DESCRIPTION:
Mondo Guano was:
Bob Log III
Nicole Pagliaro
Montaigne Benoit
Danny Walker

This is from the Bloat Records cassette release 'Combo Platter'.

Mondo Guano were one of those bands that was able to promote chaos and general disinformation about themselves , their music, the song names and even who was in the group but somehow they influenced many Tucson bands that followed. During my stay in the Old Pueblo during the eighties there were tons of weird, wonderful and surprising bands. One of these was Mondo Guano; instrumentation included Bob on a hollow body slide guitar that sounded like a screaming heat-sick cat, Montaigne on a fretless bass cloaked with rats and muff pedals that growled like a drunken bear with a chainsaw, Danny with his own combination of a pile of metal reels, bins, milk crates and broken buckets strapped together with bailing wire and cardboard for a drumset and the smooth sultry siren like vocal stylings of Nicole that floated above it all, demanding you obey and follow her commands.

No other band sounded anything like them in Tucson at the time, my memory tells me it was just a few stoned friends and partners shaking booty and drinking beers in an attempt to forget about the heat.

It’s pretty hard to nail down their sound, unclassifiable is an understatement of the highest order. They fit into no genre yet ended up playing with everybody from desert baked metal bands to high class lounge and pop bands.

Later when I moved to the SF Bay Area and Mondo Guano came through on a couple of tours it was really pretty amazing to see them blow minds (and disturb conventional expectations) at clubs. Looking back, I realize they were a bit visionary and became the genesis for other Amazing Tucson bands like Doo Rag, Bob Log III and The Pork Torta. Weird then that the cassette “Combo Platter” which was one of the premiere Bloat Records releases and probably the best recording (by Randy McReynolds at 7x7 studios) of the band isn’t even listed on Discogs or other sites that provide fairly comprehensive Bloat Records discography. Based on the many times I saw them play live in Tucson, SF and Oakland the ‘Combo Platter’ cassette release is really the definitive Mondo Guano sound and these are the songs I remember on set lists. I hope you enjoy.