Grief Finds a Voice: The Mascot Theory’s New Music is Powered by Hope

Grief doesn’t knock politely – it crashes through the door. And for Erik Kjelland, lead singer and songwriter of the Madison-based band The Mascot Theory, it came first with the death of his father. And then again, during his own brush with mortality. Doctors recently discovered a rare brain condition that could have taken his life at any moment. Luckily, he’s doing ok after surgery and continues to recover.

Kjelland could have surrendered. But instead, he turned to the one force that’s always grounded him: music. The result is Cosmic Hit and Run, The Mascot Theory’s new album. This is a concept record born from loss but pulsing with resilience. And it’s a story meant to be listened to in full, beginning to end.

The band recently joined Max Ink Radio’s Rokker, Teri Barr, and Jane Lowy for “Live from the Mad City” on 92.7 WMDX. The guests share songs from the new album for the first time – before it’s released to the public. Their live versions fill the studio with beautiful harmonies, heavy truths, and sparks of joy that only music can deliver.

“The biggest thing is that these songs were written by a grieving person,” Kjelland shares. “But then, when I was singing them later, I was someone staring at my own life. That puts a whole new emotional spin on everything.”

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Listen to the entire “Live from the Mad City” with The Mascot Theory here:

Cosmic Hit and Run traces a journey through the pain of loss while moving towards something cosmic and hopeful. “As I Lay Here” is a track found early on the album. It captures the helplessness as Kjelland watches his father struggle through years of medical complications. And it’s the song the band plays live on the radio first.

“Got a Grip” follows, and just before playing it, Kjelland describes the song as offering a glimmer of light in the chaos, while “Final Hour” confronts the nights the family feared might be the last. 

Kjelland calls the closing song on the album,” Still Here,” the hardest to record as it eventually transformed into a mantra of survival. 

“I’m still here. I’m still breathing,” he sings live with the band, his eyes closed.

This album may be heavy in subject matter, but Cosmic Hit and Run is not without bursts of energy. Playing live on the radio – Kjelland, alongside Cory Swadley, Nick Fry, and Paul Metz – transform the pain into some catharsis. The harmonies swell, guitars leap, drums thunder, and listeners can feel the life force of music carrying something far larger than grief.

“This album got me through,” Kjelland explains. “If there’s anything to take away from it, it’s that music heals.

The Mascot Theory has come a long way from the time it once chose its name from a joke about NCAA mascots. What remains constant is their ability to make music that moves you. And not just to tap your feet, but to feel something deeply.

Because even in the face of heartbreak, Kjelland and his bandmates remind us: we’re still here. And so is the music.

Learn where you can catch up with The Mascot Theory live during the band’s album release tour here.