Swaggering out of your speakers like a drunken Robert Plant, with effects-laden, multi-tracked guitars joyfully piercing your eardrums,
Mardo's self-titled debut is the kind of stone-cold, live-wire rock & roll that the Reverend cut his teeth on. As the legend has it, brothers Aron (bass) and Robbie Mardo (drums) were raised on a central California farm, weaned on the kind of oldies station rock that was fashionable back in the day. You know the stuff...the Beatles, the Kinks, the Who, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Motown junk and '70s funk that once lit up the airwaves before corporate consolidation and programmed playlists neutered rock & roll radio. The brothers Mardo, with guitarist Rob Small, have incorporated all of these influences and more into a single vision that has resulted in what is, perhaps, the best damn rock & roll debut that you'll hear this year.
Forget about retro-sounding acts like the White Stripes or the Darkness that pay lip service to the past with their musical tributes to sounds long gone. Mardo grabs its influences by the neck like a cat toying with a mouse, shaking that sucker until the essence drops into the grooves. These three longhaired fools aren't so much "retro" as they are mad scientists, reinventing arena-rock with a new millennial gloss. How many bands would have the cajones to cover a hard nut like Huey Lewis' "I Want A New Drug" and make it work? Infusing the petulant '80s new wave vibe of this treacley hit with big drumbeats, ripping guitar riffs and bluesy, echoed vocals, Mardo makes the song entirely its own.
So there's the obligatory cover tune, "how about the original music?" you ask. Take the reckless abandon of Black Oak Arkansas, throw in a little of Levi Stubbs' soul, Black Sabbath's unrelenting darkness, Led Zeppelin's metallic sturm-und-drang and add the memory of a hundred half-forgotten songs and you'll have Mardo's exciting and refreshing sound. "Cold Creepin'" takes a Golden Earring riff and mutates it into something even scarier than "Radar Love," pummeling the listener with a non-stop barrage of thunderous drumbeats and slashing guitarwork. "Broken Bones" kicks off like early Judas Priest, takes a left turn towards Metallica and finishes with overdriven Motorhead, Aron Mardo's growling vocals punctuated by Small's dangerous riffing and brother Robert's enormous drumwork. With staggered drumbeats and heavy, throbbing bass, "Poor Paul" takes the glam-rock roots of T-Rex and Slade and raises the ante with a soaring chorus and Small's fluid, imaginative leads.
Once upon a time, way back in the day, the Reverend did an interview with a Boston band called the Cavedogs. When asked to describe the band's sound, the lead singer said, "well, we make a lot of noise for three guys!" Ditto for Mardo, the last rock & roll innocents, three misguided fools with one foot in 1973 and the other in 2005, blasting a new take on the classic rock & roll sound out of massive Marshall cabinets, every song a feast of youthful recklessness. For three guys, Mardo makes a hell of a joyful noise. Everything you ever loved about rock & roll can be found right here, if you haven't gotten too old or too jaded to listen. (
House Of Restitution Records)
(Click on the CD cover to buy Mardo from Amazon.com)Labels: classic rock, Mardo
None of the current crop o’ revival kiddies trying to relive the boozy glory days of their grandparents can walk the ‘70s-styled cock-rock mambo line like the brothers Mardo. Weaned on mildew-crusted 45s by the likes of T-Rex, Slade, Sabbath and Zeppelin, the band’s self-titled debut was a brilliant bit o’ retro rock. With this second shot at overnite success, it seems like a committee of advisors, consultants, image-shapers and other ne’er-do-wells have chopped and screwed, flanged and wah-wah’d away the psyche-drenched booger-rock of Mardo’s debut in favor of a blatant grab at respectability. The money men behind the band smell a quick return on their investment and they’ve brought back producer Les Pierce to make sure that the boys play ball.
