Springing up from the white-trash suburbs of New Jersey, psychedelic metal dudes Monster Magnet have emerged like the sound of 1000 fuzzboxes and a spaceship landing on Mars. It does seem that the band cannibalise their own pedals out of out toasters and the like.
IT'S A SATANIC DRUG THING... YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND take off
the cover of Monster Magnet's First LP is an understatment. Every song they do
just seems to end up into on big grand finale, whether or not intended to do
so. A few years ago, the band was tagged as "psychedelic," owing as
much to former comics-store clerk Dave Wyndorf's lyrics as the churning, drugged
epics he masterminded. And though the label isn't really wrong, it doesn't impart
the full wealth of the band's power. In a throwback to the glory days of the '60s
and '70s--think Earth, Hawkwind, Black Sabbath, without the cheesy vocals--Wyndorf
and his bandmates throw themselves into emotional, heartstopping performances
that showcase the virtuosity missing from most of today's "rock stars."
Existing in a neither world between the underground and the overground, indeed
in their own dimension where they control both the vertical and the horizontal,
Monster Magnet is a insomnia fueled psychodrama, a constant blur of a mother
lode for those who crave maximum psychedelic overload....".My hands up to
the maker, my head's down in the bomb
I swim in bloated vision, and I kiss you on the phone
My heart beats so atomic, and I spill the sweat of drones
A mouth screams to a hundred, and my lips split all alone."
Taking their roots up in New Jersey has had it's shot
comings.Monster
Magnet started as Airport 75, it progressed backwards into Dog of Mystery because
they played a couple of live shows, then they got a new bass player who's name
was Hell Sausage; then when he left, they got a next door neighbour Jim Norton
in. Monster Magnet then gave him the boot and went back to being a three-piece
and recorded the first Monster Magnet single as Dog of Mystery. Wyndorf wasn't
in the picture yet, he came in when formed Airport 75 which consisted of Tim
Cronin on floor toms, Dave Wyndorf on guitar and John McBain played six-string
Danelectro fuzz bass. If you can imagine that! Our set list consisted of 'Set
The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun', 'Black JuJu' and 'Lizard Johnny', which
later became a Monster Magnet song. That is when they got their first paying
gig, opening up for Jane's Addiction, at the City Gardens in Trenton. Monster
Magnet still didn't have any originals apart from 'Lizard Johnny' at that time.
Then someone out in Long Island got the tape with 'Lizard Johnny' and 'Freak Shop
USA' and pressed it, that record came out and Monster Magnet never got paid for
it. Never saw a cent.
From there Monster Magnet went to Caroline Records and did a single ['Murder'/'Tractor', released in 1990] and then went to Glitterhouse and put the demos out ['Snake Dance' /'Tractor' /'Nod Scene' /'Freak Shop USA' /'Lizard Johnny', also in 1990]
Then in 1991 Monster Magnet did 'Spine Of God', and then the 'Tab' EP which was a 38 minute instrumental and three fifteen minute semi-instrumental songs....". Peace is what you get from the time of cocaine, yeah You don't yank on the Spine of God You get what you give; You know what I mean..."
Dave Wyndorf is Monster Magnet at this point. Signing to A&M was the next step which produced the critically acclaimed album SUPERJUDGE, as well as solidifying the lineup: Vocalist, Guitarist Dave Wyndorf, guitarist Ed Mundell, bassist Joe Calandra, drummer Jon Kleiman, and atomic propagandist/mountain of judgment Tim Cronin.
Supporting tours with Soundgarden, White Zombie, and The Ramones as well as headlining tours with Paw, Clutch, and Raging Slab have established Monster magnet's must see reputation which is by no doubt aided and abetted Cronin's psychotic light show that owes more to the Altamont than Woodstock.
--DOPES TO INFINITY--
is arguably Monster Magnets best creation to date.
This .44 magnum opus clocks
in at over an hour and never lets up. The title track and "Third Alternative"
are some of the heaviest songs ever waxed with a hypnotic sway that's positively
narcotic.In case you haven't already guessed, Dave says that the album's title
means "absolutely nothing! It means that at some point in this process of
traveling around and going nuts, you start to worry that it's mentally stunting
your growth because you're doing the same thing over and over again. It was a
comment I made while walking onto a tour bus somewhere--'I think I'm going to
be a dope to infinity.' It's an album to bask in the light of a nuclear explosion
by!"
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