A Better Dystopia

For the last three decades, Monster Magnet has been the reigning champion of heavy ’70s-inspired stoner rock. *A Better Dystopia* sees Magnet mastermind Dave Wyndorf and his crew of musical mutants cherry-picking some of the heaviest and weirdest late-’60s and early-’70s (and beyond) proto-metal deep cuts for a lysergic covers extravaganza. From underground titans like Pentagram and Hawkwind to hopelessly obscure freak squads like The Cave Men and J. D. Blackfoot, *A Better Dystopia* is Monster Magnet interpreting some of the music that made them the rock ’n’ roll powerhouse they are today. “These songs are beloved by me and have been forever,” Wyndorf tells Apple Music. Below, he holds forth on each track. **“The Diamond Mine”** “I needed something to start the record off, and it had to come from my list of favorite things of all time. And some of my favorite audio of all time is not just music, but stuff like The Buddy Rich tapes or Dave Diamond, the great psychedelic DJ from the ’60s and ’70s. I thought if I could pull off a Dave Diamond monologue, how great would that be? So I found the words on the internet, but the insanity took over and I didn’t even have to look at them when we recorded this.” **“Born to Go”** “You always hear Eric Clapton or someone like that talking about ‘going back to their roots,’ and they’ll cover Muddy Waters or something, but Hawkwind is my roots. The songs are easy to play and they affected me overwhelmingly as a kid. I saw them on the *Space Ritual* tour when I was 15, which included a triple-screened analog lights show, everything painted in blacklight, and a six-foot near-naked woman dancing in your face while they were playing. It changed my whole life. And there’s never been a studio version of ‘Born to Go,’ so it had to go on here.” **“Epitaph for a Head”** “What a song by J. D. Blackfoot. It’s got everything I want from early-’70s post-psychedelic paranoia. You don’t know what the fuck he’s talking about, but the guy’s really earnest. He really wants to tell you something, but you can’t understand him. He says the words ‘space god’ and as far as I can tell, I think he’s talking about a UFO that’s about to take a shot at him. So everything’s a mystery in this song, lyrically. And of course he mentions his brain, which is always a good move for me. If you wanna scare little children, put this song on.” **“Solid Gold Hell”** “I love The Scientists because they have great songs and they always looked really cool. They were the keepers of the flame in the early ’80s when everyone was putting on scarves and turning into Duran Duran. This is like The Stooges meets goth, and it’s got a weird time signature that can get either really annoying or really hypnotic, and they figured out a way to make it hypnotic. I’ve been in love with it ever since it came out, and you can’t beat the title.” **“Be Forewarned”** “The way Bobby Liebling sings this song is so ’60s. I know Pentagram recorded this in the early ’70s, but that’s a ’60s vocal. Some of the singers back then couldn’t decide if they were gonna be a radical or Robert Goulet. It’s like Broadway or something, but it’s such a fantastic vocal. I resisted singing it exactly like he did, so I put like an Eric Burdon thing on it or something, but I’ve always wanted to sing like that. People don’t sing like that anymore, and that’s what I love about it.” **“Mr. Destroyer”** “I didn’t hear this song until the early 2000s, even though it was recorded back in ’71 or ’72. I called up Jim Gustafson, who was in Poobah—they still play—and he told me the whole story about how they recorded a bunch of stuff that kinda disappeared so he reissued it 35 years later when the internet made record hunting really easy. When I heard it, I flipped the fuck out because I was like, ‘How did I miss this?’ It sounds like a lost Black Sabbath song, with a touch of Hawkwind.” **“When the Wolf Sits”** “This song is total rock. I can just see all the band members swinging their heads back and forth, Kiss-style. What more do you want from a song? You wanna rock, here it is. I had covered this song previously in my first band. Phil Caivano, who plays guitar in Monster Magnet, and I were in a band called—get this—Hard Attack, after the Dust album. It was 1974, so we were like little kids, but we played all these covers, and Jerusalem’s ‘When the Wolf Sits’ was one of them. Why not do it again? The song has done nothing but get better.” **“Death”** “The Pretty Things were an excellent band. ‘Death’ is from an album called *S.F. Sorrow*, which I think came out in ’68, when everyone was trying to top *Sgt. Pepper’s*. I always thought this song was so spooky and morose, and it gives the covers record a little breather. I sang it with as little power as possible, so people could hear the cigarettes—and the age. The original is a young guy singing about death, but our version is an old guy singing about death.” **“Situation”** “This is by a band called Josefus, out of Texas. That guy’s voice is unbelievable, and they had some really good songs. They’re a great example of post-psychedelic blues rock. I guess blues back then meant turning the vocals up 10 decibels louder than everything else, but the record is really cool. ‘Situation’ is great because it’s just riffs and it’s so perfectly done. It’s about two minutes long and goes nowhere but you don’t care because the riffs are so cool. It’s almost punk rock in its simplicity.” **“It’s Trash”** “I might’ve heard this Cave Men song on a Pebbles compilation way back when, because it only came out on 45. It’s got everything I want in a teenage-angst song. And that’s the only thing I can’t bring to this stuff—I’m not young. And when I say that, I mean 25 would be too old to do this song right. You gotta be 19, really. But I had to do this song, because I love it. It’s this guy screaming, it’s drenched in echo and he’s losing his shit. It’s what I love about garage rock—90 percent attitude and 10 percent talent. It’s my kind of tune.” **“Motorcycle (Straight to Hell)”** “Table Scraps are a modern band. They’re ready to rock, as we speak, over in England. They’re a great example of how someone can be an organic rock ’n’ roll band in this day and age. Plus, I just love the song. It’s kinda punk, kinda garage, kinda Hawkwind. This song could’ve come out at any time. I found out about them on the internet because I’m always looking for new bands. And then we took them on tour in Europe.” **“Learning to Die”** “Dust’s *Hard Attack* album was way ahead of its time, and I’ve always loved this song. I always envisioned ‘Learning to Die’ as a song we could play because I had copped things from Dust over the years with Monster Magnet. I’ll be trying to explain something to somebody and be like, ‘You know—like Dust!’ And they’ll go, ‘What do you mean?’ And then I’ll play them the record. It’s probably the most artfully done hard rock record of all time.” **“Welcome to the Void”** “This Morgen song was the hardest one to do. I realized really quickly that it didn’t quite fit in. The title is cool, but the delivery was different than the paranoia and high energy of the other ones, so I didn’t know what to do with it. I was originally gonna start the record with it, but then I decided it would be best as a sort of coda. And I shortened it. I think the original version has eight verses. Who writes eight verses? Bob Dylan, maybe. But it’s a really cool song.”

"Take a trip inside the mind of psychedelic rock legend Dave Wyndorf with MONSTER MAGNET’s A Better Dystopia – a delightfully psychotic selection of proto-metal and late-era psych songs that fit the band like a glove! With wonderfully obscure song choices and excellent sequencing, the mighty Magnet pay homage to some of their favorite songs of all time, crafting another exciting and unique listening experience alike what they’ve become famous for. While the album marks a new frontier for MONSTER MAGNET as their first covers record, this is not your typical set of standards released to pass time. Wyndorf is at the top of his game on A Better Dystopia – howling, crooning, speaking… whatever it takes to get the emotional message of these very special tunes across, delivering each lyric in his own inimitable style. Musicians Phil Caivano, Bob Pantela, Garrett Sweeney and Alec Morton own the sound on A Better Dystopia – vintage and old school, dense and heavy, with searing fuzz leads and pounding bass and drums all played in a deft style that's almost been lost in modern music. Drop the needle on any song, and A Better Dystopia comes up winning. The album opens with “The Diamond Mine”, as Dave Wyndorf recites a classic monologue by Dave Diamond, an American radio DJ whose programs in the late 1960s and early 1970s helped popularize many psychedelic and acid rock bands. At this point the real trip begins, as the opening chords of the Hawkind classic “Born To Go” gear up for launch. Tracks like standout “Mr. Destroyer” (Poo-Bah) boast swaggering riffs and swirling vocals, spurring visions of some untold Freak revolution – or perhaps dinosaurs battling on a burning planet at the end of time – creating a perfect blend of hard rock and psychedelia. Feverish “Motorcycle (Straight To Hell)” (Table Scraps) is pure punk fury of the old school tradition, evoking a cross between Iggy Pop and Motörhead as Wyndorf wails ""I'm gonna drive it straight to HELL!"" Falling even further down the mind-bending rabbit hole, Magnet offers their stunning, whirlwind take on the often-overlooked hard rock classic ""Learning To Die"" (Dust) and a masterful version the Stooges meets Goth epic, ""Solid Gold Hell"" (The Scientists). The album closes with a nuclear cover of Morgen’s “Welcome To The Void”, inviting you to restart the ride again and again. Take a sonic journey to another time and space and experience what has made MONSTER MAGNET tick since day one with A Better Dystopia!" © NAPALM RECORDS

If you're vaguely sensible and want a guaranteed good time sound-tracked by ear-smashing rock 'n' roll, rolling waves of HAWKWIND-style sonic debris and lyrics about monsters, sex and sex with monsters, Dave Wyndorf has been your man for three decades. Some may prefer the balls-out, go-for-broke coc...

Ellis Heasley reviews the new covers album from Monsters Magnet! Read his review of 'A Better Dystopia' here on Distorted Sound!