Mongrel Country

If Cat Black reeled ’em in – then Mongrel Country knocked ’em out. At this point, the front room was completely packed out with a pit forming at the front of stage. It’s no wonder, with Mongrel Country’s signature double percussion as an awesome force, feeding a frenzy of crazed mountain fiends, guzzling back the twisted sensation like moonshine. The Deliverance references don’t stop there; on entering the gig there was the opportunity to enter a draw to win a trademark mutated pig mask. Different and discordant as they are, Mongrel Country still maintain rock’n’roll accessibility which allows a crowd to really let loose. And even if you just want to sit back a watch, Mongrel Country are an exciting band to witness.

By the end of the set, there was a stream of punters coming out for air; completely satisfied and wanting a weird pig mask. Punters were spilling out onto the pavement after an intense shared experience... and what happens in the woods – stays in the woods.

... In fact, the entire gig was put together so well, in a concerted effort to showcase some dark, seething, unnerving parts of rock in Perth, as well as some damn fine pig masks.


_LAURA GLITSOS - (XPRESSMAG)

Self Titled Album Review by kathy0685 | Thursday, October 22

The follow up to Mongrel Country’s debut Just Another Snake Cult was always going to prove difficult. Instead, they’ve stretched further with their sound from their trademark churning guitars to percussion. Recorded at guitarist/vocalist Max Ducker’s home studio in North Perth, the album is impossibly heavier, dirtier and rawer than before.

Right from the opening track Smile of the Crocodile the duelling guitars set their marks off right within seconds of the track. Ducker’s fuzzed out slimey vocals contrast the country and western style licks from the second guitarist/vocalist Anthonisz. Like Hogtied on the album, Mongrel are well tuned in with their song writing capabilities. These two tracks stand out immensely with their catchy tunes and in Hogtied particularly, bass driven rhythms.

Anthonisz makes his mark on the album with Jesus Don’t Make Me Kill That Woman. Possibly one of the darkest yet comical songs in a long time because of his vocals and crazy punk lyrics. An individual of sorts; his vocals are one of kind with his anger and emotions wallowing at the bottom of his every breath.

Regular Perth session musician and Schvendes cellist, Tristan Parr, makes his way onto a few tracks on the album. Parr leaves the percussion, bass and vocals to their work on My Gun Shoots Out Love exactly when needs be. Parr’s work on the album with the cello strikes a different sound to Mongrel at times as he completes the sound of the songs to borderline westerns Like An Old Suitcase and Lost and Endangered.

Ducker and Anthonisz use their guitars for than just being a melody or rhythm maker. They really compliment one another as do the two percussionists, Jason Barfoot and Julian Polain. Just when you thought only the imaginable would happen between two eccentric guitarists and two drummers in a band, the inconceivable happens. Mongrel Country draw lines through any idea that it’s a pile of noise. In Like An Old Suitcase and Rivers they work incredibly well creating effortless songs with touches in every right place.
Carrying out the album is Lost and Endangered. Tinges of Morricone swift in and out of the song with the dangly rhythms and singing style of Ducker at times. This song goes to new areas the Mongrels haven’t played before, though it isn’t a far stretch from some of the tracks on this album. Parr’s sorrowful cello drinks down like red wine on a cold winter’s night with Ducker’s vocals to finish off this fantastic album.

Every spin this album is getting, it’s only getting better with each listen. The songs are memorable and the Mongrel sound is unforgettable. This second self titled album is a must have and is available at Mongrel gigs and at all good record stores. - Self Titled Album Review by kathy0685 | Thedwarf.com.au

The fascinating proposition that is Mongrel Country appeared sans pig-masks but still put on an ear-bleedingly intense show as the sun retired behind them. Such was the volume of their guitar assault that both of their fully-kitted drummers could barely be heard. Bassist Cameron Hines raised some dust centre-stage, playing the most apt lines at the best times. The man also has a range of stage moves that defy logic but demand attention; holding his bass face-down to the woodchips would have been awkward enough, but nailing his notes while doing it was impressive.

Mongrel Country’s dizzily throbbing and ultra-tense set was robbed of at least one tune due to a string-break, but a rhythm section improv gave people a chance to check out the drummers and shake out the ringing in their heads. Returning with gusto, the guitarists put on a display of filthy slide, whammy assaults and abrasive jangle-spike chords that literally had small children covering their ears. By the time they finished with Smile Of The Crocodile there were around 50 punters on the street corner who knew they’d heard something real, even if they couldn’t make out a single word. - Saturday October 17th 2009 by Jeifer (fasterlouder.com.au)

When you start digging though, you can certainly find gold. Mongrel Country, playing amongst the Moreton Bay Fig Trees opposite the new Esplanade station, on a dusty patch of paving literally right in front of two massive piles of mulch, had just a perfect setting for their early evening twilight set. Playing through a smaller PA than most rehearsal rooms offer, they blew the fuck out of the hearing of any passers by who cared to stop and listen, while a few die-hards kicked up the dust and rolled around in a display of carefree grubby rock 'n' roll frivolity. Shrouded in blue and red lights where the swamps once met the river, it was easy to imagine Mongrel Country morphing into lizards and slithering away into the night...
- Saturday October 17th 2009 | Review by: Ben Watson Xpress Magazine

ou know those scenes in Kurt & Courtney where Nick Broomfield is cruising around the abandoned streets of Aberdeen Washington to the doom-laden sounds of Earth? This writer had a similar experience driving around at 1am with Mongrel Country cranked. Different context, sure, but that sense of foreboding, that menace, and the looming potential of terrifying savagery were all too familiar.

Mongrel Country’s sophomore release realises some kind of dialectic between the ample talents of primary songwriters Dean Anthonisz and Max Ducker. Each has their own stylistic and lyrical themes.

Ducker’s obsession with horrifying leathery animals - pigs, rhinoceroses, crocodiles - is simultaneously the most disturbing and distinctive feature of this album. That, and the hypnotically skull-smashing heaviness of his most of his guitar riffs. Does it get more brutal in rock’n’roll than the pummelling Hogtied?

Anthonisz’s contributions, meanwhile, are generally a more brooding affair. He has smacked-out artistic wino ‘lost boy’ chic to a tee. His songs are just as savage but more vocally dynamic, and plenty creepy in their mid-paced menace.

This disc is a deluxe package, packed with guest contributors, and an ambitious artwork design which manages to capture the haunting and darkly beautiful themes extremely well. It’s probably Cellar Sessions studios’ finest moment to date.

Mongrel Country is rated ‘R’ for ‘relentless’. - Ben Watson (XPRESS MAG)