Big Head Todd and The Monsters
Big Head Todd & the Monsters played to a packed and SOLD OUT house at The Depot in Salt Lake CIty, Utah providing their legions of enthusiastic fans what they have come to expect from this band; a full throttle passion play of original rock and roll and a virtuoso performance by Todd Park Mohr backed by the killer bass playing of Rob Squires, the second to none bombastic drumming of Brian Nevin, and the supremely talented Jeremy Lawton on keyboard and pedal steel this is the quintessential power quartet now achieving legendary status playing to sold venues across the US. For a complete set of photos from this show see http://www.flickr.com/photos/gonzoshots/sets/72157623347075430/
Rob Squires – bass guitar, vocals
Brian Nevin – drums, percussion, vocals
Jeremy Lawton – keyboards, pedal steel guitar, vocals
The band was formed in 1986 with Todd Park Mohr on guitar and vocals, Brian Nevin on drums and vocals and Rob Squires on bass and vocals. The trio had attended Columbine High School together. Todd Mohr attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins and transferred to the University of Colorado to join Brian and Rob. The three began touring clubs in Denver, Fort Collins, and Boulder as Big Head Tood and the Monsters in 1987. The band name is a tribute to legendary blues/jazz “heads” (eg. Eddy Clean-head Vincent, etc). It was actually just a fluke, as they were scheduled to perform their first gig, but had no name. Todd came up with the name at the spur of the moment and it stuck.
The band soon built up a following throughout Colorado and the West. They toured extensively throughout the Mountain States and West Coast of the United States in their van dubbed “The Colonel”, which clocked up over 400,000 miles.
In 1989, the band formed Big Records and released their first album Another Mayberry in 1989. Midnight Radio was released the following year. By 1993, Big Head Todd and the Monsters had developed a considerable live following across the United States. Their first live album Big Head Todd and the Monsters Live was recorded at the H.O.R.D.E. Festival in 1993.
The group signed with Giant Records in 1993 and recorded Sister Sweetly with Prince associate David Z. producing. This album went platinum and spawned three singles that made the rock charts including “Bittersweet“, “Broken Hearted Savior“, and “Circle“.
Mohr produced the next album Strategem released in 1994. It reached #30 on the Billboard album charts but did not sell as well as its predecessors due to the lack of a hit single from the album.
The band contributed the song Tangerine to the 1995 Led Zeppelin tribute album Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin.
Jerry Harrison, formerly of the Talking Heads, produced the next album released in 1997. Blues legend John Lee Hooker was recording an album in the same studio and played with the band on a version of his best-known song “Boom Boom”. Rob Squires described the recording of the track on the band’s website. “Hooker has just this incredible presence. He walked into the room and literally everyone was intimidated including our producer and the people who work in the studio.” (1) Bernie Worrell, formerly ofP-Funk, played some keyboards on the albums title track “Beautiful World”. Corey Mauser filled out the other key parts on the album. The album spawned two hit singles on the rock charts namely “Boom Boom” and “Resignation Superman”. The Live Monsters album followed in 1998.
In 2002, the group released the follow up studio album Riviera. As Giant Records had closed its doors, the self-produced album was released through Big Records with distribution through Warner Music. Crimes of Passion was released in 2004 with Sanctuary Records distributing it. Another live album Live at the Fillmore was released in 2004.
In 2005, the group joined the throng of Internet-based music sales by releasing the single “Blue Sky” exclusively on iTunes. This single was written at the request of crewmembers of the Space Shuttle Discovery for their STS-114 Return to Flight mission in 2005, the first mission after the Columbia disaster. “Blue Sky” was written and performed as a tribute to the men and women of the American space program, from the people keeping the space shuttle flying to the astronauts doing the flying. The song has been used as Senator Hillary Clinton‘s presidential campaign song.
BHT toured in the summer of 2008. Here is a link to the sound check before their show at the Dallas House of Blues http://cbs11tv.com/video/?id=28790@ktvt.dayport.com Here is a link to an interview with Todd http://cbs11tv.com/video/?id=28789@ktvt.dayport.com
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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 at 11:00 am. It is filed under Live music reviews and tagged with Big Head Todd and The Monsters, Salt Lake City, The Depot.
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The band was formed in 
