Mondo Drag - Mondo Drag LP

The creatures known as Mondo Drag hailed from deep along the banks of the wild Mississippi River where they created ominous, spiritual, savage psychedelic revival sounds. Summoned to the edge of the Earth, they journeyed west, collecting new sounds reminiscent of desert scapes, acid dreams, all-night prog vinyl spinning and a dark galaxy of protometal swirls, exalting the band unto new, wickedly brilliant horizons. Now settled in the deep realms of Oakland, the ensemble continues to create cosmically proportioned, churning jams evocative of a rainbow of obvious inspirations but also numinous new sounds emerging from the organ - heavy riffs. If you love Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, Can, Atomic Rooster, Hawkwind, Budgie, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple ,Italian prog, Krautrock in general, and heavy space-outs....get into Mondo Drag. They'll knock your socks off, let your hair down and take you on a mind's eye exploration you won't soon forget. Though they exude love for the spiraling tapestry of heavy psychedelia of the past, they are on a rock and roll mission all their own: an unearthed prog band, futuristic in their time capsule, rocketing forward through the depths, gathering the sounds of space itself

Bay Area heavy-Krautrock-psych band Mondo Drag are streaming their entire forthcoming self-titled album a week ahead of release starting today via PopMatters. Hear and share the full album HERE. (Direct Soundcloud HERE.)

Along with the album stream the band also announces U.S. tour dates in July with RidingEasy Records labelmates Electric Citizen and Slow Season. Please see current dates below. Additional details and admat here.

Brooklyn Vegan recently premiered album track "The Dawn" HERE. (Direct Soundcloud HERE.)

The creatures known as Mondo Drag originally hailed from deep along the banks of the wild Mississippi River where they created ominous, spiritual, savage psychedelic revival sounds. Under the spiritual guidance of the forefathers of heavy psych, prog, and proto-metal, Mondo Drag has created an amalgamation of sounds the likes of which have not been heard for decades. The band’s unique sound, and rare cohesion probably stems from the fact that core members John Gamino (keyboards, vocals), Nolan Girard, (guitar, synth) and Jake Sheley (guitar) grew up together and have been playing music with each other for 15 years.

Now settled in Oakland, CA the ensemble continues to create cosmically proportioned, churning jams evocative of a rainbow of inspirations such as Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, Can, Atomic Rooster, Hawkwind, Budgie, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Italian prog, Krautrock in general, and heavy space-outs.

Their debut, New Rituals was released by Alive Records in 2010 and for the next fourteen months the band hit the road hard, headlining a half a dozen tours in the US and appearing at numerous psych fests along the way. The band’s stellar live performances soon became a thing of wonder and saw them share stages with contemporary artists such as Sleepy Sun, Dead Meadow, Witchcraft, Pentagram, Black Mountain, Wooden Shjips, and Naam to name a few.

In the Winter of 2011-2012, the band returned to the studio with new rhythm section, Zack Anderson and Cory Berry, also intermittently involved with popular Swedish band Blues Pills. Shortly after the album's completion, the pair left to pursue Blues Pills, which was taking off in Europe. Mondo Drag soon replaced them with current drummer Ventura Garcia and bassist Andrew O'Neil upon relocating to Oakland.