It’s not often that a band forms after being offered an opportunity to write music for a film, but that’s exactly what happened with L.A.’s Mayan Bull. Back in 2011, drummer/keyboardist Phil Vera (Trappist, Despise You), guitarist Kurk Stevens and bassist Chris Walters were approached by director Todd Hickey to write a song for the soundtrack of Takedowns and Falls, his documentary about high-school wrestling in Pennsylvania. The trio recorded 10-minute instrumental “A Dangerous Gun” in Vera’s living room with producer Paul Fig (Alice In Chains, Deftones), and Mayan Bull was born. “We had so much fun recording the song that we kept practicing and came up with new songs,” Vera says.
One of those songs is “Kid Cleveland,” which we’re premiering here today. The propulsive track is all the more impressive given that instrumental music is a distinct departure for the members of Mayan Bull. Stevens plays in the noise rock band Kevarra, Walters plays shoegaze in The Slow Signal Fades and Vera plays an entirely different instrument—guitar—in L.A. powerviolence kings Despise You and Crom. “We discussed Mayan Bull as being a project that we could do for decades to come, something that isn’t pinned down to any particular genre of music but will grow over time,” Stevens says. “We want people to hear us and watch this project evolve.”
