Mambo-x come back for single, maybe more
Band that shone briefly in 1980s ponders future musical collaborations
There’s that old saw that time heals all wounds. And that’s true, sure. But sometimes it takes a little bit more prodding than just that.
Such is the case of Mambo-x. In the mid-1980s, the band was one of the biggest in the local music scene and on the verge of a record deal before abruptly calling it quits in 1989.
Now Mambo-x is back with a timely new song, “The Greatest Goodbye.”
“It only took 30 years and the terror of Donald Trump to bring us together,” laughed guitarist
Seth Kaufman.
Kaufman moved to Albany in 1985 for grad school. While working part-time at an ice cream shop, he met Mitch Rosen. The pair bonded over a love of guitar and offbeat music, and got to work. They met singer Erin O’hara and the core of Mambo-x was formed.
The band made the most of its relatively short time together, opening for acclaimed altrock acts like Tom Tom Club, Billy Bragg and They Might be Giants at gigs across the state and even headlining over legendary bands like Yo La Tengo. Mitch Easter, the producer who refined the jangly guitar-pop of early R.E.M. records, was behind the boards for the band's LP "Whirled" and the group was weighing a record deal.
Then it all fell apart.
“The Greatest Goodbye” was the first time Kaufman, Rosen and O’hara had all worked together since releasing the 1989 LP “Whirled.” For Kaufman, the experience of a new collaboration couldn’t help but conjure up memories of the band’s original run.
“It’s bittersweet, it brought back a lot of memories and what an exciting time it was,” he said. “We had a record deal, but Mitch wanted to go to school and moved, and the relationship with me and Erin just imploded. This (a new song) reminded me that the band was special.”
The idea for “The Greatest Goodbye” came to Kaufman in the fall as he coped with the anxieties of both the 2020 Pres
idential Election and resurgence in coronavirus cases. He got to thinking about the relief he’d feel with a new administration, and wrote and recorded a demo. Once he finished, he sent it to Rosen.
With Rosen’s contributions, the song changed from an impromptu collaboration between longtime friends and germinated into something that kind of sounded like Mambo-x.
“I wrote it and emailed it to Mitch,” he explained. “I live in Brooklyn and he’s in North Carolina; we always talked about doing songs together over email and we just ran with it.
“Mitch has always been a better, more refined guitar and he added the bass and drums,”
Kaufman continued. “I went, ‘This is us, again!’”
Of course, it wasn’t truly Mambo-x with just Kaufman and
Rosen. O’hara’s contribution was the crucial ingredient needed.
“It’s hard not to have Mambo-x without Erin singing,” Kaufman
emphasized. “Me and Erin, we’ve been in touch on-and-off, but we aren’t super close. I was nervous to approach her, but it felt like the right thing to do. There’s a continuity to Mambo-x; really Mitch, Erin and I wrote every lyric, every song.”
That continuity was maintained, and the core three wrapped up “The Greatest Goodbye” just before the election. Kaufman liked with how the track turned out, and was particularly pleased with including horns on it, a decision that fulfilled a long-term creative desire.
While “The Greatest Goodbye” says farewell to the 45th president, Kaufman doesn’t envision it as a swan song for Mambo-x. In fact, the trio is working on another song it hopes to release in the near future and Kaufman would love to periodically release new tunes under the group’s banner. As he works to bring that to fruition, he’s satisfied with the work they’ve accomplished.
“I’m working on another song and hope it’ll see the light of day, a hallucinatory song and monument to bad taste called ‘Trump’s Library,’” he said. “I haven’t mentioned it to Erin yet, though. And maybe when we’re done with the political stuff, we can move to fun music.
“(But) we’re in a good place,” Kaufman continued. “This was a good way to connect and I’m proud of what we accomplished.”