Saturday 30 July 2016

Nick Oliveri's Mondo Generator – Best Of (Album Review)


Release date: September 23rd 2016. Label: Heavy Psych Sounds Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Nick Oliveri's Mondo Generator – Best Of – Tracklisting

SIDE A

13th Floor
F.Y.I.F
Sonicslowmotiontrails
Like The Sky
Dog Food
Smashed Apart
The Last Train
SIDE B

So High
Simple Exploding Man
Four Corners
SIDE C

Dead Silence
I Never Sleep
Shawnette Jackson
Detroit
Lie Detector
Take Me Away
SIDE D

Like You Want
Sleep The Lie Away
Turbonegro Must Be Destroyed
All The Way Down
Paper Thin

Band Members:

Nick Oliveri - Bass & Vocals
Mike Pygmie - Guitar
Jeff Bowman - Drums

Review:

You should be intimately familiar with Nick Oliveri. If you are not, you must go directly to jail; do not pass go, do not collect $200 (or Euros, pounds, rubles, pesos, marks, etc). Kyuss should be your steady diet for the next few weeks. Only then should you attempt Mondo Generator.

Before I go any further with this, it should be understood this Greatest Hits isn’t chronological. It takes more of a feel approach to the track order. This works very well in the twisted journey that is Mondo Generator. Mondo Generator is a revolving door of musicians with Nick as the pivot point.

The band formed in 1997, although didn’t release their debut album “Cocaine Rodeo” until 2000. Nick and Josh Homme had commitments in Queens of the Stone Age at the time. The debut album also featured Rob Oswald from Karma to Burn on drums. Three tracks also featured Brant Bjork. Simple Exploding Man featured all four Kyuss members, who were invited into the sessions separately without any knowledge of who else was on the track. All of the names above should be burned into your stoner rock memory! They crafted the sound that hundreds of bands took further into the outer reaches of space. There was very little support for this release, but it gain cult status amongst fan of Queens of the Stone Age.

In 2003, “A Drug Problem That Never Existed” was released. Nick hired more friends including Mark Lanegan, Troy Dean Van Leeuwen and Blag Dahlia from The Dwarves (that Nick also plays bass in). A live version band toured for three months in the US and Europe to support this release. The band would also play an afternoon set at Lollapalooza and then Nick would play on the main stage that night with Queens of the Stone Age.

In early 2004 Nick would be fired from Queens of the Stone Age and make Mondo Generator his full time project. During their set in Germany Nick assaulted a member of the crew at the club due to sound problems. The other members left Nick in Germany and returned to the US.

In 2005 Nick began working on the next Mondo Generator album in Dave Grohl’s 606 Studio. Nick hired Ben Perrier and Ben Thomas from Winnebago Deal to round out the new band. Short lived, both Ben’s left the band in July 2006. The new album “Dead Planet: Sonicslowmotiontrails” was release in Europe. In July 2007 it was release in the US as “Dead Planet”.

After a few false starts Nick would release “Hell Comes to Your Heart” in 2012. The album included the track “The Last Train”, which featured Josh Homme and John Garcia and was recorded shortly before Josh filed suit against Garcia and Kyuss Lives!

2015 brought news that the band would begin recording and touring in the fall.

This is more of a history of the band than a review of the Greatest Hits. How can anyone review such a diverse collection of songs from such a diverse group of musicians? Although Nick is the consistent personality in the group, his struggles and demons morph his musical direction so much over 20 years; it would be impossible to put into words what this collection is about.

It’s such an amazing journey, dark, twisted, raw, emotional and as gritty as Nick is. Volatile people make beautiful art. Nick is living proof of that, thankfully he is still living and making his beautiful art!

Words by Bill Bensen

Thanks to Claire at Purple Sage PR for the promo. Nick Oliveri's Mondo Generator – Best Of, will be available to buy via Heavy PsychSounds from Sept 23rd 2016 on CD/DD/Vinyl.

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