“To Catch A Predator” Takes Sudden Interest In The Techno-Funk-Pedophile Scene

Today’s LA Times has a piece on Mutaytor, the 35-member “techno-funk-rock circus” whose founding member, Matty Nash, achieved some unwelcome fame recently–he was caught on tape by Dateline NBC‘s pedophile-sting segment, “To Catch A Predator.” He’s left the band and has felony charges pending:

Remarkably, most of the group didn’t hear about Matty’s woes until after the broadcast, which led to a furious debate among members that was still going on as the curtain went up on its gig Wednesday night at the Knitting Factory. Backstage, several Mutaytor cast members discussed the incident before the show.

Of Nash, dreadlocked Buck Down (co-writer with Atom Smith of most of the group’s music and one of the act’s longest-tenured members) was blunt: “At this point, he has no connection with us. He has nothing more than a historical link to this project. Whatever it does from now on will be without Matty.” Nash’s wife of 13 years, who goes by the single name Crunchy, is staying on as stage manager/den mom.

“Everybody’s seen the clip at this point,” Down conceded. “Even if he goes to court and more than wins, the damage is already done. He did quite a job of containing this from us. Nobody saw it coming. This worst of surprises is costing us enormously.” Specifically, he said the group has lost its manager and booking agency.

While we feel for the band–which has also seen most of its upcoming gigs get canceled–it’s hard not to especially empathize with “Crunchy,” who, presumably, didn’t set her DVR for the Dateline episode in question. For now, it appears that she’s standing by her man, the band, and her title of “den mom.” One suggestion: Perhaps she should come up with a new name for her role in the band, just so she can head off any off-color jokes from silly music blogs.

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