Mashd N Kutcher ‘Don’t Hold Back’ On Their Newest Single

Queensland’s loveable electronic project, Mashd N Kutcher, are getting ready to start their legacy, today dropping their newest single, Don’t Hold Back, ahead of the release of their debut album.

According to Mashd N Kutcher’s songwriter and founder Matt James, Don’t Hold Back is “a feel good dance record.”

“So the sample in this record is from a band called Chanson, which is, I guess, a funk band. And, yeah, it's a little seven second sample from this song. I listened to the sample on loop, and it looped again and again and again. The more I listened to it, the more I realized, ‘Okay, even though it's repeating, I'm not getting tired of this, and I'm really enjoying it.’ So the whole track was kind of built around that,” he said.

Taking a seven second sample from Chanson’s original Don’t Hold Back was all James needed to create his newest single - the type of high energy dance floor weapon that we’ve come to expect from Mashd N Kutcher.

In a chat with The Music, James explained how his habit for crate digging inspires a lot of his tracks - including this one.

“I like to go back through, you know, funk and soul and Motown and classic rock. I just listen to those records because I enjoy them, really. But then when I'm listening to them, every now and then, a little ear worm will present itself. And in this case, it was a little seven second snippet in a record I was jamming out to from the 70s, and I really liked it. And I think it's cool when you hear such a tiny moment in a bigger song, but you can see it has the potential to, maybe, be its own song. So that's super cool.

“And, you know, some of the artists that I really look up to, like Daft Punk or Justice, or even in the hip hop space, producers like Timbaland and Scott Storch, these guys are absolute legends of the game, who are the best at doing that - finding a small moment in a song and giving that its own moment as its own song. And that's what we did here.”

Sonically, James describes Don’t Hold Back as “high energy, fast paced, with a bit of an indie throwback kind of feel to it.” And they’ve captured that exact vibe in the accompanying music video, which depicts a live performance of the track.

“We wanted to create a music video that had a storyline, but also something that really heavily featured our live band. So, it's got some twists and turns, and it's very much in theme with the song. It's high energy, it's exciting, and it's got that same kind of throwback feel to it as well. So I'm really happy with how it turned out. I think it's very, very in line with the song. 

“I think sometimes with music videos, you know, they can maybe paint a totally different picture to what the song is. But I think in this case, if you heard the song and you saw the music video separately, I think most people would probably agree that they pair really well together. It's like finding a nice glass of white wine with the lobster.”

And, speaking of food, James made sure to mention how it plays into Mashd N Kutcher’s creative process: “The three of us together as a band, we're very lucky, because we're very well traveled as musicians, and we've been very lucky to play in a lot of amazing cities around the world, which has meant that we've got to experience a lot of amazing food. So, as you can imagine, when we're back in our hometown of Brisbane, we like to explore, and we like to dig around and see what we can find. And there's actually a surprising amount of really, really great restaurants in South East Queensland, you know, just on our doorstep. So, yeah, food is actually a big part of what we all do, because I don't think we could play these shows and write these records if we didn't have the amazing food experiences to go along with it.”

The band plans to expand their listeners taste buds on their upcoming album, LEGACY, slated for release on December 6, by adding a range of genres to the LP.

“Predominantly it's dance records. But amongst these dance records, there's influences of various sounds and genres that I've grown up with. So there's a bit of classic rock, there's a bit of gospel, there's a bit of Motown, there's a bit of soul, there's a bit of funk, there's a lot of hip hop.

“I would love for people to enjoy it, and maybe for people who are into dance music, I'd love to be able to show them some different types of sounds from other genres, so that perhaps it could introduce them to maybe some sounds and genres they haven't heard before. I kind of am leaning into that conversation of showing people who expect us to be releasing dance records - it's definitely dance records - but just giving them a bit of a taste of other sounds and genres. And I think what we are known for is mash ups and mashing things up, and I think this album definitely continues doing that.”

Mashd N Kutcher’s new single, ‘ Don’t Hold Back’, is out on all streaming platforms now. Their debut album, ‘LEGACY’, drops on December 6.