MONDO GECKO: 100 AND COUNTING
NOVEMBER 5th | TT the BEARS
Most bands don’t make it to 100 shows, but when the good ones do, they make sure to do it in style. Mondo Gecko will reach their legendary 100th this Friday at TT the Bear’s Place and they promise to have plenty of “goodies in store.” 2010 has been a big year so far for Mondo Gecko, having played numerous festivals over the summer and welcoming Matt Drummey to the group as their new bass player. As they continue to grow and evolve as a band, they have also recruited a large slew of new fans and have become a household name in Boston and beyond. Help them cap off the first 100 and welcome the next 100 this Friday night at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge with Dirty Paris, Superfrog, and Blue Mountain Bustdown. Allston Pudding caught up with lead guitarist Luke Stratton to find out what’s in store.
So Luke, there’s been some changes in the band since I last talked to you guys. How has the new lineup worked out so far?
Luke: Yeah, its been great. Since Matt joined the band its been like leaps and bounds. It’s kind of a different animal now though because we had two guitarists for a while, but it seems to be more dynamic. We can work a lot quicker as a quartet. I’ve had to step my game up and its been good for everybody I think.
In your setlists, you’ve gradually incorporated more original material. When it comes to songwriting, is there a basic songwriter in the group, or is it more of a collaborative effort?
L: It’s mostly me and Eric (McEwen). Usually we’ll bring in a structure that we’ve worked on on our own and then the other three guys will play on it and kind of write their own parts. Like we have this new song called “Beacon,” which I wrote most of the sections for, but then Aaron (Morey) and Eric worked out this cool ending and we incorporated that, so the whole tune kind of got stitched together as an ensemble.
You guys play a lot of festivals over the summer. With festival season over, has it been tougher to find gigs?
L: This was really our first summer hitting the festival circuit. We did a couple last summer, but this year we were going up every other weekend and playing some really good time slots at some smaller festivals. We did a festival with The Breakfast where it was pretty much just us and them. But then we did some gigs back in Boston over the summer too. We had one show at the House of Blues side room and we hadn’t played in Boston for a while because we were doing the whole festival thing. We didn’t expect much, we just played it to see how it would go and then a ton of people showed up. Then we played the Middle East a couple of weeks ago with The Macpodz, so we’re kind of taking it to the next level which is exciting.
What’s your ideal setting for a gig? Do you like club shows, basement shows, or festivals?
L: The key thing is that we like to play two sets. We really like playing by ourselves where it’s like “An Evening with Mondo Gecko.” The good part about playing with other bands is that we kind of get to share fans. The club or bar gigs sometimes really feel like a big deal because you get to play on a stage and there’s good sound, but then there are some bar gigs where we’re just playing on a restaurant floor but it gets really packed and people are really into it. The festivals are great because there are so many people who instantly love the kind of music that we play, but there’s also a ton of bands so you’re kind of sharing the experience.
I used to see you guys at Harper’s Ferry a lot and now Harper’s just closed. I get the impression from most of the folks that I talk to that nobody seems to be too disappointed about it. What’s your opinion?
L: Well, LiveNation is going to re-open it. I think the thing with Harper’s is that they maybe just had some staffing issues. Like you said, we played there a bunch and I really like the room but we had some bad experiences with the staff, so hopefully that will be resolved now. I always liked playing there though because the sound was really good and there’s plenty of room to dance. We’ll miss it for sure.
Any bands in particular that you have liked playing with lately?
L: Yeah, we’ve always loved playing with The Breakfast a lot. We just played with them at a sold out show up at the Stone Church in New Hampshire. They let us sit in for their encore which was pretty exciting. We’re opening for Kung Fu at Tammany Hall out in Worcester in November. Kung Fu is two guys from The Breakfast, one of the guys from RAQ, and one guy who plays with the Allman Brothers. It’s like a jazz fusion jamband supergroup. There’s a bunch of bands on the scene right now that we’d like to play with. Every couple of weeks we get a phone call for a new exciting gig opportunity.
100 shows and still no studio album. Any plans to record in the near future?
L: Yeah man, we’re actually hard at work on it. We took a week off about a month or two ago and we all went into the studio for a few days and laid down all of the basics. So now we’re just working on overdubs and vocals and mixing. We’re looking at hopefully a late winter release and if not, spring for sure. We’ll definitely have a release show for that, hopefully even a release tour. We definitely want to have it ready for the festival season.
Mondo Gecko takes a very grassroots approach when it comes to networking and building a fanbase. Is there any way that fans can help promote?
L: Yeah definitely, the whole grassroots approach has really made a big difference for us. The stickers thing has been huge. We have three different stickers that we hand out everywhere and we have a bit of a street team where they would go to a Phish show or Dead show and hand out enough stickers so that if you were at that show, you would see green Mondo Gecko stickers everywhere. If anybody wants to help with stickers or flyers for upcoming shows, it really makes a big difference. Also, Facebook seems to be where everything is moving. People who spread our music on Facebook really help us out.
What are the positives and negatives of being grouped as a jamband?
L: We have a variety of different opinions within the group on that topic. It depends on what you think of. When I think of the term “jamband,” I think of two sets, a different setlist every night, there’s lots of improvisation and lots of different genres, and there’s that grassroots approach with participation from the audience. A lot of people put negative connotations on the term, though. People think that you just get up and play over the same two chords for like two hours, you know? So it depends on who you’re talking to, some of the guys in the band really don’t like the term because there’s also a lot of really bad jambands out there. One good thing is that being called a jamband gives us a basis for comparison with other good jambands. But then again, there’s a lot of Mondo Gecko fans that don’t listen to any of that kind of music.
100 shows is a pretty impressive mark. Any big plans for TT’s on Friday?
L: Yeah, we got some tidbits we’re working on, but I guess you need to be there to see what happens! We’ve got some friends that may come and sit in. It’s kind of a big deal though, the first 100 are really pivotal in shaping what kind of band you are. If anybody hasn’t seen the band with Matt, it’s really the next level in my opinion. We’ll be celebrating that in full on Friday night.
-Perry Eaton
http://www.allstonpudding.com/post/1451146697/mondo-gecko-100-and-counting
