One determined cellist watched a TV edit of Die Hard and wouldn’t you know it? Mother Falcon was born.
Years ago MF founder, cellist, and vocalist Nick Gregg led orchestral jam sessions at Westlake High School (in a collective named after a after a misheard TV overdub from Die Hard – “Yippee-ki-ay Mother Falcon!”). Before any of its members (now including McCallum High students) had graduated, Mother Falcon was featured on the cover of the Austin Chronicle and was playing gigs all over town. While most of them were still teens, Mother Falcon had become one of Austin’s most popular and beloved “bands” with the release of Still Life, their debut EP of classical-crossover pop songs, and another Austin Chronicle cover story. The following year saw the release of their first full length, Alhambra, which saw major local airplay and a series of sold out local shows. Mother Falcon went on to win multiple Austin Music Awards, collaborated with Austin legends like Alejandro Escovedo and Christopher Cross and ventured to Houston and Denton, it still didn’t seem plausible that such a huge ensemble could make an impact outside of Austin.
Mother Falcon, now a fourteen-member community with deep ties (among them two pairs of siblings and several relationships begun in childhood) made a tougher choice, committing to a new album and an unusual strategy of moving to other cities for a month at a time to cut touring costs. The release of their second album You Knew in May 2013 strongly impacted national radio, gaining major support from NPR and landing residencies in New York, Brooklyn, Los Angeles and San Diego. Subsequent national tours found Mother Falcon unexpectedly selling out small clubs all over the country within months of their first tentative steps outside of Austin. Seven years, two albums and hundreds of shows on from Westlake High, this unlikely indie orchestra takes a leap into the unknown, expanding their methods of composing and recording together in a conscious effort to push themselves into new stylistic and sonic realms with their third full-length album Good Luck Have Fun. Although the Good Luck Have Fun release date has been pushed back, Mother Falcon is scheduled to make a “big announcement” about the album .
You can catch Mother Falcon onFriday, August 21st at the North Door or Saturday, August 22nd at Empire Control Room (both free with RSVP) and you can stream them right here at KUTX!
