Candygram for Mongo
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Candygram For Mongo (sometimes know as C4M) is a rock and roll band based in Los Angeles, California. The band name refers to a quote from the Mel Brooks Movie Blazing Saddles.
Biography
Candygram for Mongo was founded in 2005 by drummer Gary Sharp and vocalist and guitarist Tony Shea. The two had been offhand friends for five years through their girlfriends when they discovered a mutual interest in music. The two immediately began rehearsing and writing together with the idea of creating a studio project. They enlisted the help of Johnny Dwinell (aka Johnny D) a producer and musician from Los Angeles by way of Nashville who was impressed with the unique sound of the band and officially joined Candygram For Mongo as the guitarist. Additional the band recruited Dan Cohen, a top notch LA studio musician who has played and recorded with many bands including Gigolo Aunts, Happy Stars, The Posies, The Rembrandts, and Dogs Eye View among many others, to become the band’s permanent bassist despite his background primarily as a guitarist. The band has added bassist James Baker in 2008 just prior to Johnny Dwinell’s departure from the group. Dan Cohen is now the primary guitarist.
Career
The band’s first public show was on September 3, 2006 at the Viper Room located in Los Angeles . The club, once partially owned by actor Johnny Depp, is located on the Sunset Strip, and has been a famous venue and launching pad for numerous bands over the last fifteen years including [ ], although it remains perhaps most notable as the last location actor River Phoenix visited prior to his death from a drug overdose in 1993.
Candygram For Mongo’s first record release is entitled “The Red Pill”. Though the term “The Red Pill” is often associated with the films in the Matrix series, due to fact that the character Neo, aka the Chosen One, is first presented with a choice of two pills, one red and one blue, by the mysterious Morpheus, in which the red pill promises liberation from the prison of the matrix, while the blue pill is a narcotic sleeping pill that will keep him in the dream state. However, the band maintain that the album title is simple a coincidence based upon a private in-joke and has nothing to do with the popular film series.
Influences
The band’s signature sound is a combination of rock and roll, punk, and pop with occasional Oi!, Irish and country touches and characterized by fast, fun and anthem-like songs.
Their influences include The Ramones, Chuck Berry, Dropkick Murphys, Social Distortion, Bill Haley, Led Zeppelin, The Clash, Bad Religion, Link Wray, The Living End, Blink 182, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Cheap Trick and The Kinks.
In Popular Culture
The band’s music has been used in popular television shows including Battlestar Gallactica airing on the NBC owned SCI-Fi Channel and Unhitched, the 2008 comedy televions show produced by the Farrelly Bros (There’s Something About Mary fame), airing on FOX, and on which the band members actually appeared as extras on in March 2008.
Live Performance
The band has performed numerous shows at world famous venues like the Viper Room, House of Blues, Key Club, Derby , Cat Club, and the Mint.
Beyond the band’s growing reputation as a live act and the national exposure from television placements, the band has won a variety of numerous online competitions. Among them, the band’s song “Happy” was on the charts on Garageband.com for more than six months, winning numerous awards. As a result, “Happy”, was accepted into Clear Channel’s New Discover Music Program and consequently featured on 400 Clear Channel FM Radio Station Websites.
Releases
"Red Pill" (2007)
"Candygram for Mongo" (2008)