Big Head Todd and the Monsters Have Staying Power

While the group has spent significant amounts of time on the jam-band circuit, their recently released album Her Way Out is a concise, catchy collection of rock tunes that suggests early Tom Petty more than the Grateful Dead.

by

In a music world marked by fleeting trends, one-hit wonders and ever-changing band lineups, Big Head Todd and The Monsters are a model of consistency and stability. With nearly 40 years under their belt, the Colorado-based band has proven their staying power with a steady stream of albums, a touring schedule that now numbers more than 1,000 shows and a timeless sound that mixes rock with shadings of soul, blues and country. They will play on Sunday, Jan. 12 at the Pabst Theater. 

“We consider ourselves a rock and roll band, which means that we borrow from a lot of different types of music and traditions,” said frontman Todd Park Mohr of a group that’s maintained the same core lineup—Mohr on vocals and guitar, Rob Squires on bass and Brian Nevin on drums—since the beginning of their career. In 2003, the band welcomed keyboardist Jeremy Lawton, who they still call “the new guy,” expanding their sound while maintaining the chemistry that has defined their music for decades.

And while the group has spent significant amounts of time on the jam-band festival circuit, their recently released album Her Way Out is a concise and catchy collection of rock tunes that suggests early Tom Petty more than the Grateful Dead. Granted, Mohr’s solo on the track “Twice as Bright” does have a trace of the Dead’s Jerry Garcia to it, but more often than not, he favors shorter, more impactful solos that serve the songs rather than overshadowing them. It’s an approach that’s allowed the band to balance their jam-oriented tendencies with radio-friendly tracks. 

Mohr's musical journey began with piano and saxophone before he found his true calling with the guitar. His playing was influenced by great blues guitarists like Albert King, B.B. King, and Albert Collins, as well as Stevie Ray Vaughan, whom he says had a huge impact on his generation of players. “I got to see him twice and meet him once,” Mohr said with fanboy-like enthusiasm.

Story-Telling Songs

Mohr’s songwriting, meanwhile, leans more toward story-telling than personal sentiments. “I’m not a writer who emotes about myself,” he said. “I just love writing from the particular point of view of a real person who’s trapped in a real situation, where there’s a clear story to be told and I do the best I can to tell it.”

A case in point on the new album is “Don’t Kill Me Tonight,” a song about sharpshooter Annie Oakley, who was known for performances in which she shot a cigarette out of her husband Frank Butler’s hand. Mohr looks at the story from Butler’s point of view. Mohr cites Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen as artists who’ve influenced his songwriting. He’s also deeply indebted to the blues tradition, which he admires for its use of double- and triple-entendres, conveying multiple meanings simultaneously while adding depth and complexity to seemingly simple phrases. 

But that’s nothing compared to the group’s first gig at a Red Rocks blues festival, where Albert King invited Mohr up onstage to play with him and his band. “I was so nervous about that,” he recalled. “I was sort of self-taught with guitar and started out with a lot of bad habits and a lot of limitations. But he was really kind and encouraging to me.”

Brush with Blues

Another brush with blues stardom came when the band was recording their “Beautiful World” album with Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison producing. “He saw us play John Lee Hooker’s ‘Boom Boom’ live, and he kept insisting we put it on the record,” Mohr said. “We refused for a while, and then he said, ‘Well, what if I can get John Lee to come in and do it with you?’ And we were like, ‘Oh yeah, of course we will!’” And it became one of our most popular songs.”

It also brought them the distinction of being the only band in the known universe to have recorded both Hooker’s homicidal signature song and the ‘70s act Looking Glass’s pop ballad “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl),” two songs that could hardly be more different. Mohr speaks passionately about the importance of honoring the past, rather than focusing solely on novelty or individual accomplishment. “It's about celebrating the mentors and the tradition,” he said, “and it's less about, you know, ‘I’m the new guy, look at me and what I can do.”

Despite his band’s name, Mohr remains as unpretentious as musicians get. While some view YouTube as a platform for becoming rich and famous, Mohr sees it as a way to improve his craft. “Over the past, I'd say, seven or eight years, YouTube has just flourished with guitar instruction, and it's really rejuvenated me as a guitarist,” he said. “There's just so much that I've learned from other players and from online instruction. It's a universe of learning. So I'm still, you know, working on my posture and the position of my thumb, stuff like that. But I've learned a lot about theory and scales and a lot about the fretboard, which I think has really helped me to become a more fulsome solo player.”

Meanwhile, Big Head Todd and The Monsters show no signs of slowing down. Their current tour promises the kind of high-energy, soulful performances that have become the band's hallmark. And yes, if recent shows are any indication, they will play both “Boom Boom” and “Brandy.” “We know a lot of songs,” Mohr said, “and we’re good entertainers.”