R. Mutt hails from the upper Midwest and has been turning out music since the late 1980's. First at the Marquette University and University of Wisconsin bars and house parties and later throughout the Midwest. Music has changed much since the early days when R. Mutt was primarily playing Stones, Dylan, Dead, Velvet Underground and Clash covers to solid mix of original songs pulled from their 4 self released albums showing influences as varied as Black Sabbath, James Brown, Wilco, The Velvet Underground, the Clash and the Beatles.
The original line up included Pat Brennen Mike Bellante, Ron Thornton, Jim Dier and Paul Leckie. Pat departed for California after college and John Gentile became lead singer until departing to start his own band, Ventriloquist Cat. Starting in 1991 vocals have been handled by a combination of Mike, Ron and Jim. Bellante, Dier, Leckie, and Thornton formed the core of the band up until Mikes departure in 2005.
From 1991 through 1997 the band completed three recordings:
1991's Steamin' Hot Coolie
1996's Earth To Guy
1997's Let It Pee (never formally released)
2007 had Ron and Jim returning to the studio with friends of the band to complete Heptane. Heptane, sits next to alt country or americana bands as well as Southern Rock or good old fashioned Rock and Roll. Fans of Slobberbone, The Bottle Rockets, Two Cow Garage, and early Wilco should enjoy Heptane which also has some sounds that will be familiar to fans to The Band or even Cheap Trick. The original line up reformed to play in support of this record.
In 2010 the band found a new permanent member to replace Mike Bellante on guitar. Dan Power, formerly of the 90's Marquette band Blue Utah. 2011 the band released the album Leash on Life with the line up of Ron Thornton (vocals/guitar), Dan Power (vocals/guitar), Jim Dier (vocals/bass), and Paul Leckie (drums.) Matt Schreier signed on as the band's drummer in 2011.