About Mondo Generator
Mondo Generator is an American rock band founded in 1997 by Nick Oliveri.
Nick Oliveri formed Mondo Generator in 1997. The name of the band originated when Brant Bjork spray-painted the words on the side of Oliveri's Sunn amplifier. Mondo means "world" in Italian. The Oliveri-penned Kyuss song appearing on the 1992 album Blues for the Red Sun also took its name from this event, and the amplifier itself appears in the artwork for the album. With friends Josh Homme, Brant Bjork, Rob Oswald, and Karl Doyle among others, the band recorded their debut album, Cocaine Rodeo, the same year. The album wouldn't be released until 3 years later due to Oliveri and Homme being full-time members of Queens of the Stone Age. The album was released by cult-favorite Southern Lord Records in 2000. There was little support of the album by the way of live shows, and the band gained cult status among the most devoted Queens of the Stone Age fans.
In 2003, the band again emerged with a new album, A Drug Problem That Never Existed. This time, Oliveri hired on more friends for recording duties including Dave Catching, Troy Van Leeuwen, Mark Lanegan, Josh Homme, Brant Bjork, Molly McGuire, and Dwarves frontman Blag Dahlia for co-producing duties. It was released jointly by Mike Patton's label, Ipecac Recordings, and Homme's Rekords Rekords. The live band, which included Oliveri, Catching, Bjork, and McGuire, went on a three-month tour of North America and Europe to support the album. That summer, the band also played on the second stage of the Lollapalooza festival. Oliveri would do an afternoon set with Mondo Generator, then at night he would play with Queens of the Stone Age, who were appearing on the main stage.
In early 2004, after Oliveri was fired from Queens of the Stone Age by Homme, he announced that Mondo Generator would become his full-time project. He recorded an acoustic record, Demolition Day, and toured Europe with Bjork and Mark Lanegan Band. He then recorded an EP with Catching, McGuire, and Alfredo Hernández. On July 21, 2004, during the summer tour to promote the disc, Oliveri physically assaulted a sound crew member of the South German night club Canapé after complaining about his sound through a few songs during the band's set. The other members of the band were furious and left Oliveri behind and returned to the United States.
In 2005, Oliveri once again toured Europe frequently, opening for such bands as Motörhead, and playing alongside and on stage as a member of Dwarves. Oliveri also recruited UK band Winnebago Deal's Ben Perrier and Ben Thomas to join Mondo Generator on tour. They were frequently dubbed "Winnebago Generator" by fans and themselves. The three-piece entered Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in Los Angeles in December 2005 to begin work on the next Mondo Generator album. Oliveri also hired several friends from his hometown to record parts of the record, which was co-produced by Nick Raskulinecz and Oliveri.
In July 2006, it was reported that Perrier and Thomas had exited the band under unknown circumstances. Oliveri then renamed his band "Nick Oliveri and the Mondo Generator" and signed to Mother Tongue Records, who released the new album, Dead Planet: SonicSlowMotionTrails in the UK and Europe in September 2006. Touring members of the band included Ian Taylor on guitar, and Hoss Wright, former drummer who recently rejoined the band after leaving in early 2007 to join The Exies.
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