Melbourne-based multi-instrumentalist Mitchy McIvor took some unusual inspirations for his artistic moniker – General Mack’s Grapeshot, a name deeply laced into the Napoleonic Wars – and his new album Revel, Revel upholds this quirky creative spirit.
Taking the name of General Mack, an Austrian war commander who infamously surrendered to Napoleon Bonaparte in the 1815 Battle of Ulm, Mitchy also borrows some other antique inspirations for his stage name.
“A grapeshot was a weapon which was used in the Napoleonic Wars,” Mitchy explains to me. “It’s sort a collection of iron balls, which was in sack and fired as a sort of cannon. Really devastating weapon,” he adds with mischievous flourish.
Mitchy goes on to say that the idea behind this amusingly odd name was to draw a link between his own performance style and the impact of 200-year-old military artillery. “The concept was, it’s like a grapeshot of tunes! It’s General Mack’s firing of different styles of music, in an album or in a general sense. That was the idea. I thought the name was good, and I went with it.”
General Mack’s Grapeshot – Revel, Revel album launch
- Saturday 12 April
- Fitzroy Pinnacle
- Supports: Tallulah Grace + Wild Dog Mountains
- Get tickets here
Check out our gig guide, our stage guide, our festival guide, our live music venue guide and our nightclub guide. Follow us on Instagram here.
General Mack’s Grapeshot has just fired a new album into the artistic ether, with his debut album Revel, Revel dropping on February 27. The process leading up to its release was a daunting one for Mitchy, having spent months within the album’s unique musical world and having been so close to the work that he could no longer see the wood from the trees.
Fortunately, the reception to the ten new tracks has been nothing but positive and the intended message of each song has connected strongly with listeners.
“The response has been really good, actually. Surprisingly so,” he admits, “as it’s always a nerve-racking time when you’re about to release something into the world. You press ‘go’ and it’s out there, so it’s both daunting and relieving.”
The breadth of responses speaks to the global appeal of General Mack’s Grapeshot, with listeners all over the world connecting with the artist to say they purchased the album in physical, vinyl form or digitally online. The consistent channels of warm feedback from his wide-ranging audience has been a very welcome shock for the multi-talented singer-songwriter, especially given the album’s more experimental qualities.
“This record, for me,” he outlines, “there are lots of different styles. It’s hard when you’re releasing snippets of singles, initially; people can pigeonhole you based on that single. This record is an entire unit, it’s a big body of work that has various different styles. To have that in its full… fullness, as it was intended, is really good for me. And hopefully for the listeners!”
Much of the album’s creative energies stemmed from Mitch’s station in the Mornington Peninsula, a dreamy cove of clear waters and pale sands just an hour’s drive south of Melbourne. In a Mount Martha workspace that looked directly into the bay, Mitch set himself up inside a big, open house and installed a complete solo studio.
“Everything was plugged in and everything was on,” he reflects of the drum machines, amps, and synthesisers he took with him down south. “I just spent, you know, a week – every day – just making noise. I had concepts of a song, ideas of what the tracks were going to be, and I had no TV, no distractions, to just engulf myself into it.”
As much an escape into free, unimpeded time – a week of independent, artistic isolation in the curve of sand-slathered bay is a dream likely shared by many creative types – the amount of open space within the house was also a major driving force for fresh ideas.
The lack of a sounding board, too, with nobody else to course-correct or suggest changes, allowed Mitchy to experiment at will and extend far beyond his comfort zone as a musician.
That musical journey began at a young age, when Mitchy first started playing the guitar when he was 10-years-old. The instrument has remained a constant fixture within his life, as has the inspiration from within his own family.
“My own father played a little bit,” he confides, “but was really instrumental in putting music at the forefront of what’s important in life.”
It was an early education that has paid off all these years later, with the release of Mitchy McIvor’s remarkable debut album.
Revel, Revel is available now to stream on a variety of services, including Spotify and Apple Music. Listen here now.
