Sunday, May 23, 2010

New Rituals

Sometimes you find yourself on tour and you realize that the booker in whatever backwater town your in doesn't really give a fuck about what you do, he has just offered a show to any band that happens to be rolling through Chump Junction that night. He might round out the bill with a couple of local loser bands that he assures you "have a killer draw" which means their fat girlfriends will show up, drink the few beers backstage, snap some photos of their boyfriend's stupid porno grind band, and leave. Such was the case on Ludicra's recent stop in Little Rock, Arkansas. The first band was a group of knuckle-dragging jocks whose name evades me, I do however remember they had a song called "Six Dicks In One Chick," yeah, this night was looking bad. The second band wasn't much better. The pleasant surprise of the evening (outside of the gunfight in front of the venue) was Davenport, Iowa's own Mondo Drag. Mondo Drag were more out of place on this bill then us, they seemed miserable and confused and this is when we bonded. Mondo Drag follow the same retro course made popular by Witchcraft, their attention to detail is reflected in their gear, their clothes, and the cover of this album titled (oddly enough) New Rituals. Needless to say, Mondo Drag's set was quite a welcome surprise, especially after almost two hours of fat, pimply kids screaming about bukakke over gravity blasts. So at this point I'd like to thank the guys in Mondo Drag for making an otherwise unbearable night somewhat bearable, and I'd also like to thank them for giving me this CD, I have been loving it. New Rituals is a thoroughly enjoyable record of delicious atavist psych-rock from start to finish. The songs and production are authentic and the vibe is completely kitschy witchy cool. Usually this kind of revivalist nostalgia falls short of the mark, but Mondo Drag have put in the work and it shows.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised that a certain Neurosis-swiping band currently releasing records on Relapse didn't glom their way onto your bill as well. They normally do.

At least you don't have to live here. I'm mad at myself for missing Ludicra because of school, but sitting there for two hours of boring-ass "metal" beforehand would have probably ruined it anyway. You hit the nail on the head with this one. This city's filled with chromosome-deficient middle school dropouts who think they're Eyehategod.

Love the blog and definitely going to check out Mondo Drag.

Anonymous said...

Aesop-
Thank you! This album is amazing. I would compare them to Dead Meadow as well, minus the distracting vocals.
I can tell that these guys must have spent endless hours reheasing to get this stuff done right, and it shows.

-anonymous jew

Anonymous said...

This is siiiiick!

Anonymous said...

Still on the first track and I already love this band.

Jason said...

Chump Junction? I think you just gave a band somewhere a name. You saw it here first, people.

Thanks, Aesop.

east kansas banger said...

Thanks, Awesome band and awesome story. Nice to see some guys from my old stomping grounds tearing it up with some great music.
Love stories from the road. I'm sure you have hundreds of them.
My favorite is when we were playing in Witchita at Kirbys beer store and someone put a little bag of weed in the tip jar for us. Heh
About a year before that we played the same place with REO Speedealer. Not only did they have the greatest band name ever they were a great bunch of guys. Came up from Texas in a beat to shit van. Covered in tattoos and looking like they's cut ya just as soon as talk to ya. HOWEVER, they turned out to be the nicest bunch of dudes ever. The were just great too. Kind of like Texas punk metal boogie.
Anyway. Stores from the road.

Anonymous said...

Just bought at a record store on your recomendation, love it! So good, I love getting excited about new music!

dreambrother said...

damn solid psych right here. thanks aesop!

Will Towles said...

"fat, pimply kid screaming about bukakke over gravity blasts." holy shit, I almost pissed myself.

Anonymous said...

Holy shit, these guys are fucking great! Thanks for posting Aesop!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this post. I've done my share of touring and I know this scenario well. Some of our worst times were in Alabama. I always enjoy the color you add to each post. Rock on
K

scosand said...

Dude. I cannot stop jamming this record. Huge Blue Cheer influence! SO good.

amrith888 said...

This is my first post on your amazing blog.Just checked these guys out and all I can say is "HELL'S YEAH!!" To me--sounds kinda like early Monster Magnet meets Kyuss-but really still hard to categorize.Thanks for this!!

sappersteen said...

Great groovy tuneage. Thanks, Broah!