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6 out of 10
Mondo Primo reminds me of a set of particularly bad lyrics my friends and I found one time back in my undergrad days. At our University there was a communal practice room that all the student bands booked to use: it had a shitty old PA, a drum kit held together with gaffer tape and a piano whose destruction I was constantly plotting (In fact I still am). Every Thursday we would turn up with a six pack and jam out some Country and Blues for two or three hours and one time we found this pile of papers with song lyrics scrawled on them in a childish manner. They were in fact beyond terrible; we honestly believed they were part of some bizarre in-joke that we had stumbled across. Our favourite number by far was entitled "Blonde Girl, Yeah"; we liked it so much we even considered covering it. Sure enough the chorus went:
"Blond girl.yeah!"
But better than that was the final verse,
"I don't need another one,
I don't want another one
So let's have another one!"
Another what?" we asked. Another blonde girl? Another pint? Another water enema? Either way, Mondo Primo seem in similar musical territory and to prove it here are some of the lyrics from "Post Party Depression",
"Girls like guys who know what they want,
Girls like guys who get what they want"
Get what? Another pint? Another paint enema? Another blond girl even?
The first track of the record, "Overheated In Nashville", could pass for a Motley Crue track complete with sleazy riffs and lyrics about some slut's backside but it soon degenerates into a boy band style croon of a chorus. I can imagine it now: five guys in leather chaps with enough hairspray to burn down Dresden, one hand on their hearts and the other making some kind of sweeping motion as they bop up and down in a choreographed and rather contrived fashion, winking at their screaming teenage fans. Yep, WASP meets Boyzone is a sure fire winner.
"Band With Brand New Amps" is an apparent dig at rich kid bands,
"Woah oh,
Woah oh,
That's what we heard you singing"
Needless to say it does not go anywhere special. "Diablo Vs. Man's Van" is about 1987, the afterlife and sport cars. It kind of sounds like a song that somebody would write whilst incredibly high yet still think was acceptable the morning after. It is around here that the annoying and poorly executed synth over dubs starts to appear.
"Eye On You" sounds worrying similar to the fore mentioned "Post-Party Depression" and features even more synth with a crappy cheap tone, though it sounds vaguely like REM's more ambient experiments at points in the song. While "Powerchords" seems to be an experiment in taking unimaginative song titles to a new realm of banality it actually has a catchy 1950's style Rock & Roll riff with crooned lyrics and an edgy bass line,
"Dude, Your Girlfriend Sucks" really sounds like "Personality Crisis" by the New York Dolls, the same chord progression, crashing honky-tonk piano, complete with lead guitar licks that sound distinctly reminiscent of Johnny Thunders. That is a virtue that stands true across the whole record; really gritty tone and licks that sounds like Chuck Berry at Mach 10.
"Splitsville, Va" has some strong energy behind it, essentially sounding like a Sum 41 song complete with tempo changes, hard riffs and a relieving absence of shitty synth lines. "Cosmic Tuesday" is probably akin to a Queen B-side, leaving "Move Away From TN" as the final song. TN evidently stands for "Tennessee", as in the Southern State. Mondo Primo evidently is not into whiskey, Country music or cowboy hats, but then according to Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from the film Full Metal Jacket, "Queers & steers!", come from Tennessee. No, actually it was Texas. Anyway, the last track is much of the same, holding few surprises except a brief break down before the final chorus.
Pre-emo Blink 182? Busted? McFly? Who knows?
All the tracks are pretty short, rarely been explorative or experimental, instead sticking to little packages of radio friendly Pop, which is fine so long as Mondo Primo steer clear of canvassing themselves as a legitimate Punk band (See The Depths).
At times the vocals were down right annoying, high pitched and whiney, though there was the occasional Beach Boys style harmony. Meanwhile the lyrical content is so simple, so cliché, it is almost hilarious. At its base "2FNHOT" is Pop for an audience who are most likely not reading much Wordsworth or Keats and it does possess a sort of drunken simplicity.
When Andrew W.K first came out a lot of people questioned what exactly he was about. Their fatal flaw was to read too deeply into something that was in fact purposely quite shallow, as Dave Carnie pointed out in his review in Big Brother Skateboarding:
"People say they don't get Andrew W.K. What's to get? It's party Rock!"
Tracks like "Party Hard" were important clues to this conclusion. "Crazy Nights" by Kiss for instance does not hold any deep-rooted philosophy or intent beyond getting hammered at a Rock concert and feeling the music. Mondo Primo might just hold that same kind value as of group overflowing with tongue in cheek anthems.
Listen: www.myspace.com/mondoprimo
Tracklist:
1. Overheated In Nashville
2. Bands With Brand New Amps
3. Man's Van Vs. Diablo
4. Allegories
5. Dude, Your Girlfriend Sucks
6. East Coast Girls
7. Post-Party Depression
8. Eye On You
9. Powerchords
10. Splitsville Va
11. Cosmic Tuesday
12. Move Away From Tennessee
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