The Future Of FamilyPet

Back in 2017, Underground Underdogs spoke to the iconic underground duo familypet, artists M;ars and Mitche, after their year of growing success. In the year following the pair has grown their library and fan base at an impressive rate.

However if you didn’t catch the surprising news, it was recently announced that Mitche would be leaving the group and M;ars would be going on their recently announced tour, as familypet, on his own. We got the chance to briefly speak with M;ars about the split and the impact it has had on him, familypet’s music, and the upcoming tour.

Looking back on familypet as a duo these past couple years, are you happy with the amount of content you were able to release?

Yeah, absolutely. I know that a lot of other artists have been able to crank out a lot more music in a shorter time than we did. But, we always valued the quality over the quantity and never wanted to release anything unless we were really into what we did. Glad that fans understood the sometimes lengthy timeframe between releases and stayed loyal.

Did you foresee ever taking on the project alone?

Not really, but then again I didn’t foresee familypet going this far in the first place. I know we’re not like rockstars are something, but it’s gone further for Mitchell than I think he anticipated. And, I have no plans of stopping.

How do you think your content will change without Mitchell? Do you see any genre or thematic shifts?

Mitchell had a lot of input on melodies, concepts and general critique of the songs. I wrote all of the instrumentals/beats and, obviously, had essentially the same amount of input on the same things that he did. Although, as of late, we started disagreeing on direction a little, we had the same general state of mind on the music. So, I would actually say that the shift in sound would probably be more drastic if Mitchell stayed in. His taste in music evolves rapidly and I could tell he was getting bored with the sound that I’m still pretty in love with.

How do you feel about going on tour as familypet?

A pretty even amount bad as good. I’m excited to get out and share the music with fans, and maybe new fans, in a live format. But, it’s going to hurt a lot not having Mitchell with me. This always felt like an adventure we started together, and it’s definitely gonna hurt my soul to do it alone. I’m especially not excited to take on the task of singing his parts as well as my own, so if anybody wanna help me sing along live — storm the stage.

Would you have preferred to have more time as a pair? Or do you feel confident in carrying on the project at this point?

I would have liked to have him on at least until it felt a little less shocking. But, it was pretty out of the blue. He still is my friend and we still talk about the songs as I’m working on new material right now — so he’s not entirely out of the picture. But, I know that I can still make the same music that anybody fucks with this project for.

Do you see yourself partnering with another artist in the future?

Mitchell or nothing.

Do you see this as your career path right now?

I see familypet as half of a broken heart that’s somehow still beating.

Any upcoming projects being released you can tell us about? Should we expect more time in between familypet content? 

I’m still trying to get my head together to make a track without Mitch, but I have a lot of material in progress. We still have some songs we did together that may or may not be released in time. Time will tell what happens, but, I know that this is just the beginning of familypet.