Power Pop and Rock and Roll get naked and steal a car- your car.
“Without being nostalgic retreads, Mama manage to evoke middle-western pinball summers of Bondoed ’81 Camaro Z28s, drive-in beer binges, and epic finger bangs under the bleachers. Their recent double seven-inch, “Night Shoot”—produced by George and Alex Szegedy from the Peoples Temple—has plenty of focused Lynott vocal and bass propulsion and dark Nielsen guitar hooks, but there’s an aggression to the sound born not of majoring in “Classic Rock” with a “Power-Pop Emphasis,” but rather of years spent honing their shit in the booze-sweat-piss-and-Adderall magik of the house-show circuit.”
- Brian Costello, Chicago Reader
“…Chicago’s MAMA, however, bring to mind a facet of the genre that was a lot more radio-friendly in the late 1970s—stuff made by bands like the Knack and Thin Lizzy. On Speed Trap, they don’t hold back on the cowbell. Their drummer is sh...
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Power Pop and Rock and Roll get naked and steal a car- your car.
“Without being nostalgic retreads, Mama manage to evoke middle-western pinball summers of Bondoed ’81 Camaro Z28s, drive-in beer binges, and epic finger bangs under the bleachers. Their recent double seven-inch, “Night Shoot”—produced by George and Alex Szegedy from the Peoples Temple—has plenty of focused Lynott vocal and bass propulsion and dark Nielsen guitar hooks, but there’s an aggression to the sound born not of majoring in “Classic Rock” with a “Power-Pop Emphasis,” but rather of years spent honing their shit in the booze-sweat-piss-and-Adderall magik of the house-show circuit.”
- Brian Costello, Chicago Reader
“…Chicago’s MAMA, however, bring to mind a facet of the genre that was a lot more radio-friendly in the late 1970s—stuff made by bands like the Knack and Thin Lizzy. On Speed Trap, they don’t hold back on the cowbell. Their drummer is showy and unrelenting, their guitar sound is huge, and their vocals have this confident breathiness. In five short songs, they make an EP that’s ready to be blasted on the highway.”
- Evan Minsker, Pitchfork
“While their sound has been consistently compared to Thin Lizzy and The Dictators, they are far more complex than they appear on the surface, as they also handle that far more difficult pop end of the spectrum quite smashingly. With their irresistible metallic 70s/80s pop grooves interweaving such diverse touchstones as NWOBHM dilettantes Marseilles, Milwaukee thug-wavers Ozone, and even hints of those elusive Blue Ash hooks and the early Nervous Eaters punch, MAMA have a lot more going on than the typical band going through the motions, and their deep well of music knowledge and electrifying stage presence will only add to their growing rock’n roll prowess, which builds with every Michelob-soaked night, …in the heart of the CITY.”
- Todd Killings, Victim of Time
“MAMA goes wild on stage. MAMA shreds with wild guitar solos. MAMA serenades wild babes with beautifully naive lyrics that have traveled to our burned-out wasteland of irony and nihilism through some benevolent time warp, transmitting a hidden message: all is not lost, it’s OK to be happy, the future is still out there and can be ours, but only if we really want it.”
- Steve Wichelecki, Victim Of Time
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