The Mams are Jon Tregenna & Mike Gibson.
The Mams formed in Llanelli, South Wales in 2006 and have released 4 albums – Wam Bam!, Rhondda St, Scraps and Locations – adopting a variety of musical genres from Disco to pub rock to R&B.
Various musicians have come and gone, but Jon Tregenna & Mike Gibson regrouped to produce 3 singles for Spring 2020 – Modeller, Beautiful Thing and The Insane & the Useless.
These three songs were written 2 years ago but seem weirdly prescient in these lockdown times.
Only Modeller has been released to date and the Facebook video has been watched over 14,000 times.
The song was described by the BBC’s Adam Walton as, ‘Phenomenal fuzzy spikes everywhere… one of our undiscovered gems.’
The video was described by Richard Boon, ex-Buzzcocks manager and indie label pioneer as, ‘Monstrous, but in a good way.
‘Modeller’ is a Sonic Youth meets The Strokes Indie dirge, with a sonic, electronic, Vince Clarke bleeping synth vibe, that scares and excites you at the same time. A real lockdown gem to go mad too at home – Top Hitz UK
The second lockdown song from ‘The Mams’ is entitled ‘Beautiful Thing’ and was released on Sunday (10th May).
‘Beautiful Thing’ is a sonic, alternative, pop rock journey into groovy, noisy, edgy, funky and sweet sound. The new track from ‘The Mams’ has a screwed up ‘Nile Rodgers’ on holiday with ‘The Style Council’ on serious lockdown acid vibe. This track is guaranteed to send lockdown shivers through your pop pyjamas – Top Hitz UK
The Mams unleash a funky, gritty, punky, infectious and new scary monster sound onto lockdown Britain 2020.
https://youtu.be/32T_w7_u0pQ
Listen on Bandcamp:
The third lockdown song from ‘The Mams’ will be released on the 24th May, again with an accompanying video.
History and Pop Facts
Jon Tregenna from ‘The Mams’ was in London ‘fop-rockers’ Fur-lined in the 90s who were played on the Radio by John Peel, Steve Lamaq, Gary Crowley and Mark Goodyear amongst others.
The NME described their most famous song, ‘Love is Dead’ as ‘Baffling and oddly enjoyable.’
You can hear the song on the Steve Lamaq and Jo Whiley show.
The band ‘Fur-lined’ also featured South African Dale Olivier on vocals.
After the group disbanded in the 90s Indie rock n’ roll haze, Dale Olivier released his debut solo single ‘In The Country’ which was described by the NME as ‘Brilliant and Superb’.
Dale Olivier went on to release 6 solo studio albums – Winter Colours in Summer, Fountainhead, Hope and a Northern Girl, Sugar Cane and Banana Fields, Handing over to the Universe, and a world music and meditation album entitled ‘World’.
Dale Olivier is currently locked down in the studio in South Africa working on ‘World 2’.
‘World 2’ by Dale Olivier will be a classical and world music album and is due for release on 1 December 2020 on Discover Media Digital Africa.
Dale Olivier has also recently released a ‘Film Noir’ style music video for his single ‘Mad Mad World’ Feat F.A.B.E that was remixed by David Bowie and Steve Strange remixer and collaborator Rachel Ellektra.
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