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THE MONGRELS:
Bite Into And Redefine the
Local Original Scene By Robert E. Martin
Such is the case with the 'power-punk' music of The Mongrels - a relatively new group consisting of founder Tim Avram on bass, Shane Swank (formerly of Agent Superfizz) on drums, with new guitarists Dan Kostrezewa and Josh Jekel completing the sound. Feeling that rock music in the area was becoming too generic, The Mongrels began almost three years ago when Avram and his co-hort Chris Phillips decided to start something new. The two started writing songs in early 2001with the idea of blending hard-hitting punk rock with a 1950s attitude. After undergoing several line-up changes, in late 2003 the heavy stick smashing drum style of Shane Swank came into play, Phillips left the band, and Avram started churning out short, riff-laden, two-minute original rock 'n roll wonders on an almost daily basis. Through dedication, hard work, and unwillingness to compromise on the important points of what makes a great rock group, things started gelling together for The Mongrels. The group nailed top honors at this year's 2004 Review Music Awards for Rookie of the Year in the Rock division, and is slated to release their self-titled debut CD in early August. Moreover, at a time when live gigs for many rock bands are drying up, The Mongrels have managed to nail regular gigs at White's Bar, where they perform on alternating Thursday nights, and at Wiseguy's where they can be seen every other Wednesday. Indeed, much of the draw at their live performances can be attested to the fact that The Mongrels are a group that believes in having fun with the music. Consequently, they've developed a reputation for refreshing unpredictability at their live shows. The group is known for forcing their instruments to malfunction and have even, on occasion, blown the lights out of clubs. A person can go to a Mongrels show never hearing of them and leave a fan because the band has one simple objective: show the world music you can dance to, or hate someone to. Either way you can feel the power & emotion from every member of the band when they take the stage. "We're doing stuff nobody else is doing," reflects Tim when asked what he feels distinguishes his band. "There's a lot of punk bands around, but we're doing an 'old school' think and also trying to sell albums. I've been writing hooks like crazy and trying to be successful at it because we don't wish to stay a local band. We want to go national." "Musically, I think what distinguishes us is that we've got an edge that is more palatable yet non-mainstream," adds Shane. "We're doing what we want and it just happens that we all want the same thing, so now we're at a sound and solid spot for the group." In terms of musical influences, the group sites legendary punk bands like The Ramones and MC5, but also take a nod to contemporary acts like Face to Face and Minor Threat. "I'm not really influenced by popular punk bands like Green Day," notes Avram, "except that I study bands like that to see how they made it. You know, how did you do that? But it isn't something I really listen to." With most of the writing chores done by Avram, the group now have roughly 30 original songs to draw from. "It
isn't hard to write songs for me," he explains, "but just comes to me. I write a
new hit every day each time we practice. Basically, I just hear it in my head.
You match a melody with the guitar and change the melody and words around a big
and it's pretty easy." "Mainly girls," he laughs in typical rebel rock fashion. "For some reason I spent about a year writing about guns, drugs and fights, and I don't even do any of that, but I found something glamorous about it. It was strange - like I was living out this other life. But mostly I write about girls. It used to be a specific girl I would write about, but now it's just the idea of girls. Although the last song I wrote was about war, which is actually on the new CD and is called 'First World War'."
Obviously, the group is pleased with the growth of their fan base, which share a common displeasure with the status quo. "We get a lot of regulars and people at every show that ask for autographs and stuff," notes Shane, "but it also has to do with the fact that kids once going to coffee houses are old enough to get into the bars now. It's been a struggle because by not playing covers or stuff on the radio, it takes time to win over a crowd. But we're getting there." Besides their regular gigs at Whites and Wiseguys, The Mongrels are also starting to book shows in the Detroit area, and are trying to get on the Alice Cooper bill at Ojibway Island in August. "We gave the CD to one of the bands playing on the Cooper bill, Dirty Americans, and they loved it.
They phoned us up and said they'd try to set up some shows with us. They also gave our CD to their manager and label, so hopefully something will happen from that. You never know." The Mongrels debut CD consists of eleven tracks that were written over an 18-month period.
"Since we went into the studio I've written 11 more new ones," notes Tim, "but they're pretty much presented in the order they were written. We did all the recording in two days and the engineer was going, "Let's do that again,' and we're like, "No, let's move on and not waste time. I want to get these things done before I'm too drunk to play 'em'" The group is encouraged by the state of the local music scene and optimistic. "Locally, there's a lot of interest and some great bands coming out, even though there seems to be less venues to play," comments Shane. "Astra is a really good band and Somewhere Safe are also very good. There's a lot of promising talent out there that nobody's heard yet." When asked about their raucous stage antics, the group is all smiles. "We go all out," smiles Tim, "because I'm not much of a guitar player so I have to compensate on stage. If you have a good time so will other people, so I make it a point to use up every inch of the stage." "We're not trying to be the best musicians on earth," reflects Shane. "I'm not trying to be the best drummer on earth. I don't care about that. It's how good the songs are. This isn't a Toughman or a popularity contest in terms of who's the fastest drummer." "And
I'm a horrible bass player," adds Tim. "I don't write songs on the bass but use
an acoustic guitar. The bass sits and waits to get played." "I don't think Josh ever heard of punk rock, really, before joining us," notes Tim. "It's all new to him and he's enjoying it. He's introduced scales into the songs so now it's like Allman Brothers punk. I met with Josh to run over the material and the next day he played his first show. He learned seven songs backward and forward in an hour." "All my songs are two minutes long," laughs Tim. "That's why I write so many - because none of them are longer than two minutes. We're an anti-jam band. But we do perform Time by Pink Floyd and do it in one minute and 30 seconds. People like to heart that. They enjoy hearing a song they grew up with but never heard before in this style."
"Playing shows three days a week is great because it gets us out there more.
It's like learning to play guitar in front of a real audience!" |
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