Monday Psych Magic: Mondo Drag Ends Echoplex Residency

By Andrew Bansal

mondodrag_echo

August 29th 2016, Echoplex, Los Angeles CA: Oakland CA psych rock quintet Mondo Drag took over the Echoplex for three residency shows in the second half of August 2016, bringing their trippy jams to a locality in the Los Angeles most appropriate for their music. They opened for The Sword at the Glass House in Pomona last year and created a great first impression with a spellbinding performance, and the prospect of seeing them as a headline act made for an even more tempting prospect. Even amidst a plethora of other shows taking place in LA in August, many of similar or related musical styles, Mondo Drag’s residency drew good turnouts to the Echoplex, and they closed it out with the final show last Monday August 29th, with support acts Jesus Sons and Slow Season, a no-cover event. Despite the aftermath of the prior weekend’s Psycho Las Vegas festival affecting turnouts at stoner rock shows in LA during the first half of this week, Mondo Drag and company pulled a decent crowd and put on quite a show.

Central California quartet Slow Season started proceedings at 9 PM with a highly enjoyable set of vintage rock n’ roll. The band started out in 2012 and their three RidingEasy full-length releases thus far have clearly demonstrated Zeppelin-esque tendencies, but the band playing a cover of ‘Supernaut’ in this set also showcased their Sabbath worship, and they’re doing their bit in settling the everlasting Sabbath-Zeppelin debate with perhaps the best possible answer: both. Through their live performance they certainly highlight the honest, organic, wholehearted, no-frills nature of their musicianship, so fluent, unflustered and effortless that they might as well record their albums on stage instead of bothering to ever enter a studio. You know you’re possibly in for a great show when the opening act itself is this good. Slow Season set the bar high for the bands to follow, and should probably get their own weekly residency at a venue like this.

Slow Season
Slow Season

Sandwiched between two heavy psych rock acts, Los Angeles’ own Jesus Sons played second and served as a more laid-back, bluesier variant, infusing some slide guitar, harmonica and a touch of Southern rock into this evening. Jesus Sons didn’t come across as heavy as the other two bands but to play with a sound as clean as theirs is an art in itself and shows true talent, as these musicians definitely don’t hide behind anything. Ironically, their bluesy tunes compelled the attendees at Echoplex to rid themselves of the Monday blues and get their dancing shoes on, which some of them did. Jesus Sons is the kind of band that has frequented LA venues like Harvard & Stone and fit easily in a college rock/indie rock kind of atmosphere, but here they proved they can jive with the stoner rock folk just as well, and their participation in more shows of this nature wouldn’t go amiss.

Jesus Sons
Jesus Sons

Many in LA’s stoner rock community had traveled to Vegas the weekend prior and did not recover nearly enough to have any desire or energy to attend this show, but those that did turn up were having a great time so far, watching the two great opening acts and mingling in the intermissions on the smoking patio while catching firsthand or secondhand high. On an already cool summer night, the air-conditioning inside the Echoplex and the style of the music played on stage made it a chilled-out hang for all. The stage backdrop comprised of grainy live video projections of the band in the foreground, adding further to the trippy vibe. Jesus Sons and Slow Season delivered some smooth jams, but this evening had not reached its peak yet.

Another greatly positive aspect of the show was all the openers getting 40-45 minute sets and quick 15-20 turnarounds between bands. Time flew and around 11 PM, Mondo Drag took the stage to engulf the Echoplex with a heavy cloud of psychedelia, led by their expert exploits on Moog synth and Hammond organ and backed excellently with solid riffs, poetic clean singing and crafty rhythmic patterns. The vocals were only occasional in some tunes and the majority of the set was decorated with long instrumental passages. That said, even though there are ups and downs and moments of wildness, there is clear structure to their psych/krautrock/space rock sound, and this is by no means a jam band. They are taking inspiration from the likes of Hawkwind and proving the timelessness of that type of music by putting their own spin to it in powerfully compelling fashion. The Echoplex crowd soaked in every bit of it as Mondo Drag took them on a meditative journey of sorts. This was the only show this writer was able to attend through this residency, but the decision to turn up to this one came with no regret whatsoever, as Mondo Drag is a band one could see week after week and not get tired of, because experiencing them live is like putting on an episode of your favorite ’70s show that instantly transports you back to that era and invokes a feeling you’re very much familiar and comfortable with.

Overall, this show was the best possible way to spend this Monday night, with three great young bands that exuberantly orchestrated a captivating flashback to a glorious era of music.

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Mondo Drag
Mondo Drag

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