The Mosquitos should’ve been huge. By the mid-80’s, they looked poised to make an assault on the charts. Fans flocked to their shows, their vocal harmonies were phenomenal and their musicianship was excellent. But more than anything, it was the songs.
In 1986, after a few nominations at the New York Music Awards (including a win for Best New Rock Group), Arista Records’ Clive Davis picked the title track off the band’s EP, “That Was Then, This Is Now” for The Monkees to record as their comeback single. That summer, the Prefab Four (minus one or two) took it into the Top 20. The world is a strange place…
By the next spring, after more than five years of rehearsing four times a week (one being vocals only), they split, leaving behind only the EP which the band now readily admits didn’t come close to representing their dynamic live sound, along with a couple of demo tapes and a song on ROIR’s “Garage Sale” cassette compilation.
In late summer 2020, the band’s Facebook page saw an encouraging post from fellow NYC garage scene musician, Paul Martin (The Vipers), who suggested The Mosquitos needed to set the record straight. The band got to talking, and soon they were collaborating on a compilation with a couple of fans who’d never stopped listening to tapes of Mosquitos live shows.
This time-consuming process resulted in a couple of interested labels to drop out (“thank you” to them), but fortunately led to a connection with Kool Kat Musik – ever the pop-archivist – who insisted in the project expanding to a 47-song (!), double CD which allowed for the release just about every original song they’d ever played, plus a handful of covers.
They got a few friends to help get the job done, and got incredibly lucky when noted NYC musician Mike Fornatale agreed to clean, repair, massage and master the recordings. Tony Million$ (Farfisa, lead and backing vocals) envisioned the anthology as two long live sets: the first would cover from the band’s beginnings through the mid-period, while the second would represent the time of the EP’s release through to the end.
The track list would not be chronological, instead arranged as it might work onstage. Since the band only recorded a third of their original songs in the studio, the rest are represented in a live setting. Much care was taken to find the best versions, and some you’ll swear are studio recordings.
“When a band doesn’t ‘make it’, people think that maybe they didn’t have what it takes. This collection proves otherwise…and shows what a great songwriter Vance Brescia is, as well.” – Tony Million$
Now: Please enjoy The Mosquitos – the secret is out and another chapter of pop history has been preserved!
Obviously, there’s a lot of music to digest on the 2 discs. The band recommends these tracks:
“You Don’t Give A Hang About Me’ (Disc 1/track 2)
“I Know A Secret” (Disc 1/track 12)
“Changed My Mind” (Disc 1/track 18)
“I’m So Ashamed” (Disc 2/track 4)
“Darn Well” (disc 1/track #3) (Garage)
But of course feel free to play any and as many as you prefer!
Pre-order the album here!
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