Mongrel are a group formed in 2008, by former Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, the band currently consists of Alex Turner , Jamie Cook , Nick O'Malley and Matt Helders...

 bassist Andy Nicholson. Alongside Nicholson in the band are Jon McClure

Jon McClure

Jon McClure, known as the Reverend, is lead singer and frontman of Reverend and The Makers and ex-vocalist of 1984 and Judan Suki. He claims that the name "Reverend" became his moniker because "I'm a big mouth and always running on at people"....

 and Joe Moskow, both of Reverend and the Makers

Reverend and The Makers

Reverend and The Makers are an indie pop band based in Sheffield, England and signed to Wall of Sound. The band is fronted by Jon McClure, nicknamed "The Reverend"...

, Babyshambles

Babyshambles

Babyshambles are an English indie rock band established in London. The band was formed by Pete Doherty during a hiatus from his former band The Libertines, but Babyshambles has since become his main project . Babyshambles has released two albums, three EPs and a number of singles...

 bassist Drew McConnell

Drew McConnell

Drew McConnell is the bass guitarist and backing vocalist with Babyshambles, the band formed and fronted by frontman of The Libertines, Pete Doherty. He lived in Tenerife, Spain, for much of his childhood, and he speaks Spanish fluently...

 and Matt Helders

Matt Helders

Matthew Helders , is the drummer for English indie rock band Arctic Monkeys. He is the most comprehensive backing vocalist in the group, appearing on several tracks, including the majority of 'Humbug'...

 from Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, the band currently consists of Alex Turner , Jamie Cook , Nick O'Malley and Matt Helders...

 as well as London rapper Lowkey

Lowkey

Kareem Dennis is a musician and political activist of English and Iraqi descent, better known by his stage name Lowkey. He first became known through a series of mixtapes he released before he was 18, before taking a hiatus from the music business...

 from the Poisonous Poets

Poisonous Poets

Poisonous Poets are an English hip hop group that released one self-titled mixtape in 2005.The act was founded in 2002 by Reveal. The group also consists of Doc Brown, Lowkey, Tony D, Therapist, Stylah and DJ Snips...

.

Mongrel released their first album Better Than Heavy

Better Than Heavy

Better Than Heavy is the debut album from supergroup Mongrel.-Track listing:Disc 1:# "Barcode"# "Lies"# "Hit From The Morning Sun"# "Off The Leash"# "The Menace"# "Act Like That"# "Julian"# "Better Than Heavy"# "Better Them Than Us"...

on the 7th March 2009. The content of their music is political, with the majority of their songs having lyrics which challenge government issues. The band have announced they will play a show at London's Boston Arms on November 5, with a four track digital EP due for release the same day. Released on the Wall of Sound label, the EP feature debut track "The Menace".

For the album, McClure stated "We had Saul Williams

Saul Williams

Saul Stacey Williams is an American poet, writer, actor and musician known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop and for his leading role in the 1998 independent film Slam.-Biography:...

 come in and do a thing on it and hopefully M.I.A.

M.I.A. (artist)

Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam , better known by her stage name M.I.A. , is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, painter and director of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Her compositions combine elements of hip hop, electronica, dance, alternative and world music. M.I.A...

 is going to do something and maybe Pete Doherty

Pete Doherty

Peter Doherty is an English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist. He is best known musically for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he reformed with Carl Barât in 2010. His other musical project is indie band Babyshambles...

. 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

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, McClure also expressed a desire to record in Venezuela and work with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chávez

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...

 for the band's second album.

Release

Better Than Heavy was released on Saturday 7 March 2009 free in The Independent

The Independent

The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

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.