Ludo gets their name from a character in the film Labyrinth. It started when the duo of lead vocalist and guitarist Andrew Volpe and guitarist Tim Ferrell played occasionally around St. Louis. Deciding to pursue Ludo full-time, they expanded to a five-piece group in 2003 with Tim Convy on moog, bassist Marshall Fanciullo and drummer Matt Palermo.
Ludo recorded their self-titled debut album, Ludo, and released it on their own indie label, Redbird Records in August of 2003. For the next few years, the band toured extensively with other midwestern bands, such as The Dog and Everything, Anything But Joey and Upside. This exposure brought them moderate indie success. The band returned to the studio in 2005 and recorded the EP Broken Bride. Broken Bride is a rock opera about a man who travels through time to attempt to save his wife from dying in a car accident in 1989. The opening track, "Broken Bride: Part 1," was a song that originally stood alone before evolving into the full opera.
In recent years, Ludo has been putting on themed concerts at The Pageant in St. Louis, Mo. and The Blue Note in Columbia, Mo. These include HalLUDOween, A Very Ludo Christmas, and Cinco de Mustache. Their fun outlook and interactive shows gained the attention of major labels Capitol Records and Island Records.
