Ed Mundell Leaves Monster Magnet
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 4th, 2010 by H.P. TaskmasterWell, it’s surprising, but it’s not really a surprise. Ed Mundell‘s been involved in a number of outside creative endeavors separate from Monster Magnet the last couple years, and now that he’s left the long-running Jersey band, he’ll be able to pursue whatever he wants to full-time. I can’t really hold it against him. Blabbermouth broke the story yesterday, but I figured I’d post it here too in case anyone didn’t see it there or the hundred thousand other places it popped up:
After 18 years, guitarist Ed Mundell has left Monster Magnet for “personal reasons.” The band’s mainman, Dave Wyndorf, states, “What can I say? [Ed] told me this two months ago and I gave him some time for him to perhaps reconsider but no go. It’s a bummer, yeah but we’ve been through this kind of thing before. Make no mistake, Magnet goes on. We start the ‘Mastermind’ tour tonight [Wednesday, Nov. 3] in Cologne, Germany with Phil Caivano and Garrett Sweeny [Riotgod] handling dual guitar chores.” He adds, “I’d like to thank Ed for the immense talent he’s brought to the band over the years and wish him good luck in whatever he decides to do next. Good luck, Ed, we’ll miss you!”
About guitarist Garrett Sweeny, Wyndorf states, “[He's] a maniac! He learned a fuckload of Monster Magnet songs in less than two months and is shredding the shit out of ‘em! See for yourself.”
Mastermind , the long-awaited new album from Monster Magnet, sold around 3,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 165 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band’s previous effort, 4-Way Diablo, opened with 1,800 units back in November 2007.
In transcribing the interview you’re (hopefully) about to read, I tried very hard to capture the rhythm and exuberance in Monster Magnet frontman Dave Wyndorf‘s speaking voice. To quote South Park, “It’s a Jersey thing.” Oftentimes, the venerable vocalist would begin a thought, pause, and pursue it from a different direction. I did my best to keep some of that and still make it read naturally. It’s always a balance with these things.
Following two albums on SPV, New Jersey stalwarts Monster Magnet have made a new home for themselves on Napalm Records for the release of their new album, Mastermind. It’s the band’s eighth album overall (they’ve been on a regimented every-three-years schedule since 1995’s Dopes to Infinity), and if you’ve followed the course frontman/guitarist/singer Dave Wyndorf has taken in his songwriting over the last decade in the band on albums like 2004’s Monolithic Baby! and 2007’s 4-Way Diablo, you probably won’t find too many surprises on Mastermind in terms of style. Rather, what sticks out immediately about the new collection is how much livelier the production sounds, particularly in relation to 4-Way Diablo, which was practically flat across the board. This is still a modern, professional production in every sense (pretty sure those are drum samples), and as Matt Hyde also helmed the last album, I can only imagine it was a specific change frontman/guitarist Dave Wyndorf — common understanding is it’s his band in terms of songwriting and direction, etc. — wanted to make in terms of overall approach. It was the right choice.
record’s impending release, the band has 
Monster Magnet on tour:
It was strange walking down the steps into Burlington, Vermont‘s Pure Pop Records this past Saturday, because I’d been there before. Six years ago, when The Patient Mrs. and I were first married, we took off headed north on the Thruway, just as a kind of mini-getaway post-wedding. Our actual honeymoon was still a few months off, and we ended up in Burlington by happenstance, just because it was there, and we must have hit Pure Pop on that trip — don’t ask me what I bought — so being back there was a dreamy deja vu. No, it didn’t affect the shopping experience.
jewel case copy of Scissorfight‘s Mantrapping for Sport and Profit from the latter, because I only own the digipak and because we’re situated right next to New Hampshire and I consider everything north of Massachusetts to be Scissorfight country, but changed my mind last minute. A choice I lived to regret. I didn’t have high hopes for Pure Pop, because it’s one of those super-indie stores that so loves being indie, but I did alright in the end.
I don’t suppose it was the best haul ever — I was at least momentarily more psyched by the shaved ice flavor “Tiger Blood” that was available at the nearby outdoor market — but screw it, comedy records are good for long drives, and I’ve been doing plenty of that lately. And honestly, I’d have grabbed some stuff out of that avant/pretentious section if I didn’t already own everything I wanted from it, so no slight on Pure Pop, which had a reasonably well-organized layout and broad range of available goods.
Instrumental Los Angeles (by way of West Virginia) trio Karma to Burn have just released their first full-length since 2002 in the form of Appalachian Incantation, and are set to kick off their first US tour in support of the record tomorrow night in Brooklyn. For most bands, that would probably qualify as “busy enough,” but Karma to Burn, who officially reunited in Spring 2009 and have since had a bevvy of releases, seem to prefer their collective plate when it’s full.
I always have to marvel at fans of Karma to Burn who can stand at a show and get into an argument about which was a better song, “Eight” or “Twenty Six,” as personally, I’ve never managed to sort out which numbers — since that’s how the West Virginia unit name their instrumental pieces — were which. Maybe I haven’t been paying close enough attention. Maybe I’m an asshole. All these things are possible.
Pasadena, California and features special guest Matt Maiellaro of Aqua Teen Hunger Force (director, writer, creator, bus driver, also producing the band’s new video for “43″). KTB has also re-recorded their hit songs “Twenty” and “Thirty” to appear on their upcoming DVD out December 15th courtesy of Napalm. The re-recorded track “Twenty” will also appear on a split 7-inch w/ ASG to be released on Volcom.
