Mellow Drunk Reviews

Never Sleep at Night
(Ochre, 2003)

Here’s what critics are saying about Never Sleep At Night:

LOGO MAGAZINE (U.K.)
"The likes of Interpol have long been employing the flavours of mordant early eighties ‘raincoat rock’ in their music, but San Francisco’s Mellow Drunk are forging a new strain from the genre, drawing not so much from Echo & The Bunnymen and Joy Division as The Wedding Present, adding the literate social commentary of Black Box Recorder’s Luke Haines. Reviews to date cite The Church as an obvious touchstone, and there’s no argument here, but Leigh Gregory’s vocals are closer to Robyn Hitchcock, while the cinematic sweep of the guitars, in the hands of Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Rick Maymi, offer an evanescent counterpoint to the otherwise straightforward recording aesthetic. File under mind-expanding." - Logo Magazine

(U.K.) BANG MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 2003
"Never Sleeps At Night boasts the expansive guitar layering of Television's Adventure allied to the subdued grace of Yo La Tengo....Mellow Drunk's romantic melodies gloss over the cracks admirably. The title track may be misleading hint that the West Coast Strokes have arrived, but the languid 'Very Strange Times' is a better mark on band as much in thrall to the doomed grandeur of punk rock fellow travellers The Only Ones as to The Byrds." - Karl Lyall

BLOW UP MAGAZINE (ITALY)
"Undoubtedly shares an affinity with Steve Kilbey, The House Of Love and also at times The Byrds (There For You), Jesus & Mary Chain (Never Sleep At Night) and repeatedly, the flourishing season of the Paisley Underground."
(7/8 out of 10). - Paolo Bertoni

(U.S.) BAY AREA BUZZ, DECEMBER 2003
"Backed by bright, jangly guitars and the twinge of soaring keyboards, the baritone-whisper cigarette voice of Leigh Gregory croons on “The Top:” “When you get to the top, where life is so real, will you remember me still?” Toying with celebrity is what this band is all about. Akin to Oakland’s Lovemakers, San Francisco’s Mellow Drunk possesses an air of aspiring rock royalty peculiar to our local scene. Granted, they’re a bit of a super-group already, cobbled from the wreckage of such bands as Brian Jonestown Massacre and Dora Flood. The Mellow Drunk sound is big, decadent, and complex, and they pull it off very, very well. People are noticing—they recently shared the Fillmore stage with Supergrass and Radiohead-copycats Paloalto..." (more of the review) - Bill Heehan

(U.S.) EAST BAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 2003
"Mellow Drunk's second full-length is so soused on guitar pop worship that it works as a makeshift shrine to every great guitar band of the last twenty years. That the band is able to do this while simultaneously creating its own shimmering, incandescent melodies is a testament to not only a tight record collection, but a band at ease with its muse and its talents.

The SF-based group creates pop in the classic Roger McGuinn style -- crystalline guitar leads that split into literary narratives, break into spectral choruses, return to the leads, and quickly fade away. But the band doesn't sound like West Coast revisionists. Instead, it draws from something darker and distinctly singular. It could be Leigh Gregory's voice -- gentle, slightly stripped, and breathy, recalling David J on the early Love and Rockets records (you know, the good ones). It could be the guitars, which sort of bend, spiral, gleam, and generally circumnavigate the airspace before leaving surreptitiously through the vent. More than anything, it's Never Sleep's brevity, generating two- or three-minute pop songs that function as little rock 'n' roll businessmen -- they get in, establish the theme, and get the hell out with very little time for nonsense.

The best tracks are the ones that carry the least amount of adornments, songs like "There for You," "Before and After Them," and "Very Strange Times" -- acoustic-led numbers that show the band at its simplest, most direct, and most affecting. When the band gathers its strengths, muscles up, and starts venturing into more amplified headspace, it works just as well, as Mellow Drunk places more emphasis on clarity and tune than just sonic overload. All in all, the band's pop excavations provide more than a glimmer of hope to anyone who fears the legacy of the paisley vest has been forgotten." - Jon Pruett

SHMAT MAGAZINE
"Before And After Then" makes it obvious why Mellow Drunk have been opening for the likes of Luna and Supergrass at San Francisco's legendary venue, The Fillmore - brilliant pop music. The line-up has an indie pedigree most shag-haired boys would give their My Bloody Valentine collection for - drummer Patrick Harte was drummer for the sublime band The Rosemarys; Ricky Maymi was a founding member of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and toured with Sonic Boom & Spectrum; Daniel Dietrick was bassist for Your Precious You; and Steven Cavoretto is the talented multi-instrumentalist from Dora Flood. Add talented vocalist Leigh Gregory to the mix and you have the catalyst for some great music.

The 3 minute crunch that is "Never Sleep At Night" starts the album off with a blast of Jesus and Mary Chain-styled fervor....the level of diversity in the songs is the key here. The twang of the title track is gorgeous and understated and shows the record's ultimate strength is the marriage of acoustic and electric guitars. The more expansive songs benefit from talented playing that never crowds the arrangements, avoids self importance, and deftly sidesteps the noisy wanking that has become more and more irritating and unimaginatively prevalent in releases today...

Well written, well recorded & expertly mixed - what more could you want? - Shmat Magazine

S.F. WEEKLY, JANUARY 2003
" Recorded over the last year, [Never Sleep at Night] indeed shows a more uptempo Mellow Drunk. Maymi's guitar arrangements supply the songs with sinew and muscle, especially on the feedback freakout of "A Different Color on My Door," and Cavorretto's organ fills and trumpet add depth throughout. "Never Sleep at Night," a fuzzy rocker with an irresistible keyboard riff, sounds like it could be a radio hit, if current radio formats weren't so unadventurous.

Lyrically, Gregory is more literary than ever. "Very Strange Times" takes its apocalyptic vision from Martin Amis' darkly comic London Fields and Dermot Healy's hallucinatory Sudden Times. The Bowie-ish "Queen of the Night" modernizes the tale of doomed lovers Orpheus and Eurydice, while "Dead Sea Fruit" recalls one of Edgar Allan Poe's characters lost at sea. Even the songs that don't have direct scholastic ties sound like short stories, their narratives unfurled in just a few stanzas." - Dan Strachota

Check out the rest of Dan Strachota's January 22, 2003 S.F. Weekly article on
Leigh Gregory and Mellow Drunk. Here's what he had to say about Mellow Drunk's new release Never Sleep at Night.

MUSIC BOOM (Italy)
Review online at: www.musicboom.it/

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Recent Airplay

radio2XS New Music Playlist 18 Dec 2003 - 1 Jan 2004
'A' List (approx 5 plays per day each)
"The Top" MELLOW DRUNK

BBC6 Nov. 26
Gideon Coe played “Never Sleep At Night” by Mellow Drunk on BBC Radio 6

London Calling Playlist
Friday 28.11.03 (rtp97fm)
Mellow Drunk 'On The Hill' from "Never Sleep At Night" Ochre Records

radioB92 outside SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO via www.B92.net
the power of the witches playlist October and November 2003
MELLOW DRUNK "Shone on Everyone"

If you are currently playing Mellow Drunk at your station and would like your selection listed, please contact: jeff@ashlandnetwork.com

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Everybody Knows that You're a Star
(e.p., Green Fuse, 2003)

BAY AREA BUZZ MAGAZINE, Issue 3, Nov/Dec 2002
"Everybody Knows You're A Star is a relatively mellow, subdued, slow-tempo release. Reminiscent of very early Church, the brilliant "Not Afraid" is sparse and simple and stays with you like a good dream you're not quite ready to leave. Their more recent release, the Never Sleep at Night EP…. Is slightly more upbeat, with trumpet, keyboards and piano. The first two tracks ["Never Sleep at Night" and "There for You"] are my favorites, but much like the argument of whether Sierra Nevada or Anchor Steam makes the best beer, it's a relatively moot point. Mellow Drunk deliver the goods." - Sean Evans

NOT LAME RECORDS
"This 5 song EP has one song (the title) from their great debut album and 4 unreleased songs. Blending beautifully influences of Pernice Brothers and Elliot Smith and haunting Byrds melodies and dark 12-string and acoustic strumming (and add "Sister Lovers"-era Big Star in there), Mellow Drunk is quiet affair usually, but always one that is engaging, intriguing and one that will linger an impression of something fresh and truly original. We love this band here and, additionally, highly recommend you check out their debut, Always Be Drunk!"

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Always Be Drunk
(Green Fuse, 2001)

SAN FRANCISCO NOISE POP 2002 GUIDE
"With a hearty nod to the space-out languor of The Church, San Francisco's Mellow Drunk offer a toast to psychedelia, a stumble through noisy, blissed out Valentine's territory, and a sobering element of rootsy country…. Their textured, grandiose songwriting places them in pleasant company with contemporary spacey acts Spiritualized and Mojove 3."

Photos of Mellow Drunk playing at the Great American Music Hall for the Noise Pop 2002 Festival: www.noisepop.com/2002/sf/photos7.html

NOT LAME RECORDS
"What a find! When any band can blend the classic stylings of The Byrds with the gentle and moving songcraft of a more modern band like, say, The Pernice Brothers and The Church, how can you not have a winner?! Sweet and gliding 12-string jangles fly over a chamber-ish and intimate vibe throughout all the material here. The opaque-ish lyrics, elegant and hypnotic guitar chording and very Church-like vocals add up to astonishingly fresh release that should be appealing to many Not Lamers. Invokes a peaceful and most tuneful spirit, from beginning to end and is very, very strongly recommended."

ALL MUSIC GUIDE
"The cover imagery and titles suggest something of the '90s' strain of British albums revolving around dark pubs, moody late nights, and emotions rubbed just raw enough to surface. Mellow Drunk's debut album, however, turns out to be more Byrds and the Church than Scott Walker and Tindersticks, though there is definitely something of whispery melancholy throughout Always Be Drunk. Gregory's background in various psych/goth-inspired groups serves him well here, and clearly there's something of Steve Kilbey's world-weary vocals in his own approach. There's a fair dollop of ultra vivid Scene as well, minus the nods to dance culture and overtly twisted sex, but Gregory can sigh in Kurt Ralske-style nicely. Musically, meanwhile, those who can't get enough of ringing-guitar sorrow and wistful, dreamy melodies will find Always Be Drunk a more than engaging listen; it's not strikingly original, but makes no claims to be. Indeed, "Everybody Knows You're a Star" might as well be the verses from John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" transposed into a new setting with elegantly weeping feedback, but darn if the group doesn't carry it off well. There is actually one full-on cover from an inspired source, underrated U.K. guitar popsters the Orchids, whose "Long Drawn Saturday Night" gets a beautifully winsome rendition; with Aaron Kerr's cello part the perfect touch. Gregory is actually pretty much the group on this outing; aside from a cellist, drummer, and two backing singers, everything is his, aside from a couple of guest appearances here and there. As such he does a great job on rhythm and solos both, and if Always Be Drunk rapidly finds its niche and pretty much sticks with it, there's little to complain about with the results." - Ned Raggett

DREAM CHIMNEY: TRACK OF THE DAY
"Track of the Day: "Where the Time Goes" by Mellow Drunk (from the CD Always Be Drunk). Comment: Really addictive mixture of Byrds-like leads and 3-minute verse/chorus/verse pop songs. Some of this stuff - especially this song - is a dead ringer for Rain Parade circa Emergency 3rd Rail Power Trip." - Jonathan Chimney

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