BIG HEAD TODD, EDGE,
Big Head Todd & the Monsters seemed a minor part of the jam band revolution of the ’90s. With fiery guitar (and tight, smart songwriting), Todd Park Mohr and his Monsters took to the road with an army of bands that broke big. The scene spun out act after act that dominated radio, but most struggled to remain big in the new millennium (see Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors, Rusted Root).
Mohr never scored a “Send Me on My Way” or “Two Princes.” And he’s always seemed happy with that. Instead, he spent the past 30 years in the middle. No hit to sell to a car rental company, he can pack huge clubs in a hundred different cities from Omaha, Neb., to Missoula, Mont., Atlanta to Boston.
“It’s surprising, and I honestly can’t explain it, but I’m glad it’s just how it is,” Mohr said ahead of his Saturday House of Blues show. “From our side of it, we have just tried to focus on being better players, being a better band, giving people what they want. I think that has paid off.”
While the band’s fame did spike with the release of 1993’s “Sister Sweetly” and modest singles including “Bittersweet” and “Broken Hearted Savior,” the Monsters have a dozen albums they can (and do) pull from on tour.
“The hits that we have to play, I’ve learned to be friends with them, because it’s a special thing when a song has taken root in someone’s life, if it’s someone’s favorite song that means a lot,” Mohr said. “But we have a lot of freedom to play anything beyond those hits. We can do whatever, and we have plenty of material.”
More constant than the shows, more constant than the albums, has been Mohr’s association with drummer Brian Nevin and bassist Rob Squires. Connected since high school in Colorado, the trio made a name for themselves as the best party band in Boulder. Then they took to a van and made sure every other college town knew their name. Along the way, the three never seriously considered ending the run.
“As soon as we started to have a little success, we thought, ‘This is good’ and we were never anxious to change it up,” Mohr said. “It’s like a marriage, and while you might not think it’s true, great marriages do exist. We rely on each other, we trust each other, and it’s not just me on the stage, it’s me plus the band, plus the crew. I don’t think any band can have longevity without that kind of internal support.”
This year, the band will play about 100 shows. It’s about what they played last year. And about what they played a decade ago. Like the lineup, Mohr isn’t about to change anything.
“I mean this, it’s still immensely enjoyable,” he said. “It might be different if we were down-scaling back to a van or shows were drying up, people weren’t showing up. Look, I didn’t shed any tears when the major label system went away, but without a major label we had to figure out how to get people’s eyeballs. It’s a different world, but with social media we can get those eyeballs all on our own. We can write and release music the way we want to and be out on the road and just keep going.” Big Head Todd & the Monsters featuring Hazel Miller, with Los Colognes, at the House of Blues, Saturday. Tickets: $29.50 – $49; ticketmaster.com.