Mustard Service and tour opener Ryan Wright spoke with 20 Watts earlier this October during their stop at The Song & Dance.

Words By Sofia Quintero/ Photos Courtesy of Ryan Wright and Sofia Quintero/ Graphic by Griffin Turner

After dropping their third album this August, Miami-based band Mustard Service began a fall tour, with JW Francis and Ryan Wright opening for their East and Midwest shows. On October 6th, the indie trio played a showa at Jefferson Street’s newest music venue: The Song & Dance. With a high number of their listeners being college students, Syracuse is just one of the many college towns the band will visit for their Variety Pack Tour. Before the show, Ryan Wright and Mustard Service had the chance to speak with 20 Watts Magazine. 

An Interview with Mustard Service

Mustard Service’s lead singer Marco Rivero Ochoa, drummer Adam Perez, keyboardist Leo Cattani, bassist Augusti “Tuto” Di Catarani, and touring member Max Trullenque spoke with 20 Watts ahead of their set. Lead guitarist Gabriel “Nuchi'' Marinuchi is currently pursuing a master's degree, so Tuto is covering guitar parts while Max fills in on bass. When asked about Nuchi’s absence, the group laughed about how he was the band’s “father figure” and how they all have to take up this role now. 

With Max being a longtime friend of the band and having already gone on tour with Mustard Service, their on-stage chemistry remained high. Rivero Ochoa said, “It doesn’t feel like we’re losing Nuchi and adding Max, it all feels the same.” 

The group has been together since 2015 and has gone from playing in parking garages to touring college towns. Thinking about the next five years, Perez shared dreams about playing festivals and intercontinental tours around Europe and Australia. 

“We were going to play Toronto, but I don’t know if you heard there was a global pandemic,” Cattani joked. 

As the band continues to grow, so does their creative process. “From the first album to the second album, the big change was extensions,” Cattani shared, pondering the evolution of the band’s sound. 

Rivero Ochoa touched on lyrical transformation, “The second album was kind of scary because I thought people would actually listen, and for this album, I got over it and I don’t care anymore.” Cattani added that when writing their first album, “Zest Pop,” Rivero Ochoa wrote with a carefree attitude, not knowing what the outcome of the release would be.

“Once that album gained traction, it was kind of like well now people are listening, so maybe we should care.”

Throughout their growth, the band has always greeted their fans after shows, a habit they learned from touring with Spanish band, Hinds. 

“It’s just all we’ve ever known,” Rivero Ochoa said, to which Perez added, “We all just really like talking to people in general.” 

Ryan Wright described Mustard Service as “The nicest people ever,” something which she noted doesn’t always come easily. “They’re not ashamed to be themselves on stage, I’ve always been more nervous about what people are thinking about me while I’m up there,” Wright explained that watching Mustard Service has helped her feel like she can also let loose on stage.

Mustard Service shared the same sentiment about Wright and her band, also describing them as “super nice” and “super talented.” It was clear that both artists gained inspiration from each other.

An Interview with Ryan Wright

Wright, who also dropped a new album this summer, spoke on how her creative process has changed since her first album.

“It was definitely more synth-pop and now it’s a little bit more indie,” she reminisced about the music she used to write in high school and how she’s grown to take it more seriously.

Wright took a more personal approach with her latest album, singing about her experience of being cheated on. “I was the other girl,” she said, “I kept comparing myself to [his girlfriend], we were both blonde, both very similar people.” The cherry on top was that Wright was almost named Cydney, which was the girl’s name. 

Her latest album, “Girl in the Attic,” was inspired by this story. “It’s a comparison record,” resonating with a comparison complex that Wright has struggled with. A complex she fought back against by dying her hair red and making Cydney seem like another version of herself.

Despite her talents and creativity, Wright wasn’t always set on a career in music. With her dad being a musician, she grew up surrounded by instruments and constantly singing, but it wasn’t until the pandemic in 2020 that she considered pursuing music.

“This could be something that I could do while I’m bored during the pandemic because I had written like an entire album on my voice memos, and then something kind of came out of it,” she recalled.

“I got offered the record deal and I was like ‘Maybe I should be doing this.’” 

Now on her second tour with Mustard Service, she believes that the emotional connection with the audience is the best part of being a touring artist. 

“The connecting with people part is very important.” 

In a very social media-driven musical environment, as she described, the connections with friends and fans over the internet aren’t always as genuine as in person. 

“When you’re playing live you meet real people, you meet genuine fans.” 

When asked about advice she has for aspiring artists at Syracuse University, Wright acknowledged that music is a tough industry, but advised those with a true passion to hustle, “Never be ashamed of constantly pushing it, be dedicated and happy and proud of what you’re doing.”