Pathfinders of the local hardcore music scene 35″ Mudder, have decided to call it quits. At least for the time being. Bass guitarist Chad Calek says that other career opportunities arose for some of the members, and those opportunities eventually took their toll on the Ames group who have been grinding out their breed of rap/metal for over four years. “Whenever you get involved in something like this and it gets to a certain level there are all kinds of opportunities that are presented to you individually as well as being a member of a band,” Calek says. “I think the final decision to take some time off was just simply that we had other options that could help our lives immediately, and some of us looked at it that way.” Calek has been busy with the making of his film titled “The Private Public” and also working with a couple of local bands. He has worked to help Ames rap-funk band Mr. Plow in trying to land a record deal. Calek also has been approached with both a management and A&R job with companies out of Los Angeles. Drummer Dave Egan has taken a job that will allow him to fulfill his family obligations, and vocalist Dusty Seuerdach took advantage of a job opportunity in Kansas City. Rumors have been flying as to why the band split up, including rumors of band quarrels over decisions on management. Vocalist C-Bone insists there is no truth to this rumor though. He simply cites creative differences as being the breaking point of the band. “We came to a crossroad, a fork in the road where it was like, keep on doing the same thing, or change. And we chose to change,” C-Bone explains. But Calek admits that there was in fact some bad blood within the group when the band separated and that although the members are not at each other’s throats, things could be better. “When you get to a certain point and you’re playing across the country you go through a lot with these guys, and it becomes a family vibe instead of a friendship vibe. You look at these people like brothers and brothers fight,” Calek says. “There was in fact some conflict, and I think it’s got worked out to the point where it’s at a civil level, but we certainly aren’t the tight unit we once were.” If Mudder ever does resurface, expect for the lineup to be a bit altered as Chad doesn’t expect to have everyone back. “If Mudder does reappear, there’s a certain member who won’t be asked back,” Calek says. “I just wish the whole breakup could have been done a little easier, but I think we have sewed it up.” When the separation occurred Mudder was in the midst of attention from major labels around the country, as they have been for over a year now. The group had put on label showcases in New York and Los Angeles, and Interscope Records had even lined up Machine, who has worked with artists such as White Zombie and (hed) P.E., to produce a Mudder record. The stress from the constant hype surrounding Mudder’s label crusade also indirectly wore down the band. As the band got closer and closer to a deal, Calek says that the bad elements involved in the business started to make the group wonder if this was really what they wanted. “The more and more people you meet that lie to you, the more and more less trusting you are of anybody within the business, and the more and more it seems maybe this isn’t the way I want to go,” Calek says of the music industry. “So by the time Dave had went with his job and I started doing mine and Dusty started doing his we were all kind of 50/50 about the whole thing. The glow had kind of worn off.” The band splits with no regrets on what they have accomplished. After four and a half years the band has a hefty resume. They’ve played Hilton Coliseum and Stephens Auditorium. They’ve had songs number one on local request logs, and they have had an album number one at the Ames location of Musicland. “We accomplished so much at a local level. Every national band that fit what we did, we opened for them,” C-Bone says. “We played all the big shows, we got national radio play, we had a great following, we sold a whole bunch of CDs. We always joked around saying that we were the most successful unsigned band in the world. I’m proud of that, and a lot of people will point fingers and give excuses and reasons, but we did it, and they can’t take that away from us.” Before 35″ Mudder came along, there wasn’t near the hardcore scene in Ames and Des Moines that can be found today. Even Slipknot needed Mudder’s help to land gigs before they turned into today’s metal poster boys. Many believe local bands are now getting looks from record companies partly because of 35″ Mudder’s success and hard work put into building a music scene for heavier oriented bands. “They made the scene fun, and big. They definitely helped it,” says Joel Nott, drummer for Ames ska-punkers Grubbie Ernie. “They were a good band, a really good band. It’s too bad they broke up, but that’s the way it goes.” So what’s next for the members of 35″ Mudder? Dusty and Dave could not be reached for comment. The three remaining members, Calek, C-Bone and Calek’s brother, guitarist Brian Calek will stay together and work on two side projects, one of which is yet to be named which Chad describes as very emotional mood music. The other, titled Slave-one follows a similar path as 35″ Mudder but with some differences as well. “It’s still rap/metal, but we’re adding melodies to the songs, we’re actually singing. I think it’s better, there’s more structure to it. We’re just starting from scratch, starting from ground-zero,” C-Bone says about Slave-one. But don’t completely close the book on 35″ Mudder yet. C-Bone hints at the possibility of one last show that would allow Mudder to go out with a bang instead of the slow fade that the group suffered. Chad isn’t ready to engrave the Mudder headstone yet either. “It’s at a stalemate right now, we aren’t moving forward with Mudder. I won’t say Mudder’s dead though, it’s there whenever we want to pick it up.”