After a two-year hiatus from nonstop touring, St. Louis, Mo., band Ludo finally made its way back to San Diego on March 22 supporting the Presidents of the United States of America on their headlining tour.

Ludo’s beginnings started as the brainchild of singer/guitarist Andrew Volpe during his sophomore year of college. Andrew decided to team up with his friend/bass player Dave and rounded out the rest of the band with guitarist Tim Ferrell. After a short while, Dave met a girl and disappeared from the lineup. Ludo then became two. They played a couple of shows as an acoustic act and soon they picked up and moved from St. Louis to Tulsa, Okla., where they rented a small apartment.

Their one goal was simple enough: to play a show every night. So whether it was a stage meant just for them or an open mic night playing for a handful of despondent kids, Ludo played it. Soon, in the spring of 2003, Tim Convy — who was friends with Tim Ferrell — joined the band as Moog player (a moog is an all-analog synthesizer). Soon the guys hit the road traveling in Andrew’s Camry to far away places like New York and Florida, playing open mic nights and campaigning for a band that wasn’t complete and an album that hadn’t yet been made.

Around the summer of 2003, the band headed back home and sent out an ad looking for a drummer and a bassist. Ludo soon found Marshall Fanciullo to play bass and Matt Palermo as their drummer. Their first show as Ludo-the-five-piece was Aug. 8, 2003, at a bar in Indianapolis. According to Andrew, the show didn’t go well. “(It was) bad. And I mean ‘wow.’ One in the morning, the sound was awful, the drum set was sliding across the floor, the crowd was drunk/wanting to fight us, and we played like grizzly bears.” But hundreds of shows later, things started to turn for the band and in 2006 while playing the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, Ludo caught the attention of Island Records, which signed the band in October 2006. A bunch of fancy dinners later, Ludo headed into the studio with producer Matt Wallace (Maroon 5, Faith No More) and recorded its first major label debut, “You’re Awful, I Love You.”

“You’re Awful, I Love You” was released Feb. 26 and the band’s first single “Love Me Dead” has already become a smash hit on the radio and has enjoyed heavy rotation on FUSE’s “Steven’s Untitled Rock Show” as well as MTV. With Andrew’s dark, intelligent lyrics compounding the band’s God-given talent for great song writing, “You’re Awful, I Love You” is an amazing debut and hasn’t left my CD player since I went to Spin and bought it. That’s right, I bought it.

Songs that stand out immediately to me are “Love Me Dead,” my personal favorite “Drunken Lament,” “Lake Pontchartrain” and “Go-Getter Greg.” They’re the kind of songs that leave your vocal chords stretched and sore — in a good way of course.

I got the opportunity to speak with Moog player Tim Convy recently about the band and their new CD while the band was at the South by Southwest tour. “The fans have been awesome so far! It’s been great, it’s been really cool. We’ve been dying to play new music. People are going out and have gotten it (the new CD) and we’re really excited because we hadn’t had new music out in over two years so it’s great to hear the crowds singing the lyrics already when the album is so new,” Tim said about the touring so far.

Tim shared a few of his own favorite songs on the new album, “I really like ‘Love Me Dead,’ it’s one we’ve had for awhile. That and the second track (‘Drunken Lament’) because to me that’s what Ludo does. If I had to show someone our songs to describe to them what our band is like, those are the songs I’d play for them.”

As far as what fans can expect of their upcoming tour, Tim said, “I think they’re going to laugh and have a good time, and maybe cry a little. I can’t say exactly what’s going to happen; Ludo is pretty spontaneous so they’ll just have to come and see.” And they definitely did not disappoint at the March 22 show at the Belly Up in Solana Beach.

Be sure to grab a copy of their debut, “You’re Awful, I Love You,” and check out their Web site www.ludorock.com for news and updates.