Interview / The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors

The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors (TMHCE) started off as a passion project by Hate Storm Annihilation founder Craig Schmuhl. The band has been hitting the road to deliver a unique live musical experience since 2019. Early 2022, TMHCE signed with Massacre Records and released their "MU-TH-UR EP". On August 11th 2023, the band released "A Clock Without A Craftsman".

Rakkan & Siobhan had a few questions for Craig Schmuhl; the founder of TMHCE.

Rakkan: Congratulations on the recent release of "A Clock without a Craftsman." We enjoyed listening to it and are excited for others to discover your music. Can you share how the album came about? What was your songwriting process and collaborative approach in creating this wonderful piece of work?

Well first off, thank you very much for taking the time to listen to it. It really means a lot to get the support. So "A Clock Without A Craftsman" is a record I have been working on for a very long time. Some of the music dates back to 2016 when I had first started writing for The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors while attending classes at Berklee College of Music, in Boston, and some of it is much more recent. I finished tracking final guitars, bass, keys, and rough vocals in 2020 right before the lockdown. And then we tracked drums (with my percussive partner in crime William Candelario) and final vocals later that year. Daniel Farnsworth and I mixed the record in 2021, and we’ve since been waiting for its release.

Siobahn: Your first release, "A Humanistic Perspective," was released in 2018, about five years ago. Needless to say, a lot has happened in those years, namely the global pandemic. How did these events affect the creative process of the band?

To be honest, a lot changed but a lot remained the same. William and I have what I would consider to be a perfect working relationship. I get to go be a little recluse in my home studio for a few months and crank out a record. Then I hand off all the tracks to him, and he writes some of the most incredible drum parts. It’s awesome. As for what’s different, I feel like our heaviness scale increased on this one. Before writing for The Mystical Hot Chocolate Endeavors, I was the frontman of a death metal band called Hate Storm Annihilation. When I first started writing for Mystical, I was always so worried about accidentally making things too heavy and just turning it into HSA 2. I‘ve since gotten over that fear, and just write what sounds good to me and with that comes allowing us to get heavier sounds. I enjoy a good headbang as much as the next guy.

Rakkan: Could you take us back to the very beginning and share your musical journey before the formation of TMHCE?

So, as a young kid, I was really obsessed with pretty much all things, alternative, nu metal, and 80’s electronic. I just loved listening to my music and escaping for a while. Still do, but in late middle school, I got turned onto death metal after going to Mayhem Fest 2009. I pretty much spent the next couple of years learning how to use those techniques and writing songs. That has mostly been my driving point for all things music. I just love to write. So, in 2012, I formed that death metal band as I had mentioned before, and we got to spend a bunch of time playing shows and touring around. It was a really great way to kind of prime me for music life, nice and early, and that’s really been my primary drive and motivation ever since.

Siobahn: It's always exciting when a passion project becomes something bigger—what moment made it obvious TMHCE was something to heavily invest in? Did any particular reaction or feedback help you make that leap of faith?

So I’ve been wanting to do something non-death metal for a long time, and I had this music that I was working on with Will and another variation of a live band. I loved doing it so much, but making rehearsals consistently work had become very difficult, and it was starting to make me uneasy about the whole thing. Will came over to my apartment one night as I was having some kind of emotional breakdown about the project, and he assured me that the music was very good and that he wanted to be a part of it. I’ll never forget that night. It meant a lot to me.

Rakkan: Labeling the majority of bands, particularly those with the courage to explore new avenues, seems unjust. How do you envision your music being embraced by your fans? And what impressions do you hope to leave on newcomers who experience your music for the first time?

I feel like there’s gonna be a lot of people that are going to “self-gate-keep” from the music. Elitists, Genre Nazis, you know ”Them”. I like to think about music as boundary-free as possible. I find that turning your mind off to something because of one disinterest you have in it, can hold you back from picking up on a lot of really rad things. I think the people that are going to really like this band are going to be the ones that want to experience more to music than just your standard pop-tune BUT we’re also not afraid to make those tracks too when they’re called for! (How Much Longer?, Sorry, etc). This band is 100% about the musical journey, and we wanna be able to offer as many different types of musical exploration as we can to those who want them.

Siobahn: Which musician or what band has been a big influence on TMHCE's music that listeners may not realize on a first listen?

So I’m a huge Melvins fan. Buzzo had a massive impact on how I tend to write riffs. NIN is obviously huge. I think there are few people that can really MOVE people with dynamics and arrangement decisions like Trent does. Robert Smith is my hero and David Gahan is why I started giving a shit about practicing singing. William Candelario is one of the best Latin Jazz/Reggae drummers you will ever hear live and it’s because he’s been a lifelong fan of the genre.

Rakkan: Apart from playing instruments, what unique qualities does each member bring to the band? This could include business savvy for financial management, cultural influences for creative direction, or innovative thinking to push musical boundaries.

I think over anything else, this band tends to take a lot of interest in a lot of different types of music. We’re all pretty open-minded guys who just want to enjoy some tunes regardless of the style.

Siobahn: Your website mentions you've toured with a variety of band/musical acts, "Everything from Punk, to Technical Death Metal, to Fusion, to Alternative Pop, to Singer Songwriter"—have audiences embraced this variety in the tour line-up overall?

Actually, yes! There seems to be enough crossover for a regular person to see us and just kind of fall into it? It’s pretty wild, but it’s really rad to see people that look like they wouldn’t be about the kinds of music we make, and they do.

Rakkan: You mentioned aiming for your fans to view each song as a musical journey. Could each of you recount a memorable musical experience from your past that continues to resonate with you? This could be a memorable concert you attended or a song that left a lasting impact during your teenage years, for example.

I think the big musical experience, I will never forget, was going to see Chicago and Earth Wind And Fire with my Mom and Dad when I was probably 5-ish years old. I think about that night a lot.

Siobahn: You're about to head out on a 2-week tour with a show every night—what song, if any, are you most excited to perform for audiences? Or, what is the most difficult thing about touring that a non-musician might not expect?

So we’re going to be playing a song called “I’ll Never Be” that I’ve been really excited about playing live for a while now. It’s just a really high-energy song that I think is going to play out really well in that live environment. Ummm… I probably say fatigue. We are still very much a band who carries our shit in and out every night, are doing all of our driving, trying to not let being tired take advantage of your mental space and say something wrong to someone. Tour tired is a very unique kind of tired that does a lot more than just make you yawn. don’t get me wrong, I’ll do it until the day I die, but it can be rough haha.

Rakkan: Finally, I must say that I really like the music of “Hate Storm Annihilation”. Are your death metal days over?

We’re going to see! I’ve had about two releases worth of music ready for HSA for about seven years now. I would absolutely be down to, at the very least, get those records done just so they can be heard. There’s some really rad songs on those that I would really like to have out in the world at some point.

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For more on TMHCE, visit the following links: Instagram | Spotify | Facebook