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| Photo by Robin McGarrity |
Seattle's Monogamy Party adhere to the maxim of being young, loud and snotty, as evidenced by not only their crazy live shows, but their debut EP "Pus City", which came out on Good To Die records last year. Taking inspiration from other noisy, bass-led combos such as Big Business and godheadsilo, the three dudes (Kennedy, Yos-Wa and Keith) are committed to making an in your-face racket that doesn't skimp on attitude or dementia.
With the band embarking on an inaugural cross country tour that stops at the Cherry Street Station in Wallingford on August 27, we decided to send bassist Yos-Wa some questions concerning the band. Full disclosure, I have interviewed this band before for another web site and I'm fully aware of how good they are. So, if you are interested, definitely come down and check out this show. You certainly won't be disappointed.
Enjoy!
What is the story behind the band's name? What does it mean, if it means anything?
There really is no meaning behind the name. It was just a funny juxtaposition of words that I came up with when trying to name an album for one of my previous bands. I’ve tried to read into why I think it’s so funny and almost contradictory, but I can’t make much sense of it. Hopefully someone can explain it to me someday.
What are your songs about? They seem to get awfully dark. You told me that Kennedy wrote them. Where does the inspiration for the lyrics come from?
We all like the darker side of human nature. We’re all pretty decent guys (if not a little bit of assholes), so it’s just interesting to us to focus on people we don’t quite understand but want to. If only to have a tighter grasp on the “human condition.”
How did the band come up with its current lineup? You told me before that you were never really looking for a guitarist.
Kennedy and I were both in other bands and our current bands weren’t touring. We started writing songs just to try and do some touring. Once we felt comfortable with a small batch of songs we figured we’d bring more members into the fold. The first logical place to start is to find a drummer. Keith offered his services and by the time he had the songs down we were too antsy to get out there and start playing shows. The initial thought was we would probably get a guitar player, but we just felt so comfortable as a three piece that we just let that notion go by the wayside.
Now that you've released the "Pus City" EP. Are there plans to do a full length any time soon? And would that also be for Good To Die records?
We hope to record an LP in the fall. There might be some splits happening…we really don’t know. We have enjoyed the shit out of being on GTD, and if Nik would actually want to put up with us for another release we probably wouldn’t have a problem with that.
Have you written any new songs? If you have, what are they like? And are the new ones winding their way into your current live set?
We have about 9 new songs so far. We’re wanting to have 12 or 13 before we go into the studio. The new songs are much darker and streamlined than the ones on Pus City. The writing process for Pus City was mainly me cramming a bunch of riffs that I had into separate songs. The new songs were written more as a band and have a much more fluid feel. Again, we aren’t very good at holding things back so we’ve been playing a lot of them live. It all depends on the show. I don’t think we ever do the same set twice. At least not on purpose.
What are the advantages of being a guitar-less band? What are the disadvantages, if any? v Less people equals less politics, less ego, and less conflict. Plus I get to be loud as shit to compensate, which is one of my favorite things in the world. I don’t really see too many disadvantages. I may end up throwing a little guitar on the next record just for some extra texture when a song calls for it, but I doubt we’ll ever end up trying to recreate that live.
Have you ever been kicked off any bills or out of a club because of your onstage antics? Do promoters still don't know what to make of your name?
We haven’t as a band, but we weren’t allowed to play the Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle because of Kennedy’s antics in another band. I’m sure we’ve been “unofficially” banned from some places, but they haven’t stated that to us outright. We’ve been scoffed at a few times because of our name, especially when booking shows at punk houses or in the progressive DIY scene. We hear a lot of things like “that’s not a party I wanna be a part of.”
When I interviewed you the last time, you told me that one of the main reasons for forming the band had to do with the fact that you wanted to get out and tour. How does it feel to be going on your first cross country tour? What are you looking forward too (except for a lot of driving)?
It feels good to finally be doing a more “national” tour. Except it’s not totally national. We didn’t have time to hit the south, which is a bummer. Mainly I’m excited to play to different crowds of people than we usually do. I feel like the northeast is gonna be some of the easiest touring because major metropolitan areas are so close to each other. At least compared to the west coast. We may actually have time to check out some sights and shit this tour. Also, booking this tour has been really eye opening to the type of scenes happening across the country. I have a feeling that some will be more inviting to what we’re presenting, but that is yet to be seen. But also, just chilling in a van with two good buddies is a good time in and of its self.
Since we last talked, have you seen a change in how Seattle accepts bands on the heavier end of the spectrum? Has it been brought more into the limelight, so to speak?
It seems like shows are getting better and better. I thought I had met everyone that’s into the heavier scene, but new people keep popping up. I guess that shows some growth.
What are the future plans for the band? More touring? More recordings? Explain.
That’s the only plan we’ve ever had! Tour and record. The main plan is to get to a point where our tours and records can be self sustainable. As long as we can break even, we will feel like gods.
Manic Productions Presents:
Monogamy Party
Cold Snap
Burrows
Monday, August 27
Cherry Street Station
491 N. Cherry Street Extension
Wallingford, CT
8:00pm - 21+ - $7
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