If you’re a fan of Mondo Generator’s music and want to know more about the band, you’ve come to the right place. Right here on this page, you’ll find out all about the Californian rock band, from their history and members to their music and gigs. Now’s a great time to get involved and find out more about the band, especially since they’ve just made a long anticipated return to the scene with not one, but two, albums released in 2020. Have a read to learn all about the band and then listen to some of their tunes and get rocking!
History
Mondo Generator can trace their roots back to 1997. The band was founded by Nick Oliveri in the Van Nuys neighbourhood of Los Angeles. At the time, Oliveri was a full time member of the band Queens of the Stone Age. He produced the very first Mondo Generator album, Cocaine Rodeo, along with some of his friends, including Josh Homme (also a member of Queens of the Stone Age), Rob Oswald, Brant Bjork and Karl Doyle, among others.
The ‘Mondo’ in the band’s name is the Italian word for ‘world’. Back in the early 90s, Brant Bjork spray painted the phrase ‘Mondo Generator’ onto Oliveri’s amplifier. Oliveri liked the phrase and ended up writing a song named after it, which appeared on the 1992 Blues for the Red Sun album by Kyuss, which Oliveri was a member of at the time. When it came to forming his own side project, he decided to use the name ‘Mondo Generator’ and it stuck.
Due to Oliveri working with Queens of the Stone Age, Cocaine Rodeo didn’t get a proper release until 2000. It was distributed by the heavy metal label Southern Lord Records, though its release was supported with very few live performances. As such, most of the people who purchased the first Mondo Generator album were Queens of the Stone Age fans.
For the band’s second album, A Drug Problem That Never Existed, much more promotion was done. The album came out in 2003 and was jointly released on two labels: Ipecac Recordings and Rekords Rekords, which was formed by Josh Homme. For this release, the band embarked on a three month tour visiting numerous places throughout North America and Europe.
Oliveri was fired from Queens of the Stone Age in early 2004 and decided to focus entirely on Mondo Generator. Later that year, the album Demolition Day was released and toured, with a four track EP, III the EP, also being produced and released that year.
Fast forward to 2006 and the band’s name officially changed to Nick Oliveri and the Mondo Genera tor. Oliveri, along with two new members, signed up to the label Mother Tongue Records, and re leased the album Dead Planet. In 2007, the band accepted a slot on the Ozzfest 2007 tour, though they ended not committing to all of the dates they were booked for because of complications with Queens of the Stone Age not joining the tour.
Then in 2012, the album Hell Comes To Your Heart was released and promoted with a tour. Two years later, Oliveri released a solo album, Leave Me Alone, under the name Nick Oliveri’s Uncontrol lable. He went on to promote the album at various gigs and once that was done, Mondo Generator continued doing various tours and gigs. It wasn’t until 2020 that new Mondo Generator music was released. In the build up to the new music, the band still did tours. Nowadays, the riding high off the back of their two new albums. Though nothing’s been confirmed as of yet, it’s very likely that more Mondo Generator music is being worked on right now.
Members
Over the years, Mondo Generator has had quite a few line up changes. In fact, there are just over twenty former members. Of these, one was a bassist, nine were guitarists, and no fewer than eleven were drummers. The only member who’s been around since day one is Nick Oliveri, the band’s founder. He’s currently the lead vocalist and bass player, though for a brief period from 2003 to 2004 he was the band’s guitarist. The other two current members are guitarist Mike Pygmie, who’s been a member since 2012; and drummer Mike Amster, who joined in 2018.
Some very high profile musicians have played for Mondo Generator at some point or other. For example, there’s drummer Dave Grohl, who was with the band from 2003 to 2004. He’s best known for being Nirvana’s longest serving drummer and for founding Foo Fighters, a hugely successful act with nine albums to their name. There’s also Josh Homme, who cofounded Eagles of Death Metal in 1998 and, two years earlier, founded Queens of the Stone Age. Many of the other instrumentalists who have been part of the band at some stage have played with other bands producing similar sorts of music. Have a look through the list of former members and you may well recognise a name or two. Here’s the full list of the band’s current and previous members:
Current line-up:
- Nick Oliveri: bassist (1997-2003; 2004-now), guitarist (2003-2004), lead vocalist (1997-now)
- Mike Amster: drummer (2018-now)
- Mike Pygmie: guitarist (2012-now)
Former members:
Bassists
- Molly McGuire (2003-2004)
Drummers
- Rob Oswald (1997)
- Brant Bjork (1997-2003)
- Joey Castillo (2003)
- Dave Grohl (2003-2004)
- Alfredo Hernandez (2004)
- Josh Lamar (2004)
- Ben Thomas (2004-2006)
- Ernie Longoria (2006-2007)
- Giampaolo Farnedi (2007)
- Hoss Wright (2006, 2007-2015)
- Jeff Bowman (2015-2018)
Guitarists
- Brent Malkus (1997)
- Derek Myers (1997-1998)
- Josh Homme (1997-2002)
- Troy Van Leeuwen (2003)
- Dave Catching (2003-2004)
- Marc Diamond (2004-2005)
- Ben Perrier (2004-2006)
- Simon Beggs (2006-2007)
- Ian Taylor (2007-2015)
Music Style
Mondo Generator’s music style is primarily rock ’n’ roll. However, the band does dip into many other genres and sub genres across their albums and EPs. The music released by the band incorporates elements of alternative rock, punk rock, hard rock, alternative metal, hardcore and stoner rock, to name a few. It has an edgy, raw feel to it thanks to the writing and delivery of the lyrics, not to mention the instrumentation used. It has a sort of old school vibe about it, too. What critics have high lighted as the band’s trademark is the way they use their vocal melodies. They’ve also picked up on the songwriting and pointed out that it’s particularly engaging, grabbing listeners’ attention from the get go and keeping them hooked for the song’s full duration.
Biggest Songs
Mondo Generator’s discography is fairly extensive. The band released their first full length studio album, Cocaine Rodeo, back in 2000. From 2003 to 2012, a total of four albums were released; after Hell Comes To Your Heart came out in 2012, it would take eight years for a new Mondo Generator album to be released. In fact, the wait paid off as the band released two albums in 2020 on the Heavy Psych Sounds label: Fuck It came out in February, while Shooters Bible followed a month later. This second one was actually an unreleased collection recorded back in 2010.
As well as albums, the band’s put out a total of four EPs and in 2016 released a best of collection featuring their most recognisable and best loved songs from throughout their career. One of the big gest ones is ‘So High, So Low’, which features on the 2007 album Dead Planet. This particular one is the band’s most popular song on YouTube in terms of views, with over 220,000 views to date. Other big songs include ‘Lie Detector’ from the 2006 album Dead Planet (173,000 views) and ‘The Last Train’, the final track on the 2012 album Hell Comes To Your Heart (56,000 views).
If you want to listen to more of the band’s many songs, check out their videos on YouTube. Or, purchase a copy of the Best Of album, which gathers the band’s best songs (according to the band themselves) all in one place. Best Of includes a total of 21 tracks, from opening track ‘13th Floor’ and the lengthy ‘Simple Exploding Man’ (over 11 minutes long), to ‘Sonicslowmotiontrails’ and ‘Shawnette Jackson’. Give this compilation album a listen to really get a feel for what the band’s music is like, then check out some of their full length studio albums. Head to their official website to purchase copies of albums and support the band. Buy CDs or, if you’re something of a traditionalist, buy vinyl copies of the band’s works and blast their tunes out on your record player.
Major Appearances
Mondo Generator has set off on dozens of tours to promote their albums and entertain their many fans throughout the world. Most of the band’s live gigs have been in North America and Europe, though they’ve also played in Australia (2008 and 2010) and New Zealand (2010), as well as in South America (2013 and Brazil in 2019). Most of the tours Mondo Generator has gone on have been the band’s own headlining tours. Some of them, however, have been other acts’ tours that the band has joined as a support act.
2019 was a big year for Mondo Generator, as the band toured for the first time in three years. In January, they supported Yawning Man for select dates on the Revolt Against Tired Noises North American Tour. Then from May to June they supported the Japanese metal band Church of Misery on the North American Tour, playing a total of sixteen gigs. That year, the band also embarked on tours of Europe and Brazil, before setting off on another European tour in 2020 and supporting The Obsessed on a North American tour. Some of the acts that Mondo Generator has supported on tours over the years include Brant Bjork (2003, 2004), Motorhead (2005), Fireball Ministry (2008) and Wino (2012, 2013). Touring has played a key part in the band’s success and has helped them get to where they are today.
Latest News
Want to keep up with all the latest Mondo Generator news? If you’re on Facebook, go ahead and like the band’s official page. It has over 17,000 followers and is one of the best sources for the band’s latest updates. There’s also a Twitter account and an Instagram page, though neither of these has anywhere near as many followers as the Facebook page. If you want to stay up to date with the band through social media, your best bet is liking the Facebook page.
While the band is quite active on social media, as well as checking out their social media pages you should stop by the official website. Here you can purchase copies of the band’s albums and EPs, along with branded merchandise (mainly T-shirts, though some bags and hats, too). You can even buy copies of music Nick Oliveri has released as a solo artist separately from Mondo Generator. The site has direct links to the band’s several social media pages as well.
So, if you call yourself a fan of Mondo Generator, follow them online and stay informed. Find out when the band’s next live shows are and when new music is coming out. While there’s a good chance music is being produced right now, it may be some time before a new album is released, especially since the band have released two full albums this year alone and will likely want to continue promoting them.