Mongrel are a British band formed in 2008, founded by former Arctic Monkeys bassist Andy Nicholson. Alongside Nicholson in the band are Joe Moskow, both of Reverend and The Makers, Babyshambles bassist

Drew McConnell Drew McConnell (born 10 November 1978 in Dublin, Ireland) is the bass guitarist and backing vocalist with Babyshambles, the band formed and fronted by frontman of the Libertines, Pete Doherty, and for former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher's band ...

as well as London rapper Lowkey from the Poisonous Poets. Mongrel released their first album ''

Better Than Heavy ''Better Than Heavy'' is the debut and only studio album from supergroup Mongrel. It was released on 7 March 2009. Track listing ;Disc 1: ;Disc 2: Personnel Credits adapted from ''Better Than Heavy'' liner notes. ;Mongrel * Jon McClure - vo ...

'' on 7 March 2009. The band have announced they will play a show at London's Boston Arms on 5 November, with a four-track digital EP due for release the same day. For the album, McClure stated "We had

Saul Williams Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film ''Slam'' ...

come in and do a thing on it and hopefully M.I.A. is going to do something and maybe

Pete Doherty Peter Doherty (born 12 March 1979) is an English musician, songwriter, actor, poet, writer, and artist. He is best known for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he formed with Carl Barât in 1997. His other musical projects are indie b ...

. It's got a good flavour... We're really taking a few people to task, kind of like we're Public Enemy or something." In an interview with '' The Guardian'', McClure also expressed a desire to record in Venezuela and work with Venezuelan president

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

for the band's second album.

Release

''Better Than Heavy'' was released on Saturday 7 March 2009 free in '' The Independent'' newspaper. It was the first time a British band had given their début album away free with a national newspaper on release. The full release, 23 March 2009, contains two CDs, Disc 2 is a reworked version of "Better Than Heavy" by Adrian Sherwood at On-U Sound Studios, tracks are re-titled Dub versions.

Discography

;Albums *''

'' (2009)

References

External links

Mongrel
on Myspace English indie rock groups {{UK-rock-band-stub