-Hi guys, hope all of you and yours are keeping well with all that's going on... how are you managing to keep some degree of sanity during 'lock down'?
Hi Mike, hope you guys are doing well too! This has definitely been a crazy couple of months! We’re trying to keep ourselves busy. We all live in separate flats apart from Lewis and Alvaro, so band practice feels like something from a past life! At the moment we’re doing our Quarantine Covers every week, plus exchanging some ideas for new material and well... binge watching all the series and movies out there!
-What have been your three main 'lockdown' albums to listen to and why?
George Harrisons 'All things must pass'.
We needed something long to help us journey from A to B. In the house that is. The parameters of the album are ideal for any situation. It’s mellow and tranquil in a soft sort of way but doesn't lose you at any point. It has a certain punch. Not anything big and heavy to throw you out of balance with the music but a light sort of punch that gives energy, to see us through rather inactive times. All in all George said it 'All things must pass'. And they will.
Another album that gets heard a lot at the DogHouse lately is Rival Sons’ 'Feral Roots'. We just can’t get over it! It’s a very powerful album that just takes you for a ride. It’s got energy; it’s a fresh take on modern southern rock and definitely an instant classic for us.
Beyond that, Jono’s been running a lot. Desperate times, desperate measures and all that! Basically anything Royal Blood has been a staple. Sometimes you just need a particularly chunky riff to get you up a hill when you’re on your last legs… Literally.
https://www.facebook.com/MongrelDogs/videos
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-And whilst we are at it what have you been watching?
I think we all want to say here ‘a ton of porn’. But that's a lie… Some of us have actually been watching a plant grow. Not constantly. That's silly. But gradually over the course of a few weeks. It's a chilli plant lovingly and graciously gifted from Gustavo to the DogHouse (where Alvaro and Lewis live). We gave it miracle grow to help the little fella along. Should have chillies by the end of summer according to some pixels on a phone. Will we? Patiently we watch.
Gardening aside, amongst our lockdown streams we recommend watching Suspiria, one of the most aesthetic old school horror movies you can find. Beautifully made and definitely disturbing. We caught a YouTube streaming of “American Valhalla” a Rock Doc that follows Iggy Pops’ making of his 2016 “Post Pop Depression” and it’s totally worth a watch. Very very inspiring. And finally we’ve obviously seen Tiger King, but at this point, who hasn’t?
-The mighty wheels of the 'Live Music Industry', have come to a grinding halt.... however no matter the challenge we persevere, and to quote Jeff Goldblums’ Dr. Ian Malcolm from 'Jurassic Park' “life finds a way”... to this extent the Mongrel Dogs have embraced and harnessed the wonder of technology to bring us ‘Quarantine Covers’... please tell us all about it.
As you’d know, many bands are now in this weird position of not being able to play live for a while and trying to find ways to stay active. Since we are all split up in separate flats, we thought the best way to keep the machine rolling (and to kill some lockdown time as well!) was to learn some covers from bands we love and do our own acoustic versions of them. We’re releasing a song every week and we’re having a lot of fun along the way, which is probably the most important thing really.
-So far we’ve had covers of, BRMC, Queens of The Stoneage and The Stones... what’s next and can fans send in requests?
We just released a cover of “Where Did She Go” by The Struts, which was received pretty well by some Struts fans, made us really happy! Requests are always welcome and actually encouraged! We’re trying to keep things interesting and not fall into clichés. Anything that sparks our interest, we’ll take it into account.
https://www.facebook.com/MongrelDogs/videos
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- Would you consider recording an acoustic album?
Definitely! Acoustic albums always have this intimate approach that we’d love to tackle. When you play your songs in acoustic you need to sometimes rethink the arrangements and you could even end up with a completely different version. That’s something we’d definitely like to explore at some point.
-For those readers, who haven’t had the opportunity to listen to you before, how would you describe your sound, how did you get started and where did the band name come from?
The band has members from all over the world, so the name describes that sentiment pretty well - we’re a mongrel band! We all met in London which is a melting pot of so many cultures. Our sound is not so different. You could say our sound is a blend of different genres (alternative, garage, psychedelic, funk, blues) always gravitating towards high energy Rock & Roll.
We like to make noise and to keep things evolving, so we’re always looking for new sounds to explore.
-And out of all the tracks from your fantastic back catalogue where should the uninitiated start?
A good starting point would be our latest AB singles “Pursuits” and “Midnight Affairs” not only do they feature Jono’s debut in the band but also they show the musical direction we’re heading currently. The early stuff has Alvaro singing, you could consider that a prequel of the bands’ new vibe. Either way if you like our new tracks or the old ones, you’re definitely gonna love what’s coming next!
-To keep the fires burning in the Mongrel Dogs camp, have you guys been working on new material and if so, can you tell us about what we can hope to hear from you once you get back into the studio for recording?
Yeah, we were actually writing plenty of new material just before lockdown happened. We’re still in writing mode and we’re lucky to have enough technology to share our ideas remotely. You can definitely expect some sexy new songs; maybe in the form of an EP not too long after the apocalypse is over.
-Once 'lock down' is lifted and we can return to some degree of normality do you have any idea when and where we might be able to see you guys live?
As soon as we possibly can. We’re dying to get back onstage and give the people a taste of what’s been brewing at the DogHouse. We had a couple of Camden shows postponed until the second half of 2020 so that would be the first place you can find us once this is all over!
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Band Members;
Jono - Vocals
Alvaro - Guitar
Gustavo - Bass
Lewis - Drums
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