Hiya MONROE, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
What was life like for you before you got into music?
Terrible, we had no will to live. No just kidding!
I think life collectively for us wasn’t like your typical childhood life, where you start going through a mental checklist of what your aspirations are or goals, before landing on something or resorting for something. With us it was always very clear from a young age, despite coming from drastically different families, cultures, that music was IT for us. So honestly, whilst yeah we may remember things like playing with our friends in the park, cartoons, we mostly remember always being obsessed and in awe of just great music and the experiences it provides.
What’s the live music scene like in Melbourne right now? Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
The music scene in Melbourne is kind of interesting to say the least? There’s a very clear dividing line on two distinct camps of you’re either an indie band or you’re in the grungier scene. There are tons of cool bands regardless, but the bands that we’ve played with or solo artists too who seem to go for more a niche or unique roots are the ones we typically enjoy playing with the most and feel like they just add a different flavor to the scene. We would definitely recommend Peach Fuzz, B-Sides, Titration, Aria Monet and Kevin Silvestre just to name a few!
It seems like being a social media curator has become added to the many jobs of a musician, how do you feel about this?
Honestly, we have a love-hate relationship. On the one part all members grew up on the ‘golden age’ of skit based humor on the internet (The Sidemen, Racka Racka, VINE etc..), on the other part it can get pretty annoying at rehearsals when we have to carve time out to quickly film something. But you gotta make your own fun, and we try and do it by placing a more unique/humor based approach to the way we advertise or announce things!
How do you manage engagement on your socials?
A lot of trying to copy what more successful bands are doing, trying to figure out posting times, even caption colors and fonts now are capable of having a drastic effect on your instagram reels, GOD when does it end!?
What’s your view on the Music industry today?
As a band, we see the music industry as something that’s constantly evolving, it feels like it changes every single day. Social media, for example, has completely reshaped how artists connect with their audience. You’re not just thinking about writing songs or performing anymore; you’re also navigating trends, timing posts, figuring out what content actually reaches people, and working out how to cut through the noise. For independent and DIY artists like us, it can be tough. You might have the songs and the talent, but without big financial backing it’s a challenge to be seen and then to turn that into people showing up to gigs. At the same time, it forces you to wear a lot of hats. We’re songwriters, performers, content creators, promoters… It’s pretty much a 24/7 job on top of whatever else we’re doing in life. AI is another big factor coming into play, which makes the landscape even more unpredictable. But honestly, while it’s challenging, we think that’s also what makes it exciting. We believe overcoming those hurdles: staying authentic, being original, and finding ways to adapt,is what will shape us into a stronger band in the long run.
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
Nowhere near the big dining table with the top dogs haha. At the same time it doesn’t really matter where you’re placed, so long as you’re able to promote and put your concept/idea into reality and have it resonate with a lot of people. We know the glam rock moniker and more poppy party vibe is almost the antithesis of Melbourne at the moment, but we like that it probably gives us a more unique edge.
Whats the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
Honestly the biggest thing for us is a transition from being selfish to selfless entertainers, we’re still working on it and we’re not advocating for never thinking you can improve, but we think at the end of the day, as long as you’ve given it all to give the crowd an entertaining show regardless of what it means for yourself, and know you’ve put the hard work in, their happiness matters more than self-satisfaction towards your own abilities or perception of your performance. At least that’s how we view our relationship with our music and audiences.
What was your best experience on stage?
We got to open for Thelma Plum and Egoism at this year’s RMIT orientation week festival, which pulled in a massive crowd! It was absolutely amazing and was super important at the time, given we were going through a reset with the band.
What was your worst experience on stage?
Funnily enough, the same gig! The start of our set got delayed by technical difficulties and it seemed like everything was unravelling before our eyes, but in the end we dug deep, stuck to our guns, the crowd was enjoying it and thankfully the promoters pushed back the later slots to allow us a full set’s worth of a performance. So chalk it down as a worst/best experience.
Tell us something about you / each member that you think people would be surprised about.
Nat our singer still holds out belief he can be a chess grandmaster if he just “Put his mind to it”, Rocco our lead guitarist is at the tail end of his law-degree currently (and barely surviving), Jason our other guitarist is absolutely obsessed with cats, Christian our bassist loves Sabrina Carpenter despite being a metalhead and Brandon our drummer is suspiciously good at voice impersonations.
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
Absolutely! Our new single Take Me For A Ride is out now on all streaming platforms, and it comes with a music video we’re really excited about. The track captures that universal feeling of wanting to tell your boss exactly what’s on your mind after a long, frustrating day at work. It’s high-energy, fun, and a perfect way to kick off this next chapter of our music. We’re thrilled to finally share it with everyone!
What was the recording process like?
We record all our music with the Loud Noise Estate! Shoutout to Ash and Evan! And we’re not going to sugarcoat it, it’s tough because the both of them are relentless in a pursuit of perfection, they can hear little things that transform a song and go through the most excruciating detail to fine tune every part during pre production, but also make sure they extract the best possible performance out of each band. We wouldn’t have it any other way though, they’re the real deal.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
The biggest learning curve was the 5 of us learning how to write with a new perspective and new singer! When Nat joined onboard, we rehauled our style completely (although it may look similar to longtime listeners). But in comparison to the past, we found a similar sense of humor and kinship in Nat and the same level of extremely undiagnosed super-specific observational comedy abilities that just prompted us to capture that in song form. So it’s definitely become a more themed base for our songs, where we would find interesting phenomena, hilarious anecdotes or even ideas we want to satirize or raise awareness about, and complement it with energetic glam rock styled music. Rather than the past where we came up with generic “rock band” “party” ideas to fit existing song ideas!
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
We’re firm believers in always looking forward, and making sure the next thing we do improves upon what we’ve last done, so no we wouldn’t change a thing.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
STREAM our first comeback single Take Me For a Ride Y’all! And for all the lovely folks in Melbourne we hope to see you at our single launch at Revs on the 29th of August!
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