What do you get when you combine blues rock, solid songwriting and a jam band ethos? You get something like the Colorado-based outfit Big Head Todd and the Monsters.
For the past three decades and some change, Big Head Todd and company have slowly but steadily risen through the ranks of music, churning out chart-topping album after chart-topping album, maintaining an impressive touring schedule, and building a loyal fan base in the process.
Unlike the glitz and glam that defines much of modern music, Big Head Todd and the Monsters rely on solid musicianship and a familiar but refreshing sound to set the scene. Formed by Todd Mohr, Brian Nevin and Rob Squires in 1986, the band built up a formidable fan base through years of touring before hitting it big with their platinum-selling third album in 1993, Sister Sweetly. Marked by grooves that contain echoes of everyone from Elvis Costello, Tom Petty and the Grateful Dead, the album spawned charting singles with “Circle,” “Broken Hearted Savior” and “Bittersweet.”
Since then, Big Head Todd and the Monsters have had an uncanny, Forrest Gump-like ability to be in the right place at the right time in popular culture, and that doesn’t even include the original band members meeting as students at the infamous Columbine High School.
A chance studio meeting with blues legend John Lee Hooker led to the band recording a version of his classic track “Boom Boom” for their fifth album Beautiful World. After that, the band released the song “Blue Sky,” which was written at the request of crewmembers of the Space Shuttle Discovery.
The soaring heights of the song led to it being used by Hilary Clinton as her 2008 presidential campaign song, including introducing her keynote address at the Democratic Presidential Election. Later, the band performed an acoustic version of “Blue Sky” as a live wake-up call to the Space Shuttle Discovery during its STS-133 mission. A fan favorite in their native Colorado, the band even performed in the Denver Broncos Superbowl 50 Championship Parade.
Throughout all this, Big Head Todd and the Monsters have remained humble, unpretentious and prolific. Even though the band has worked with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Cedric Burnside and B.B. King, to name a few, Big Head Todd and Monster have flirted with the mainstream but never quite broken through—and perhaps—that’s to their benefit.
Treating it like craftsmen has helped the group remain true to their soulful sound. Plus, that workhorse approach to touring has helped them build up an impressive repertoire of songs. With the release of a new single called “Crush” a month ago, Big Head Todd and the Monsters will be ringing in the new year at the Guild Theatre with special guest The Barlow.
Big Head Todd and the Monsters
The Guild Theatre, Menlo Park
Dec. 30 and 31
Doors 8 pm, Show 9 pm
Solid writing. Kid seems to know what he’s talking about. Give him a raise.