MONDO GENERATOR, ACID THRONE & RED EYED CULT
It has been a fairly crappy day of work today and I am knackered. Dragging myself to the Waterfront to see three bands that I know next to nothing about and only one of which I have any interest in is not an attractive proposition. And yet openers RED EYED CULT’s malevolent, grindy, stoner/doom turns out to be just what I need. Lewis’s death squawk vocals and (phenomenal sounding) bass and Max’s guitar don’t do anything I haven’t heard before but they do it with panache. Drummer John may be the band’s not so secret weapon: at times, the stickwork is simple, almost minimalist, underpinned by bass drum patterns but when he really kicks off it is sound to behold.
ACID THRONE – another local band playing stoner-doom – follow. They make an impressive racket and I thoroughly enjoyed the first few songs but - maybe, after top of Red Eyed Cult, I’d just had my fill of sludgy metal – I found my mind wandering. Whatever, this is certainly a band I want to check out again.
Despite his having been in both Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age (and, perhaps more relevant to my tastes, Dwarves) I don’t own anything that MONDO GENERATOR leader Nick Oliveri’s has played on. Still his presence was enough to pique my interest and boy oh boy has my curiosity paid off. With Mike Pygmie bringing fiery riffing and caustic solos and Michael Amster’s thunderous drums, alongside Oliveri’s shout-screamed vocals and raucous bass, Mondo Generator absolutely blow the roof off the Waterfront Studio with a set of heavy, thrashed-out, garage rock ‘n’ roll. After the doom overload earlier, this hardcore-tinged performance is a welcome gearshift.
By my reckoning Mondo Generator play over 20 songs. I can’t tell you what they all are but highlights? Well, there’s a surprisingly funky break in Fuck It, Invisible Like The Sky (dedicated to Mark Lanegan), the storming bass and guitar feedback that opens Shawnette Jackson and Kyuss’s Green Machine.
The QOTSA and Kyuss covers provoke the most fervent responses of the evening from a crowd ranging from teens to hoary rockers in their sixties but everything gets an enthusiastic welcome.
Oliveri is clearly a man who has had his demons in the past. Like many in the music biz (just check out the life stories of Lanegan, Johnny Thunders, Peter Perrett etc), he’s reportedly done things that are, erm, not good. I’m not here to pass judgement on that. Let’s hope that he’s dealt with those demons and continues to put on shows like this. As my mate (and former Outliner) Stu says, “think of the confidence those guys must have knowing that they can go into any room in the world and absolutely kill it”.
