MOTHERMANIA

Band: MOTHERMANIA

Genres: Punk / Ska / Skate Punk / Rock
Related artists: Low Flying Jets, Teluride, and Molotov Cocktail.
Country: New Asbury, USA
Years Active: 1994-1997
Song: "Mom and Dad"
Album: "The Sound And The Fury"
Year: 1997
Label(s): Drive-Thru Records / Vasquez Records
This post's artist is from the June 2014 Mix. This is track #7.
You can download the July Mix#7 right here or get the new August Mix#8 here.
For fans of: Value Pac, Riverfenix, Less Than Jake, Sewing With Nancy, Sloppy Meat Eaters, The Gamits and Millencolin.

I'm going to make this quick.

I have yet to find anything about this band online, but was somehow able to obtain an mp3 copy over a decade ago after hearing a song on a Drive-Thru Records comp. This is NOT your typical Drive-Thru band. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. I just found info on the band that I somehow glossed over for the past decade. If you want to read about the band check their links on myspace and myspace archived. 

MOTHERMANIA played a mix of skate punk with hints of ska. There are 2 songs in particular that drove me to write this review, but the rest of the album is pretty standard late 90s, early 2000s punk.

"Mom and Dad" is the song that got me addicted to the band such a long time ago. It was on a Drive-Thru cd sampler and although familiar, the sound was also very new to me. The quiet intro lets you know something's coming', but you really don't know what's gonna go down until 41 seconds in when that strange but sweet voice tangles you up in those early, pre-pop punk melodies with no computer assistance. The closest I can come to the vocal styling is a less whiny Sloppy Meat Eaters as well as a more whiny and less gruff Less Than Jake. The song as well as the album also have bits and pieces of ska, but this is a punk record first and foremost.

"Sam's a Nympho" may actually be a better song. The playful intro bass line gets things started off nicely. The band then jumps into a palm-muted verse with lower register vocals. It's at the chorus and everything afterwards that has MOTHERMANIA firing on all cylinders. More specifically, it's those upper register vocals. Considering how young the band was and how original-sounding I find the vocals and melodies contained therein, this song is an obscure and catchy gem that is worth checking out if you can handle semi-snotty skate punk with a playful demeanor.

There are some other decent tracks, such as "Molotov Cocktail", "Stephanie is Pregnant" and "Truth" come to mind, but they really aren't on the same level as the 2 described in detail above. In no way was the band massively original, but for a young, obscure band they had a few really fucking good songs and a very talented teenage vocalist. Check out the youtube embeds and if you dig grab the version of the 17-song cdLP that I've posted. If you already have the discography, send it to me so I can put a better sounding version up, as the mp3s I've included have background clacking during all quiet parts of the songs. Still, it's a good listen if you want to journey back to the days of yore! Be forewarned, the lyrics aren't exactly the best...

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DISCOGRAPHY

???? - Absolutely No No ?
???? - John And Mary's Snapshot Album ?

1996 - Poop Du Jour cdEP

1997 - The Sound And The Fury cdLP (download here)

2006 - The Sound And The Fury + Poop Du' Jour cdLP

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(1997) MOTHERMANIA - "Mom and Dad" (from 'The Sound And The Fury')

(1997) MOTHERMANIA - "Sam's A Nympho" (from 'The Sound And The Fury')

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MOTHERMANIA out-of-print mp3 download / additional links

(download here)

Random band stuff on myspace
Random band stuff on German myspace archived

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