Los Angeles-based newcomers Mama No Likey offer up a feisty and energetic rock sound that they describe with the phrase “touchin’ some sin.”
Mama No Likey is formed of songwriting duo Australian guitarist Troy Gale and Detroit drummer Will Haupricht, whose first five songs have been worked on in collaboration with Missouri vocalist Hannah Nalley. The duo have been writing together for three years and teamed up with Hannah around a year ago.
On the sound they’ve crafted, they told us: “Our Venn diagram consists of AC/DC, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Joan Jett. Wrap all of that up into a big spliff and smoke it! If you’re not feeling us after that, we’ll need to check your pulse.
“A second answer is our name itself, Mama No Likey. Hannah walked into the studio one day while Troy and Will were jamming and said, ‘Damn, you guys sound great, kinda like the music my parents didn’t want us listening to.’ Troy took that opening and proceeded to come up with Mama No Likey. It was perfect.”
Our first taste of this is the band’s second single Fire Me Up, which the band says is “all about thrill-seeking and rebellion, with raunchy riffs and powerhouse vocals” and was released today. The track starts with cool vocals “fire me up” before laid-back guitars lead up to a funky little riff and mellow drums. Hannah’s alluring vocals take over and the atmosphere builds with drawn-out guitars, before launching into a big singalong chorus that drops into a chunky riff.
A noodling little riff supports another cool verse before building up to another chorus, which gives way to repeating vocals over light guitars. The intensity of the vocals builds and feeds into a final blast of the chorus led by Hannah’s engaging vocals.
Speaking ahead of its release, the band told us: “To say that we are excited to release Fire Me Up is a big understatement. We are beyond excited! We all feel this song is an amazing representation of who we are as a band and our sound. A Spotify playlist curator commented that we ‘sound like the soundtrack to a rebellion. Unstoppable and badass in the best way.’ What a compliment. And we could not agree more.” Check it out in the stream here:
Fire Me Up follows on from Mama No Likey’s debut single Mrs. Davis, “a modern revenge fable telling the story of a once-glamorous woman unraveling in suburbia and eventually snapping” that was released in April. It opens up with stabbing guitars over bitchy comments setting up an engaging couple of verses, which feed into the catchy chorus “Be careful what you say and be careful what you do, Former sugar babies are always gonna come for you, If you think it’s just a game, you’d better think twice, Don’t underestimate the Palo Verde housewives.” A second chorus drops into cool stabbing guitars and a funky laid-back guitar solo, before setting up more energetic renditions of the chorus. Check it out in the video below:
The Mama No Likey sound has been heavily influenced by AC/DC, in terms of creating “elegantly simple music that is accessible to a broad audience.” Will is a big fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the band generally draws inspiration from the likes of Oasis, the Beatles, Creedance Clearwater Revival, The Black Crowes, Rage Against the Machine, MoTown, Smokey Robinson, Stone Temple Pilot, Alice in Chains, Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne and Taylor Swift.
And on what inspires them to write music, they told us: “Writing music and developing songs is one of the most thrilling experiences for all of us. To take one of Troy’s badass guitar riffs and layer it with beats, bass, stories and lyrics is a mystical adventure on a magical carpet. Not always, but when we can get it to a place that we could have never imagined fills us with energy and joy. At the end of a substantive session, we’re all on Cloud Nine, which keeps us coming back for more.”
Mama No Likey are two-fifths of the way through a series of songs being released in collaboration with Hannah. Next up is Kings and Queens next month, followed by a “rockified cover” of Hit Me Baby One More Time in August, as a salute to the anniversary of the movie Freaky Friday,) and finally Like A Lady in September.
And the band added: “We definitely want everyone to know that all of our songs are being released with accompanying videos, so please check them out if you get the chance. The first video for Mrs. Davis was a throwback to a 1960s suburb in LA and was fun to shoot. The video for Fire Me Up is simply epic. Lastly, we’d like to thank you and everyone for listening to our music. We’re thrilled and delighted that you’re liking it and we’re excited to deliver much more!”
You can follow Mama No Likey on Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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