Mother Superior

Mother Superior blended blues, soul, and classic American rock & roll to build a following as a favored club draw across the Los Angeles region in the late 1990s. Guitarist Jim Wilson, bassist Marcus Blake, and drummer Jason Mackenroth issued several independent albums during that span, among them The Heavy Soul Experience of Mother Superior in 1996, Kaleidoscope in 1997, and Deep in 1998. The last of those was produced by alt-rock icon Henry Rollins, who then recruited Mother Superior to serve as the new lineup of the Rollins Band. After supporting Rollins on Get Some Go Again in 2000, the group landed a deal with Triple X and introduced itself on that label with the 2001 release Mother Superior. Another pillar of American hard rock soon stepped forward in former MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, who produced Sin in 2002 and issued it on his MuscleTone imprint. Kramer returned to the production chair for 13 Violets in 2004, which came out on Mother Superior’s own Top Beat imprint. Moanin’ and Three Headed Dog appeared in 2005 and 2007, before Grande arrived in 2008 as a CD and vinyl LP compilation containing new tracks, rare live recordings, and previously unreleased versions of Mother Superior classics.