Mondo Cozmo Drops Slow Burn Single 'Killing Floor'

Mondo Cozmo — the enigmatic musical force who commanded notoriety and critical acclaim with album, Plastic Soul and number one single “Shine,” released a slow burn, indie rock epic single “Killing Floor.” The single will be featured on Mondo Cozmo’s It's PRINCIPLE!, a varied, grizzled, intense, sincere, and intricate rock album produced by Mark Rankin (Queens of the Stone Age, Adele) due for release August 30 via Last Gang Records. 

Cozmo also announced his upcoming fall US tour with dates including New York’s Brooklyn Made, Philadelphia’s Underground Arts, Chicago’s Schubas Tavern, Asbury Park’s Wonder Bar and more. Tickets will be on sale this Friday, August 9 at 10amET. Link here.

Cozmo shared a sincere statement with the release, revealing his wife is the inspiration behind his esoteric lyrics.

“My wife was the singer of a band called ‘Apocalipstick’ (a brilliant name), which inspired the line ‘She was a singer in a punk band when she came for me,'" Mondo stated, adding, “She lived in the lower east side of Manhattan. I would take the train up from Philly and stay with her in those early days. I didn't care for the city - it was dirty and intimidating and I’m too polite to engage properly with all of it. There's a poem in one of my dumb books by David Henderson depicting a funeral procession for a dead playwright. In the second verse he wrote ‘They scatter your ashes all over the lower east side.’ She underlined this passage in red and wrote ‘scatter me on the lower east side.’ So I added in the 2nd verse - ‘I remember when you said scatter me across the streets, on the low east of mansions and time machines.' This thinking led me to add the ‘everybody dies on the killing floor’ line in the chorus.”

Mondo Cozmo, also known as Josh Ostrander, began his career as part of bands Laguardia and then trio Eastern Conference Champions. The latter experienced a degree of success, with a song featured on the Twilight soundtrack. But that wasn’t enough for the Philadelphia native. Soon, the band split and Ostrander began recording under the moniker Mondo Cozmo. Now on his own, he did everything it took to survive in order for him to make his music successful. He slept on sofas, cut costs when possible. Like all good things, success came after many years of hard work.

Cozmo has released a series of acclaimed albums including the critics darling Plastic Soul, which landed him number one single in “Shine,” and helped him find fans from Butch Vig to Bruce Springsteen, who praised his songwriting in a New York Times article. He has landed and lost major label deals, and opened for pretty much every band in America. He then forged an independent path, releasing more critically acclaimed albums, and punched a glass window in a fit of frustration and nearly ended his career.

Various speed bumps like this spurred a transformative journey for Cozmo, he took bold steps, parting ways with his manager of 15 years and immersing himself in the world of acclaimed producers and engineers. Thanks to the power of social media, he connected with Mark Rankin (Queens of the Stone Age, Iggy Pop, Weezer, Florence and the Machine). After some preliminary work zapping files back-and-forth, they headed to Cozmo’s studio near Lake Arrowhead.

As Cozmo/Ostrander wrote the songs that comprised the album, the impending death of his dog, Cozmo, weighed heavily on him and served as inspiration. As he felt Cozmo’s time slipping away, Ostrander spent more time with him, including bringing him to studio during the sessions. Much of the album’s lyrical matter addressed the impending death and the emotions he was going through at that time.

Throughout the process, Cozmo was conscious that he needed to make a concise record that was focused, but he had an unprecedented creative spark. He wrote 70 songs. Centerpiece and title track “It's PRINCIPLE!” is built around an abstract and compelling lyric, “So I'm slashing tires on Main Street America.” The song almost didn’t make the cut. Since it was one of the earlier songs Ostrander recorded, after sending the song with Rankin he immediately felt sender's remorse. He nearly deleted the song before Rankin responded to tell him that the song should lead off the album. He decided this would be his torch light, to trust the opinions of those around him whom he respected.

Fueled by newfound confidence and determination from positive collaborations with industry giants, the album has a cocksure bluster of an artist that has run out of f**ks to give, and all the better for it. Previously released single “Angels,” is a wall of sound rock epic with momental lyrics. “Sundown In An Age Of Fear” is more abstract but contains a refined energy, hard to pinpoint but compelling to its core.

In the end, Mondo Cozmo’s fourth studio album is his most complete and vulnerable body of work. Instead of an ending, it marks a new beginning. Not many artists are fortunate to successfully hit the reset button. Yet, that’s exactly what It’s PRINCIPLE is: an artist, who has been through it, taking a big swing and connecting with an album he believes he made for himself, but it would be nice if others like it too.

Cozmo concludes, “I guess I made this record for myself. I mean I didn't play any demos for anyone who absolutely didn't need to be involved. And I actually don’t care if anyone likes it. I mean it's glorious when they do but I think as a defense mechanism I believe I have created this wall to guard the creative spirit. Maybe that's what Rick Rubin was actually talking about when he said ‘make music for yourself.’”

Tracklist

01 It's PRINCIPLE!

02 Angels

03 Here I Am

04 Wild Horses

05 Killing Floor

06 Sundown In The Age Of Fear

07 July 4

08 New Salvation

09 Leave A Light On

10 I'll Be Around

Tour dates include:

(support from Jane Leo)

Oct 23 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom

Oct 24 - New York, NY - Brooklyn Made

Oct 25 - Woodstock, NY - Colony Woodstock

Oct 26 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts

Oct 29 - Toronto, ON, CAN - Horseshoe Tavern

Oct 30 - Cleveland, OH - Mahalls

Oct 31 - Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern

Nov 1 - Minneapolis, MN - Turf Club

Nov 3 - Indianapolis, IN - HiFi

Nov 4 - Columbus, OH - The Basement

Nov 6 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Café

Nov 7 - Asbury Park, NJ - Wonder Bar

Photo credit: Koury Angelo

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