WILSON WELCOMES WONDERMINTS BACK
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STUNNING PERFORMANCE (FIRST IN 4 YEARS)
AT THE KNITTING FACTORY CELEBRATES RELEASE OF
“MIND IF WE MAKE LOVE TO YOU”
IN STORES NOW ON SMILE RECORDS

At the record release party for the Wondermints long-awaited new CD, “Mind If We Make Love To You,” the curtain opened and there stood Brian Wilson to sing “Ride” with the Wondermints. The event at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood was the band’s first show in the U.S. in four years, as they have been traveling the globe backing up Brian Wilson during his tours. The two hour marathon set that followed showcased the new material right along with old favorites.

WONDERMINTS
LIVE AT THE KNITTING FACTORY
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20TH AT 8:00 pm
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MIND IF WE MAKE LOVE TO YOU
IN STORES SEPTEMBER 10th ON SMILE RECORDS

The Wondermints will make a very special and rare Los Angeles appearance at The Knitting Factory in Hollywood to celebrate the release of their fourth album Mind If We Make Love To You, in stores September 10, on Smile Records. The Wondermints have always been light-years ahead of their peers, and their music has always been inspired by an affection for a superb palate of sonic architects, a fusion of such unlikely bedfellows as Brazilian psychedelic mavericks Os Mutantes, soundtrack svengali John Barry, Elvis Costello, and sophisticated ’60s pop stylists like the Zombies and the Left Banke effortlessly blended with a liberal dosage of West Coast studio wizardry and deceptively tolerant elements of prog rock.

Come experience the sound and artistry that moved Beach Boy mastermind Brian Wilson to state “If I had the Wondermints back in 1967, I would have taken Smile out on the road.” An incredible compliment that sets an expectation that the Wondermints excel at exceeding. Join them on September 20th at The Knitting Factory Hollywood at 8:00 PM for an evening that will prove memorable in more ways than one. Cover is $10.00 and tickets can be purchased at the Knitting Factory Box Office or online at http://knittingfactory.com/kfla/. The Knitting Factory Hollywood is located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles (Ph: 323-463-0204)

MIND IF WE MAKE LOVE TO YOU TO BE RELEASED 9-10-02

SET TO PLAY WITH BRIAN WILSON AND PAUL MCARTNEY AT THE 2ND ANNUAL
“OPEN HEARTS. CELAR MINES.” BENEFIT,
SEPTEMBER 18 IN LOS ANGELES

WONDERMINTS CONTINUE BACKING BRIAN WILSON
ON PET SOUNDS LIVE TOUR DATES

Imagine the texture and complexity of later Beach Boys albums spun with an undeniable modern sensibility and audio production nothing short of wizardry. Throw in guest appearances by Brian Wilson and you have just begun to scratch the surface of the new Wondermints album being released by Image Entertainment and Smile Records on September 10, 2002.

Titled Mind If We Make Love To You, the album takes a journey that few bands are able to plan much less take. It is this incredible high caliber craftsmanship and skill that caught the attention Beach Boy Brian Wilson for whom the Wondermints have supported on the Pet Sounds Live tour worldwide over the past 3 years.

Through this association the Wondermints have been invited to play with Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson at Adopt-A-Minefield’s 2nd Annual “Open Hearts. Clear Mines” benefit organized by Paul’s wife Heather. The benefit will be held on September 18th at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. The fundraising event will be emceed by late night mogul Jay Leno and encourages sponsors to adopt a minefield’s for clearing and to provide survivor assistance to those affected by the forgotten weapons.

With Mind If We Make Love To You in the can, the Wondermints continue to play with Brian Wilson and are currently lining up a Wondermints tour of their own. The 12 new tracks will no doubt serve to broaden the worldwide fan base that the Wondermints have developed since the band formed in 1995. Swirling keys, catchy guitar hooks and involved lyrical composition are the hallmarks of a Wondermints album and with Mind If We Make Love To You the bar is raised once again. There is already talk of a 5.1 DTS remaster for the holiday season though even with out, the album will redefine what sonic purity and aural clarity mean to the listener.

Smile Records and Image Entertainment Present:
Wondermints – Mind If We Make Love To You
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Album Of Kaleidoscopic Eclecticism Hits Stores 9-10-02

Mind if we make love to you?

It doesn’t sound THAT obtrusive when you consider how long Wondermints have waited to ask it. Four years is a long time for any band. For Darian Sahanaja, Nick Walusko, and Mike D’Amico, it’s been a period of intense creative and personal growth that found Wondermints develop from a highly-touted L.A. band idolized by fans of the town’s thriving pop music scene to being revered by world class musicians such as
Brian Wilson, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, and members of S Club 7.

Like most groups, their beginnings were the result of a collaboration between a pair of enthusiastic music fans — keyboardist Sahanaja and guitarist Walusko. Following a collection of self-recorded/self-released cassettes of their brilliant homespun confections (and the crucial addition of drummer/vocalist D’Amico), the group inked a deal with Japan’s Toy’s Factory Records who released their debut album — an assemblage of tracks from the aforementioned cassettes — in 1995 and contributed to an endless stack of compilation albums as well as penning the title track to “Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery”. Interest from Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson and other elders of the pop music world elevated the band to a near-mythical status, and although their sophomore effort — 1996′s “Wonderful World Of Wondermints” — was merely a collection of cover songs (albeit the most unique collection of cover songs since Bowie’s Pin-Ups), they bounced back in 1998 with their true “debut” album, “Bali”. Since the album’s release, Wondermints have become the toast of the international rock scene, performing worldwide as members of Wilson’s band, a gig that exposed them on several late night talk shows, found them being invited to weddings by ex-Beatles, brought them acclaim from shrieking Japanese groupie girls, and eventually thrust them onstage performing in front of the Queen Of England. It’s a long way to the top, but it’s even a longer way from the Astro Family Restaurant in Silver Lake to Buckingham Palace.

On their highly anticipated fourth album and most collaborative effort to date — “Mind If We Make Love To You” — Wondermints guide us through a stunning song cycle in sensual surround sound, a jet setting romp through inner space by the proven masters of the aural massage. Music this divine isn’t inspired by tense boardroom meetings or uptight A&R clowns, but by such otherworldly realms as that playground of plastic ‘n’ fiberglass known as Tomorrowland and endless summer nights spent at the purple-hued, U.F.O.-like cocktail lounge The Encounter that towers high above LAX.

Wondermints have always been light years ahead of their peers, and their music has always been inspired by an affection for a superb palate of sonic architects, a fusion of such unlikely bedfellows as Brazilian psychedelic mavericks Os Mutantes, soundtrack svengali John Barry, Elvis Costello, and sophisticated ’60s pop stylists like the Zombies and the Left Banke effortlessly blended with a liberal dosage of West Coast studio wizardry and deceptively tolerant elements of prog rock.

“Mind If We Make Love To You” only reinforces this, combining Wondermints past affinity for musical experimentation with a newfound sense of sincerity that instantly encourages the listener to ponder whether this is the same group who introduced us to “Little Miss Puppet Grrrl” and a certain “Global Village Idiot,” and lured us “In And Around Greg Lake.” Is it all just one gigantic attempt to gain acceptance in the world of adventurous radio programmers, or is this simply one big scheme designed to get critics to proclaim that Wondermints have “reinvented” rock ‘n’ roll like every other band who put out a new album this year? Perhaps the point of their mission can best be summed up by Sahanaja (the one with “that hair”): “Our last album ‘Bali’ seemed like sort of an artificial trip, hence the wave ‘machine’ and all the electronica undercurrent. We were definitely taking the subversive angle and perhaps ‘trying’ to be clever. I don’t know what it is exactly, but being around someone like Brian Wilson these past few years, you definitely become less concerned with being “hip”. There’s far less intellectualizing on the new album, we just sort of went for the gut reactions. We must be in a sentimental zone these days because some of it borders on sappy, which is always cool when it’s real. I suppose we could have ventured further off into experimental space but it just wasn’t where were at these days. We obviously went inward, towards something more natural and organic. . . the true inner space.”

Out of mind and completely off the map, “Mind If We Make Love To You” is nothing less than a tour de force through Wondermints’ kaleidoscopic range of eclecticism and durability, as much an homage to the past is it is to the unexplored universe of pop music’s future. (Plus, it’s got a good beat and you can, well…the title kind of hints at what you can do. Really. It’s been done.)

Mind If We Make Love To You? I thought you’d never ask.