In a music industry marked by fleeting trends, one-hit wonders and ever-changing band lineups, Big Head Todd and the Monsters are a model of stability. With 40 years under their belt, the Boulder-born, Denver-based band has proven their staying power with a steady stream of albums, a touring schedule that now numbers more than 1,000 shows and a timeless sound that mixes rock with flavors of soul, blues and country.
“We consider ourselves a rock ’n’ roll band, which means we borrow from a lot of different types of music and traditions,” says frontman Todd Park Mohr.
The group has maintained the same core lineup — Mohr on vocals and guitar, Rob Squires on bass, and Brian Nevin on drums — since the beginning of their career. In 2003, the band welcomed keyboardist Jeremy Lawton, who they still call “the new guy,” expanding their sound while maintaining the chemistry that has defined their music for decades.
While the outfit has spent lots of time on the jam-band festival circuit, their recently released album, Her Way Out, is a concise and catchy collection of rock tunes suggesting early Tom Petty more than the Grateful Dead. Granted, Mohr’s solo on the track “Twice as Bright” does have a trace of the Dead’s Jerry Garcia to it, but more often than not, he favors shorter, more impactful solos that serve the songs rather than overshadowing them.
Going deep
Mohr's musical journey began with piano and saxophone before he found his true calling with the guitar. His playing was influenced by great blues guitarists like Albert King, B.B. King and Albert Collins, as well as Stevie Ray Vaughan, whom he says had a huge impact on his generation of players. “I got to see him twice and meet him once,” Mohr says with fanboy-like enthusiasm.
Mohr’s songwriting, meanwhile, leans more toward putting himself in someone else’s shoes than reflecting on his own experiences.
“I’m not a writer who emotes about myself,” the 59-year-old musician says. “I just love writing from the particular point of view of a real person who’s trapped in a real situation, where there’s a clear story to be told and I do the best I can to tell it.”
A case in point on the new album is “Don’t Kill Me Tonight,” a song about sharpshooter Annie Oakley, who was known for performances in which she shot a cigarette out of her husband Frank Butler’s hand. Mohr looks at the story from Butler’s point of view: “Hey please don't kill me tonight / Over something I might have said this morning / May your bullet see the light / Of my cigarette and send this crowd a-roaring / Annie I love you / I'd die for you.”
Mohr cites Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen as artists who’ve influenced his songwriting. He’s also deeply indebted to the blues tradition and its knack for double- and triple-entendres that add depth and complexity to seemingly simple phrases.
But that’s nothing compared to the group’s first Red Rocks gig at the Blues on the Rocks festival in 1991, where Albert King invited Mohr up onstage to play with him and his band.
“I was so nervous about that,” he recalls. “I was sort of self-taught with guitar and started out with a lot of bad habits and a lot of limitations. But he was really kind and encouraging to me.”
Honoring the past
Another brush with blues stardom came when the band was recording their Beautiful World album with Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison producing. “He saw us play John Lee Hooker’s ‘Boom Boom’ live, and he kept insisting we put it on the record,” Mohr says. “We refused for a while, and then he said, ‘Well, what if I can get John Lee to come in and do it with you?’ And we were like, ‘Oh yeah, of course we will!’ And it became one of our most popular songs.”
It also brought them the distinction of being the only band in the known universe to have recorded both Hooker’s homicidal signature song and the ’70s yacht-rock ballad “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass — two offerings that could hardly be more different.
Mohr speaks passionately about the importance of honoring the past, rather than focusing solely on novelty or individual accomplishment. "It's about celebrating the mentors and the tradition," he says. "It's less about, you know, ‘I’m the new guy, look at me and what I can do."
Meanwhile, Big Head Todd and The Monsters show no signs of slowing down. Their current tour promises the kind of high-energy, soulful performances that have become the band's hallmark. And yes, if recent shows are any indication, they will play both “Boom Boom” and “Brandy.”
“We know a lot of songs,” Mohr says. “And we’re good entertainers.”
ON THE BILL: Big Head Todd and the Monsters: 40th Anniversary. 6 p.m. Saturday, June 7 and Sunday, June 8, Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre, 18300 W. Alameda Pkwy. $62+