Review Revue: Mondo Vita - Fins de Paris

There's not much information out there about the '80s Seattle band Mondo Vita. Their leader Eric "Travis" Wilson (who has been working as a musician in Las Vegas for the past decade) claims on his own web site that the band "appeared on every TV station Seattle had to offer.  They also populated their stage with living room furniture, using floor lamps and a laundry hamper as guitar speakers.  This made them both a local nightclub favorite and a source of bewilderment among the Aqua Net crowd." His next band after that was " the world’s only Country-Metal-Rap band," and I really want to see if I can find any of their music in the station to see what people thought of them.

I would have said Mondo Vita was another mostly-forgotten indie band of the '80s, except in my internet ramblings I stumbled across the fact that our own DJ Sharlese played the song "She's My Heartbeat" on the October 19, 2013 installment of Audioasis - 30 years almost to the day after this very album was entered into the library. [cue spooky music] I don't have time to interview her about her Mondo Vita knowledge and what inspired her to play that particular song on that particular day, but here's hoping she comments on here with some background - and I hope Eric "Travis" Wilson will be happy to hear that Mondo Vita is still remembered, despite the mixed reception Fins de Paris received at KCMU in '83.

"LOCAL SEATTLE BAND! Quirky, fun pop with silly lyrics. Wonderful cover & packaging.""'Ach Du Lieber.'"

"Fun album, great band."

"Pretty good for a local LP." [Well if there's one thing that has most definitely improved around these parts, it's that you don't hear damnable faint praise like this tossed around much any more.]

"Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool."

"Heats . . . RIP."

"I have lived in Seattle for a year and I have yet to run across a decent local band. (These guys are no exception.) Makes me homesick for D.C. P.S. I think this band is horrible."

"Well, you could go back to D.C. . . . Just kidding."

"This band gags me."

"The lead singer is my girlfriend's ex-boyfriend. (Neato, huh?)"