If it's rare enough to find a modern prog rock band sounding like they've just stepped out of the early 70's the fact that they are based in California is even more unlikely. Prog rock never did have it's natural roots in the States and it wasn't until the 1980's and the likes of Genesis and Yes redesigned their sound for the MTV market prog rock, if that's what it could still be called by then, had any impact on the wider US audience. But here we are in 2015 and Mondo Drag have just released their second album creating as near a perfect set of prog tracks you'd think they'd formed in Europe at the height of rocks progressive evolution between 1970 and 72 and well before punk rock set the rock and roll clock to zero again. There's not an inkling here there ever was such a thing as new wave. Mondo Drag's analogue sound has all the instruments and themes associated with an era when audiences sat on the floor of a venue and just spaced out to the music.
"The band caravanned across the country last year, settling in Oakland, CA." hints at the back story to the album, and an experience any UK rock band would be highly envious of in this gig strapped land. But it's served as the perfect way for Mondo Drag to to shape their sound. although they say the three core members of John Gamino, Nolan Girard, and Jake Sheley grew up together which is why the cohesion of the sound is so good, but we'd still love to know the influences that drew them to this music. They've also played headlining shows at the Chicago Pysch Fest and the Cincy Psych Fest so surely a Europen tour would be the logical next move for them. Germany for one would surely embrace this sound given some of their summer festival line-ups.
Here's their bandcamp stream of the album and you can either download it via the widget below or better still go and buy the whole thing on vinyl from their website. which surely must be the medium of choice for Mondo Drag. Mind you how on earth they came up with that band name is another matter and probably a lot less to do with analogue prog chat and a lot more to do with how long they could inhale a blunt. Just look at their picture above for your best guess.
