[Cover photo credit to Sean Brady]

MTN Lion is a Denver-based Funk quartet composed of drummer Adam Deitch and guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff of Lettuce, alongside keyboardist Joey Porter and bassist Garrett Sayers, both known for their work with The Motet. Sayers as an active member and Porter as member of the group for 17 years up until his departure this January.

While their main projects were off the road in 2020 and 2021, the group met at Deitch’s house and started playing, first for themselves, then on a livestream, and soon after assembled in the studio to record their debut album, Stealth. The album is out now via Golden Wolf Records.

Porter says about the formation of the group:

There wasn’t any reason we had to do it. 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 adds his take:

Funk for funk’s sake… for the love of the art, for the love of music and good friends. 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.

The material for the new album 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 that Porter brought into the sessions, featuring vocalist Nigel Hall, the album’s only guest. Porter handles the role in live settings.