration is worth the time. I feel like I can measure it by listening to early mozworth vs newer mozworth. On the EP, there was no band, I just wanted to start publishing. The later songs like “Story of an Artist”, "The Sky is Falling", and "Sandpiper” have 4 musicians representing each part. You can hear the progression. There is more depth ultimately because the conversation includes more voices.

If you spark something, don't let your ego get in the way of what it could be. Instead follow the idea and see what it leads to as you develop it. Adding more trusted voices to the conversation will yield exponential rewards. Follow the energy. If someone gets excited about something, do that. When you are excited about something it's much easier to get into a flow state and create your best work. The opposite is also true. If you force an idea you don't believe in, everyone can tell. Don't self sabotage and give up on something so early though. Most of the time, if a song is not in the place that I want it, it's because I haven't spent enough time with it.

"These songs try to capture the tension of living in a world you are insanely upset with... but feel frustratingly powerless to change."

Wax: Very insightful, I think that you have an incredible understanding of what makes a band meld together and stick with it. Mozworth is planning a new album. Do you have any different inspiration or direction for this album? And what’s the album all about?

Michael: Things are different with this album. When I decided to publish the EP I chose 6 six songs that I wanted to include, they were all songs I had written at least 4 years prior to that point. They all came from a new practice that I had adopted of getting away to secluded cabins for devoted time to write. They covered a lot of personal topics. With this new album we are starting fresh with our new drummer Mike, and we are writing in the present.

The album concept came from my wife. She described my "energy" as being like a mountain: stable and introverted and her "energy" being like a wolf: more erratic, risk taking, and extroverted. I took the idea of The Mountain & The Wolf as the new album concept. This was a reference point, which I love having in a project. The shape of the album became two title tracks: “The Mountain” and "The Wolf”. “The Mountain” would be a kind of sonic self portrait of myself, and “The Wolf” for my wife. All of the other songs would either be categorized as “wolf” or “mountain” sonically as a way to balance the energy of the album.

Once I had the shape figured out, I immediately had a problem. I love writing lyrics, but I didn't want to put words into my wife's mouth with the wolf. I was reading Jeff Tweedy's How To Write One Song. In it he points to the magic of conversation. That if we really listen to each other when we talk then we see that we're all poets in a sense. That was the solution. I decided to ask my wife to be a part of the project and record a conversation we would have together. She kindly agreed. I would then take the transcript and isolate only her words. Then I would pick out interesting lines and ones that rhymed. From that I could build the lyrics using her words as the source.

Before our old drummer Ken Mockler left for Denver, I had a chance to talk with him about the concept. I wanted the mountain and the wolf to have some kind of musical relationship. He introduced me to the idea that you can write two songs that are intended to be played at the same time in order to create a third song! I thought this was rad and immediately adopted it as a goal. The way I implemented this is that both songs are the same tempo: 145 bpm, and the same key: Eb. In theory, you can then play the songs together at any point and see how they line up. It ends up being an easter egg that fans could mess around with later.

Another goal of this album is to be grounded in nature. I picked up some other books to feed the writing process including Braiding Sweetgrass, Black Elk Speaks, and Waves of Resistance: Surfing and History in Twentieth-Century Hawaiʻi. All books centered on indigenous cultures and their strong connections to the natural world. 

We have early demos for four songs that we know will be on the album: “The Mountain”, “The Wolf”, “Why Not”, and “Push”. “Push” came from reading Waves of Resistance. “Why Not" came from a dream. I woke up and had a melody and I recorded it on my phone and went back to sleep. This song captures what I mean by writing in the present. The world is in a terrible state. These songs tried to capture the tension of living in a world you are insanely upset with and eager to change but feel frustratingly powerless to do so.

That album again is "The Mountain and the Wolf" and you can listen to mozworth on basically any streaming service. I want to thank mozworth a ton for doing this I really appreciate it and I think you folks reading it do too. Some of that advice really went to heart, especially about the importance of letting ideas ride and not shooting them down too early or because of your ego. Oh and if you haven't listened to Daniel Johnston he's such an influential person and artist, one of the most interesting stories out there. There's a documentary about him called "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" really great watch. I wanna thank mozworth again and godspeed on the next album!