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Ludo In The Press: Page 2

Humming Along  
Ludo rocks Casa Loma; new video on the way
By Mike Gibson

Upon entering the Casa Loma Ballroom for Ludo�s Breaking Fall Tour, the senses are assaulted by the anxious atmosphere. New and old fans alike can be heard meeting and greeting within the vast venue, smoke steadily billowing from the far corner of the room from a small but mighty fog machine mixes with cigarette smoke, resulting in an oddly tolerable hybrid scent, and the movie The Labyrinth, which introduces the lovable character of Ludo, from which the band�s name originates, is watched intently by many on the large screens that will soon display a sneak peek of the band�s new music video for the song Hum Along.

Outside, Tim Convoy, best known as the band�s highly energetic background vocalist, can be seen searching the Ludo tour van for some necessary equipment in no rush, saving his energy for the upcoming performance. Inside, guitarist Tim Farrell can be found sharing laughs with friends, family and fans. And during the show, lead singer Andrew Volpe is found standing inconspicuously at right stage, intently watching the opening acts, Anything But Joey and Upside, and scoping the constantly growing crowd.

Mixing the calm and readiness of rock �n roll veterans with the energy and playfulness of a local punk act, Ludo displays the perfect combination of traits sought by fans. And this is exactly what they deliver at tonight�s show. Playing a mix of old favorites, fresh new tracks and a few random covers, the band provides more than was expected once again, much to the delight of the fans. The music was staged with perfection and the video exceeded expectations, which is saying a lot.

It is just this type of performance that originally won over the hearts of local supporters and will soon win over the ears of the nation. With their first CD quickly evolving from a local classic to a national product, the Hum Along video premiering nationally on Fuse TV on October 12, and the band�s persistent growth in skill and popularity, Ludo should expect no more than skyrocketing success in the near future.

-Mike Gibson
st_louie_sk8er@msn.com

Article from: http://www.stlscene.com/article-index.asp?ArticleID=105

Ernie Ball Interview: '05.

"Our goal?" Andrew Volpe, Ludo's front-man, pauses and reflects in a very rare moment of silence. "To entertain people without making them dumber!" Perhaps it's Volpe's way with words along with the band's commitment to achieving that goal that has made Ludo so successful in the short time they've been together. Perhaps a more accurate description of their goal would be "to entertain everyone without making them dumber." The band's touring schedule rivals that of most major label bands. Ludo played their first show August 8th, 2003 in Indianapolis. Less than a year and half later they had played nearly 200 shows from New York to Los Angeles. But a lot happened in that year and a half. Ludo put out their self-titled album at the end of August 2003. Eleven songs were chosen for the record, ranging in theme from unrequited love to social isolation to high school mythology. All are united by clever, engaging, often hilarious lyrics and Volpe�s unique story-telling ability. But the music on the record sticks out as well. Jake Leonard, of the University of Wisconsin's Badger-Herald, says, "It's the aggressive playing, the catchy melodies, and the fun lyrics that can make you actually bang your head, tap your foot, and laugh hysterically all at the same time." After just a few months of touring, it was clear that people loved being entertained without being made dumber: Ludo was making a name for themselves. Ludo brought their heavy-humored, high-energy rock show from New York to LA, selling albums at every stop. Before too long, Ludo was headlining clubs and colleges throughout the Midwest and Texas, playing to crowds that were decked out in Ludo cherries and screaming every word. Radio soon followed. College and independent stations throughout the region added "Hum Along," "Saturday Night Thunderbolt," and "Good Will Hunting By Myself" to their playlists. Commercial stations responded as well. "Hum Along" was first played on St. Louis's WVRV in October of 2003. By year's end the band had received more requests than any other independent artist had in the entire year. 2004 was an even busier year for Ludo. They maintained their strenuous tour schedule, playing more high-profile shows with several major-label artists. The summer of 2004 was marked by several appearances on cable network Fuse's "Daily Download." The network also premiered the band's first video for their song "Hum Along." Fresh off the TV appearances, the band embarked on "Breaking Fall 2004," a 6-week, 30-show tour with fellow popsters, Anything But Joey and The Dog & Everything. In October the band re-released their self-titled album on San Francisco-based indie label 33rd Street records and in November Fuse named Ludo winners of the "Next Big Thing Awards" where the band joined previous winners like Yellowcard, Modest Mouse, Story of The Year, and The Killers. With the album in stores like Best Buy and Tower Records, the band saw sales climb as 2005 approached. Ludo, which consists of Andrew Volpe (vocals, guitar), Tim Ferrell (guitar, vocals), Tim Convy (Moog, vocals), Marshall Fanciullo (bass), and Matt Palermo (drums) is based out of St. Louis, MO, or as they call it, "The Birthplace of Rock n' Roll" (Ludo is notorious for their loyalty to all things Chuck Berry). The band's success has not been without assistance though. They boast one of the most ambitious and aggressive street teams on the independent music scene. The "Ludo Ninjas," a unit over 300 strong, span all across the country. Whether it's grass-roots promotion, online activity, radio campaigns or holding program directors hostage, the Ludo ninjas are as much a part of Ludo as the cherries that hang from the "D" in the band's logo. As any St. Louis concert-goer will tell you, rarely can one leave a show without experiencing a "ninja attack." The band shows no signs of relenting in their attack either. They plan to continue their rapid rise to the top with hard work, stellar songs, a never-ending tour and a little help from their beloved ninjas. In early 2005 Ludo looks forward to appearances at Espn's Winter X-Games IX and South by Southwest, as well as tours with regional heavyweights like Lucky Boys Confusion and Pomeroy.

Taken from: http://battle.ernieball.com/battlebak/bb9/bands/ludo/

LUDO
Legends; Notre Dame, IN
September 23, 2003

A fine, fine band several months in the making has put together one of the best and lyrically-driven albums of the year. The five piece rock group, Ludo, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, played all eleven songs from their debut self-titled record at Legends on Friday, September 23. The band sounds like a combination of Ultimate Fakebook, Rooney, and Weezer. They have a mature punk rock sound with some Pacific and metal influence. �We get our influences from the Beach Boys and Chuck Berry, and then combine it with the St. Louis local rock scene,� says keyboardist Tim Convy. �This is absolutely a rock �n� roll record.�

At Legends, the show was spectacular and perfect for the venue. With Matt Palermo going crazy on the drums, Marshall Fancuillo�s thumping bass, Tim Ferrell�s guitar solos, Tim Convy�s keyboards dancing and jumping around, and Andrew Volpe�s awesome lead vocals, the sound was great. It was the first date on their tour when the band cranked out all eleven songs from their diverse rock album.

The set lasted about fifty minutes with no breaks, no pauses, just constant rock music. The set concluded with the last track from their album, �Girls on Trampolines,� a song about not being old enough to go to the cool parties. Other highlights from the concert include �Good Will Hunting by Myself,� a song about a man who has to watch the Matt Damon film by himself because his girlfriend dumped him. It includes a minute-long speech about how he�s glad the relationship is over. For more about Ludo�s music, see my album review article.

Ludo is on tour for at least the next two months, trying to get their name out into the world. The band�s name comes from a character in the David Bowie flick Labyrinth. �Ludo talks to the rocks; they�re his friends. Anyone can come up with a band name twenty words long. We just wanted something short and simple . . . and we like Labyrinth,� says Volpe.

The band headlines most dates in small venues, but also has dates supporting larger groups such as the Big Wu and Longwave. �I love being in different cities feeling like we�re doing damage . . . there�s nothing better than when you get to a city and no one knows a note you�ve written, and at the end, they come buy your album or ask you questions or want to know more,� says Volpe. Convy says the band plans to stay out on tour �as long as we absolutely can; I guess until we run out of money.� The band has yet to map out their plans for late fall and winter touring, but Convy says it is likely South Bend will once again be a stop sometime before the end of the fall semester. Make sure you don�t miss these guys next time!

Joe Lattal

Review Taken From: http://www.nd.edu/~mindset/siouxaside/_showreviews/ludoshow.html

Ludo Prepares to Rock!

Reviewer: The Badger Herald

I can't know for sure, but I'm close to positive that I could tell you whether you will or will not like Ludo without even meeting you. If you have a sense of humor, I'm fairly confident you will enjoy the rollicking lyrics lead singer Andrew Volpe belts out in songs with titles like "Girls On Trampolines." On the other hand, if you're one of the humorless fiends I see wandering in and out of the Law Library sporting the gravest expression you can muster, you might find the band a bit too unruly for your taste. If you had a childhood, there's a good chance that "Ode to Kevin Arnold" will remind you of all of your fondest "Wonder Years" memories. On the other hand, if you're one of those people who was born at age 40, thought "The Wonder Years" was cheesy 10 years before any of the rest of us realized it and hated movies like "Labyrinth" (the David Bowie classic from which the band's name was taken), you may find the band a bit too immature for your taste. If you think that a good time is a good time, I'm pretty sure that you'll have exactly that if you come see the St. Louis-born quintet rock Union South this Saturday night. On the other hand, if you're one of those people who think that drunkenness is a "social construction," that class should never, ever meet outside, that Weezer's blue album could never be as worthwhile as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and that "Girls on Trampolines" isn't the best song title you've ever heard of, don't even bother showing up. Ludo is simply a breath of Alpine Valley fresh air in a Nuevo-punk rock scene that often seems far too focused on being cool and punkish and not focused nearly enough on writing good music. Volpe, lead guitarist Tim Ferrell, keyboardist Tim Convy, bassist Marshall Fanciullo and drummer Matt Palermo collectively manage to make pop songs rock. Touring for the past year, Ludo has made a name for itself everywhere from Midwestern college towns to the Big Apple (where it recently played with The Big Wu) based on Volpe's clever lyrical style and storytelling ability. The band tells stories about everything from love lost to depression to high-school parties and manages to bring Eddie Murphy-sized grins to its appreciative audience in the process. Ludo's self-titled debut album sports 11 tracks. The album is available online at the band's website www.ludorock.com, or you can get it at the show this Saturday. It's an admirably solid first effort, with no noticeable filler tracks and at least five songs that will have you humming to yourself for weeks. The band's sound is something of a mixture. In a style similar to Ben Folds or Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, Volpe jam-packs his lyrics into verses. The guitar sound, on the other hand, has more similarity to a power-punk band like Blink 182. The band then mixes in a bit of Beach Boy-fashion '50s-pop appreciation and a sense of humor that can only be described as one-of-a-kind. The combination is irresistible and can make you actually bang your head, tap your foot and laugh hysterically all at the same time. Ludo often will get grouped in with so many pop-punk contemporaries because of the band's ability and desire to blow audiences away with guitars. But such an impression is misleading. "If you're in a rock band with clever lyrics that make people laugh, people want to throw you in with Blink 182 or Good Charlotte," Ferrell explained. "What we play is rock. There's nothing really punk about it." The band definitely does have much more to offer through Volpe's lyric-writing talent than other current bands in its genre. In the song "Roxy," Volpe tells the tale of a European adventure involving a French girl he knows only by the name on her shirt. "Oh Roxy, don't you love me? / Is it because I'm American?" he sings. On "Hum Along," probably the album's strongest track, Volpe tells of his genuine love for a girl he's never talked to. He goes on to make up scenarios from which he would rescue her. "Maybe you'd be kidnapped by pirates / who would take you to their hideout / as pirates often do." Many songs, like the Beach Boys-esque "Summertime" and the '50s-influenced "Laundry Girl" are in fact drenched in oldies with their three-part harmonies and delicate phrasings. But Tim Ferrell's driving guitar, along with a splash of synthesizer, gives the songs an updated, unique sound. You wouldn't think that heavy-metal guitars and '50s-influenced pop songs could appear on the same record, much less the same song, but throughout the album it's the seamless marriage of these two characteristics that sets Ludo apart from its peers. The metal/oldies relationship is most evident on "Sara's Song," which starts out sounding like an Everly Brothers ballad and ends in typical rock desperation with the full band begging poor "Sara" to stay. The album itself is wonderful, but seeing Ludo play live Saturday night, opening for Longwave is the only way to get a real taste of Volpe and company. "We've always loved coming up to Madison, and we really can't wait to play with Longwave," says Palermo. Come see Ludo this Saturday night. You'll be in for a treat.

by Jake Leonard, ArtsEtc.

Writer October 16, 2003

http://www.badgerherald.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/10/16/3f8e0

Ludo mixes genres, excites fans

By Meg Taff
February 12, 2004

I found myself at the Pageant one night back in January. It was cold, I was bored and one of my friends had free tickets to the St. Louis music preview. So what the hell ... I went. Two bands and a few beers later, I was wondering why I was still there. Right when I decided to leave, Ludo took the stage. I was completely caught off guard. There standing before me were five guys rocking out, kamikaze style, spewing lyrics, which prompted me to ask, "Did they really just say that?"

Ludo is a local band that will become more recognizable in the coming year. One of their songs, "Hum Along," was voted No. 1 on 101.1 The River's Homegrown radio show in 2003, and has also been played on 105.7 The Point. Singer/guitarist Andrew Volpe, guitarist/vocalist Tim Ferrell, keyboardist/vocalist Tim Convy, drummer Matt Palermo and bassist Marshall Fanciullo are the forces behind Ludo, a name taken from a character in the movie Labyrinth.

The band describes their sound as, "harmony-based, lyrically-driven power-pop rock 'n' roll." So, how does that sound? Well, their musical influences range anywhere from M?tley Cru? and Van Halen to music of the '50s and '60s like Chuck Berry.

"Obviously what's been on the radio for the past 20 years has an influence on all of us, too. It's hard to tell what comes out in Ludo and what doesn't, but it's all in there somewhere," Convy said.

Ludo was formed in 2000 when Volpe and Ferrell, both from St. Louis, started playing shows while on breaks from college. The two played more than 70 shows in cities like Orlando, Fla. and New York, building a steady fanbase. After numerous inquiries from fans about their lack of a full-length album, the two decided it was time to do something about it. But it wasn't until 2003 that fellow St. Louisan Convy, Texas native Palermo and Omaha native Fanciullo joined the band and recorded their self-titled album, which came out this past summer.

The album contains hilarious pop-culture-ridden lyrics crafted around hard rock, ska and pop melodies. In the song "Ode to Kevin Arnold," Volpe sings, "I feel my world is starving/ There's a metric ton of Easy Mac in my soul/ You, you know it's not the Matrix/ That's a movie and this is life we're wasting here." Their song "Saturday Night Thunderbolt" also exemplifies the bands' creative lyrics: "Another stupid Saturday, the conversation starts to slur/ And some Sasquatch wookie-boner spilled his Mad Dog down my shirt/ There's a party-thumpin' booty-humpin' music wagon in my head/ My friends are passed out or disappeared, all leaving me Banana Red."

The album can be found at the band's Web site, www.ludorock.com, as well as Vintage Vinyl and Euclid Records. Ludo's Web site also has a listing of their upcoming shows (the next show on March 26 at Mississippi Nights), a highly amusing tour diary and a preview of some of their songs.

But to really get Ludo, see them live, where their songs are taken to an infectiously energetic level. You can't help relocating to the front of the stage and facing the music head on. By the constant stream of touring, the band is accomplishing their goal of exposing their music to as many people as they can.

"A year from now we'd like to be touring just as much as we are now, but playing to bigger crowds," said Convy. So give Ludo a try and "Hum Along."

http://www.unewsonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/02/12/403131b4a9ed1

Ludo � �S/T� State Of Emergency Review...

Ludo are a genre hopping, yarn spinning, rock band with a great sense of humour. Their compositional talent allows songs as intriguing as; �Girls On Trampolines� & �Hum Along� to work effortlessly. The album actually takes an alarming lull in the middle � a turn of events that will shock listeners: Who have been thus far introduced to the band by song like the deeply catchy; �Saturday Night Thunderbolt� exuding a feel of The Presidents of the USA � with quirky vocals and delightfully eclectic lyrics.

Another standout track must be the kinetic �Roxy� which bounds along like an excited puppy until it�s laid back verses; examining international, sexual relations. �Oh Roxy, don�t you love me, is it because I�m American, maybe it�s because I don�t grope you and your friends�� demonstrates the band�s wry sense of humour. Whereas; �So they call ride guy who comes by and with a sigh lets them in his ride, and drunk guy tells ride guy to shut up and just drive, when he asks about the stuff and about the thing� � taken from the absolutely 100% inventive and unique; �Girls On Trampolines� - An epic track that mixes quick fire vocal exchanges, sampling, immersive storytelling and humour. God bless Ludo for creating such an ambitious track � I salute them.

The mid album lull is not cause simply by the tempo has slowing (They demonstrate their talent for slower songs with �Hum Along�). It seems that, apart from the slick and well structured; �Sara�s Song� song like; �Summertime� feel lackluster and insubstantial. They don�t possess the jaunty lyricism that previous and latter songs do and thus have little to offer the record. �Good Will Hunting By Myself� works on two levels, firstly as a cleverly structured song that plays on the emotional rock genres whilst then simultaneously featuring a spoken bridge that is both catchy and hilarious. This contrast makes for a disjointed but fun track. The spoken line; �Milkshakes melt and people change and you dumped me on my birthday, right after I bought you that really expensive�thing from the body shop� � is a mere snippet of the cynical hilarity that comes hand in hand with much of Ludo�s work.

This band possesses such a strong talent and unique ability that I cannot insist on enough the essentialness of their presence in the bubbling, funky cesspool that is modern rock music. If this had been an EP of select tracks it would have been a full 5/5 � however as an album the slightly less enchanting songs let it down. Ludo need to hone their style that was touched upon in; �Roxy� & �Girls On Trampolines�. Only then will they be the world�s finest band � but hey�how long could that take�like a weekend? So my friends; watch Ludo like a bunch of scruffy yet proud little hawks. These boys have more potential that a special shop that sells nothing but bumper stickers that say; �Potential�.

Standout Tracks: �Saturday Night Thunderbolt�, �Roxy�, �Hum Along� & �Girls on Trampolines�.

Added: April 30th 2004
Reviewer: Liam Thomson
Score:  3 & 1/2 Stars

Taken From:  http://www.stateofemergency.net/soephp/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=369

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