MTN Lion, Featuring Members of Lettuce and The Motet, Releases Debut Album 'Stealth'

MTN Lion, a Denver-based funk quartet featuring drummer Adam Deitch and guitarist Adam Smirnoff of Lettuce alongside keyboardist Joey Porter and bassist Garrett Sayers of The Motet, has released its debut album STEALTH on Golden Wolf Records. The eight-track record grew out of informal sessions at Deitch's home during 2020 and 2021, when the members' primary bands were off the road, and eventually moved into the studio. Porter served as a member of The Motet for 17 years before departing the group in January, while Sayers remains an active member.

MTN Lion began as an informal pursuit after touring paused and left all four in the same place, building on years of overlap in the Denver scene. By that point, they were already crossing paths regularly on local gigs. 'There wasn't any reason we had to do it,' Porter says. 'We just wanted to. We like playing with each other. We were all in the same spot. There was nothing happening, so we were like, let's play some music that we love. That's what art should be — for nothing except the art.'

Deitch puts it just as plainly: 'Funk for funk's sake… for the love of the art, for the love of music and good friends.' He adds, 'We probably wouldn't have even done this without the pandemic, having the wherewithal to get together with a bunch of masks on our faces and do it.' Smirnoff ties the sessions to that moment. 'Because of where we were at with the pandemic, how hungry we all were to play at that time — I feel like this album captures some of that incredible hunger.'

The band's history runs back decades. Deitch and Smirnoff have played together for more than thirty years, through to their becoming a leading band in the modern funk revival on the jam and festival circuit, with multiple No. 1 debuts on the Billboard jazz charts and a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Porter and Sayers came up through The Motet, a long-running Colorado band that has headlined Red Rocks and built a national audience through steady touring.

By 2020, all four were based in Denver and working in the same tight-knit ecosystem, already crossing paths at Cervantes, at Funk Sessions, and on one-off gigs assembled under different names, whether under Porter's name or, briefly, as 'Let Tet.' The name MTN Lion came later, after the music was already underway, and by that point they already knew how to play with each other. The project never carried a formal agenda beyond the sessions themselves.

On STEALTH, the band locks into tight, interlocking parts. Deitch and Sayers anchor a deep-pocket, syncopated groove shaped by the approach of Tower of Power bassist Rocco Prestia, while Smirnoff's guitar moves between rhythmic drive and tonal detail. Porter brings talkbox and vocoder into the core of the arrangements, giving the group a distinct sonic identity that comes into focus immediately in the opening track.

The material came from across the band, with Porter, Deitch, and Smirnoff all bringing in ideas that went on to be honed in the room. The album opens with 'You Can Leave But It's Going to Cost You,' a rarely covered late-'70s Marvin Gaye deep cut Porter brought into the sessions, featuring vocalist Nigel Hall — the album's only guest — while Porter handles the part on talkbox in live settings.

'Turning Up the Heat' follows, built from a Deitch demo that Porter finished with lyrics and talkbox lines, locking in the band's core sound. 'Funky Strummer,' another Deitch composition written for the group, nods to 'Funky Drummer' while shifting the focus to Smirnoff's guitar.

'Star of the Show' draws directly from early-'70s James Brown, referencing both the stage-introduction aesthetic and the sound associated with the House Guests and Bootsy and Catfish Collins. 'My Time' centers on a drum break and a point Porter has made for years. 'I had to practice my ass off for decades,' he says. 'I've been here the whole time.'

'Garibaldi,' named for Tower of Power drummer David Garibaldi, shifts the focus to the rhythm section, building the track around the syncopation between bass and drums and tailoring it to Sayers' playing, which draws heavily from Prestia's influence.

'Doin It,' the second cover, comes from Herbie Hancock's 1970s electric period — the sound of Paul Jackson and Wah Wah Watson. 'Herbie Hancock is maybe our biggest influence combined,' Porter says. The album closes with 'The Kid,' a nod to Prince beginning with a bright melodic feel before turning toward a harder, stripped-down funk.

After finishing the sessions, the band moved on as touring resumed and other projects took over, and the recordings sat for several years before the band returned to them — yet they could have been recorded this morning.

'This album will get y'all on your feet!' says Deitch. 'Real instruments, no AI, and analog warmth. Stealth is in line with all of MTN LION's influences and musical heroes, ranging from James Brown to Prince to Herbie Hancock to Marvin Gaye and Zapp. Fans of our longtime touring groups Lettuce and Motet, as well as fans of Funk music, will surely dig this unique, electric quartet's musical output.'

'Put on Stealth at a party,' he concludes, 'and watch everyone get up and dance!'

STEALTH Tracklist:

1.) You Can Leave But It's Going to Cost You ft. Nigel Hall
2.) Turning Up The Heat
3.) Funky Strummer
4.) Star of the Show
5.) My Time
6.) Garibaldi
7.) Doin It
8.) The Kid

STEALTH is available now via Golden Wolf Records. More information is available at mtnlion.ffm.to/stealth.

Photo Credit: Photo by Sean Brady

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