Introduce yourself…
Hey. This is Adam Savage. I'm the guitarist, songwriter, and founder of Mongrel. For anyone who's not familiar with us, we're a female fronted punk-rock-metal band from near Boston, MA.
How did the band start?
Back in the summer of 2003, my prior band was becoming increasingly frustrating and un-fun so I was talking to a friend of mine (Matt "Death" Rowe) who I knew from another band in the scene for a while about starting up a side project. He ended up leaving that band shortly before I dissolved my band so it was time to make the new band happen.
How did you come up with the name?
Matt (our first singer) and I had discussed that we wanted the band to be on the aggressive side, but to be able to bring in whatever influences and styles we wanted to, though mostly rooted in hard rock, punk, and metal. He suggested the name Mongrel - which by definition meant a hybrid or mixed breed, and the name seemed to have an underlying aggression to it so it was perfect. When Matt left the band in early 2004 to pursue school he gave his blessings to keep it going.
Who would you say are your influences?
Personally Guns N' Roses tops the list since they're the reason I started playing guitar in the first place.... Other influences would be The Doors, Pearl Jam, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Misfits, Amen, The Bronx, old Marilyn Manson, old Metallica, Anthrax, Slipknot, The Dead Boys, Dead Kennedy's, Sex Pistols, Beck, System of a Down, Nine Inch Nails, Motley Crue, Trashlight Vision, Rage Against the Machine, etc.
What is the punk scene like in Boston?
There's certainly some cool punk bands in Boston but we're not typically accepted in the Boston punk scene since we're not a "pure" punk band. I've found that unless you have lots of studs on your jacket, have a "punk" hair cut, and play '77 punk to '82 hardcore punk sounding stuff, they have a very narrow view of what constitutes being "punk" where as we get more accepted by the horror punk crowds or by punk crowds outside of major cities like Boston/Providence (in NYC we go over fine though).
Describe the song writing process...
Typically I write my lyrics first and have an idea for how I want the music, or I'll later on come up with something on guitar that makes me think of a set of lyrics and I'll put it together. Then I'll bring the song in to practice somewhere in the 85-95% complete range and show it to the gang. With new members in the band now though that process may change and open up a bit as we move forward.
Your first release an album called 'Fears, Lies and Propaganda', tell us about the album...
We self-released "Fear, Lies, & Propaganda" in 2006 with the original cover artwork by Acey Slade (ex-Dope, Murderdolls, Amen, Trashlight Vision), in 2007 we were approached by Screaming Ferret Wreckords who were partnered up with Locomotive Records about re-releasing the album. So we recorded a bonus track (a cover of the AMEN anthem "Coma America"), revised the cover art a bit and that was re-released by the label in April 2008
How do you feel the 'Revenge' EP differed?
"Revenge" was from the initial sessions of what was to be our 2nd full length album - we ended up with 20 songs we wanted to record so we took 5 of them for the "Revenge" EP which was put out in October 2009 as we amicably parted ways with our label and went back to our own Immolation Records imprint for our music.
You then released 'This Means War', tell us about the album...
Well....almost released... we had just finished recording, mixing, and mastering what was to be the "This Means War" album and we were trying to get the artwork finished for it when we had some major line up changes as our drummer got fired and that just really brought the deteriorating relationship between myself and our singer to a head and he pulled the plug first and quit. So, with that I chose to shelve the album and it was never released.
Your Current release is 'The New Breed of Old School', tell us about the EP...
We ended up replacing our drummer and long time singer over the summer of 2010 and we ended up with a female singer, after 7 years of being a male fronted band. As such we wanted to put the fans at ease quickly regarding the change and to prove to people that a female singer really did work for what we were doing. So at the begining of September 2010 we jumped in the studio and over a 2 day period recorded and mixed 6 songs that were originally recorded on the "Fear, Lies, and Propaganda" album so that the established fans could judge our new singer Jessica on tunes they were already familiar with. The response to the EP was great and we got some really killer reviews both here in the US and from UK sites.
Tell us about the new album...
We actually started back in the studio in October of 2010 to re-record the 15 songs that we shelved earlier in the year. We ended up making great time in the studio and chose to re-record 2 more old songs as well and ended up with 17 finished tunes. 5 of the tracks from these sessions became our EP "Declamation" which we released in early May 2011, again earning some really good reviews and a great response from the fans. The remaining 12 tracks will be coming out as the companion piece to the EP and will be called "Reclamation" and we expect to put it out in the Fall.
Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
Through a lot of work and good fortune we've gotten the chance to play with some really cool national acts over the years including the Misfits (6 times so far, #7 in October), Korn, Sepultura, GWAR, Fear (we did their north-eastern US tour with them), Otep, Prong, Blitzkid (multiple tours), Michale Graves (ex-Misfits), Dr Chud (ex-Misfits), Dizzy Reed (guns n' roses), Piggy D (rob zombie), American Headcharge, Hed(pe), The Exploited, All that Remains, Trashlight Vision (multiple tours), Wednesday13, etc etc. We even got to play once at the legendary CBGB's with both Trashlight Vision and Blizkid which was amazing!
Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
It's a tough call, the large venues with the bigger acts are cool just cause it's great to get to play for that many people and that many potential new fans. I will say that I find the barricade gap between the stage and the crowd frustrating though as we do feed off of the crowd energy so much that it makes it tougher to have that space between us and the fans that we're not used to.
Where have you toured?
We've played from Maine out to Ohio/Michigan down to Tennessee and West Virginia, and lots of places in between.
Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
Can't ever complain when we get to play with the Misfits. Trashlight Vision (RIP) and Blitzkid were always favorites as well. Some locals we always enjoy playing with are Mindset-X, Scarecrow Hill, Midnight Saints, and Evil Streaks.
Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
The Middle East in Boston, Tammany Hall in Worcester MA, Worcester Palladium in Worcester MA, Mad Bob's in Manchester NH, etc. Even though we only got to play there once, CBGB's really was amazing.
Do you see the future of Mongrel?
We're working hard and hoping that with the release of the new full length album we'll make enough noise that things start coming along where we can do more extensive touring, get over to the UK/Europe, and just keep things going and growing.
How can people contact the band?
Our main site is www.mongrelband.com and people can reach us right from the site, or find the links to our facebook, twitter, myspace, and other social networking sites. Or a simple email to MongrelBand@yahoo.com will get people in touch with us as well.
thanks for doing the interview with me!
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