Indie/emo heart throbs Monument have decided to interview themselves for SAL’s Sound Off feature. These guys are really long-winded and name drop a lot of bands. It sucked doing the Tags for this post. Warning: this is the longest interview ever in the history of band interviews…but oh so entertaining! You can check out my review of the band’s most recent release, a 3 song 7-inch here. Monujamz!!
Anton to Dan:
Anton: Hey Dan! So we decided to interview each other for this and I pulled the straw to interview you. Since we’re pals and I know lots about you I’m gonna ask you stuff that perhaps other people don’t know, so lets get to it.
You’ve been in monument since day one, but you and I weren’t always good friends. Care to share our past and what you thought when I sneakily showed up with a van full of equipment to the first practice uninvited?
Dan: I met Anton in college at through WMUC, the college radio station. I had just started playing in The Tasty Habits and found out that he booked shows in his basement. I bugged him all the time, but he thought we were terrible so he would never book us. It is a grudge I will hold forever.
After playing with Algernon Cadwallader on the Tasty Habits tour, I decided that I needed to play in this type of band. I knew Gabe through some friends and knew he would be interested as well. We enlisted Brandon, the then drummer for Dawntreader and figured our band was complete. Then of course, Anton simply invited himself to the first practice and hasn’t budged since. That guy…he’s something else.
Anton: People might also not know that you are a classically trained musician and an elementary school music teacher. What’s your favorite instrument, bass excluded? The weirdest instrument you ever played? If you had a bajillion dollars what instrument would you buy?
Dan: Viola is by far the coolest instrument ever. My parents own a didgeridoo which I can sort of play. If I had a bajillion dollars I would totally get the ‘futuristic’ guitars from the end of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. They probably cost a lot less though.
Anton: Describe the moment you decided you want to be a music teacher
Dan: I can’t really think of a precise moment when I made the decision. I guess I just had some very influential teachers in middle school and high school that really paved the way for me. I feel extremely lucky to do what I do.
Anton: What bands have you been bumpin lately? Name a band for each mood: I just had a rootbeer and it was good, angry because I’m out of rootbeer, just parked my car in the only parking spot for miles and its a meter but I have no coins, you’ve been assigned to save the world from invading space monsters and are getting shot into space in like 30 seconds.
Dan: I’ve been listening to a lot of Good Luck, My Heart to Joy, Slingshot Dakota, and the new Brainworms album. They all fit every mood you mentioned because they are just THAT GOOD.
Anton: What would you wear if monument was ever featured in some magazine like Spin?
Dan: Let’s see…doesn’t everyone in that magazine still rock the blazer and t-shirt thing?
Anton: Favorite Monument moment?
Dan: We drove 22 hours down to southern Florida to play a festival last winter. We couldn’t take off more time to do more shows so it was pretty much drive down, play, and drive back up. It was a lot of fun and I never ever want to do it again.
Anton: Give some shoutouts to some other good bands that deserve the shout outs
Dan: The Fordists are clearly the best band in DC (maybe the world?) but they already know that.
Anton: You’re an avid bike rider, what’s your favorite bike route? What’s your bike wish list? Biggest biking pet peeve?
Dan: My favorite bike rides are the ones that don’t have a specific route. The coolest thing about riding my bike as an adult is that sense of exploration and discovery you had as a kid. Plus you get to wear funny clothes. I want a Team Slipstream/Chipotle race jersey because it looks like it’s got a burrito sticking out of the back pocket. Now that’s FUNNY! Biggest biking pet peeve? Probably the hills.
Gabe to Anton:
Gabe: Alright dude, after much procrastination here are the questions that I promised to ask you! You’ve been in quite a few bands that have done some touring, what was the weirdest thing or event that happened while on tour?
Anton: Tour is always weird but nothing necessarily “weird” has happened to me, but who’s really to say; what’s weird to one is normal to another. A few funny moments certainly stick out though, like being chased by a pack of wild dogs in south Texas while I was skating on a longboard towards a taco bell, when we unknowingly stayed at a crackhouse for a week, playing in the rafters of a barn in Maine, those kinds of things. The cutest thing that ever happened to me was in San Francisco when a mean looking but absolutely adorable pit-bull decided to crawl into my sleeping bag in the middle of the night and sleep with me all night long. He took up all the room and I wanted to shoo him out, but I was afraid he’d get pissed so I just chilled out and pet him. You meet lots of adorable animals on tour, that’s maybe my favorite part of tour.
Gabe: How’d you first get into “punk” music and, moreover, the DIY scene?
Anton: I got into “punk” music when I still lived in Arizona. There was this punk radio show on the alternative radio station that would play like once a week on Tuesdays at 2am and so I’d stay up late and record it on my boom box to listen to fully later. I distinctly remember being exposed to NOFX, Dillinger Four, The Lillingtons, Less Than Jake, those kinds of bands then. In terms of DIY, it wasn’t till I moved to Maryland did I really get into DIY. Like Brandon, I lived in Columbia and there were lots of shows and kids doing things themselves and it was awesome to see and be a part of. It motivated everyone to do more, and the more people did, the more people wanted to do. It was real cool.
Gabe: Who or what got you pumped about playing music as a kid?
Anton: The Beatles, YES, and Jimi Hendrix
Gabe: You do a lot of things besides music, what is your favorite pastime?
Anton: Music’s a big part of my life, but other than that I’d have to say riding my bicycle. Dan and I just signed up for our first century and we have lots of training to do!
Gabe: What’s your favorite thing to say in soviet?
Anton: Myeah goldoney (“I’m hungry”). I haven’t spoken Russian in years, but I have a Russian book in the bathroom that I pick up to keep up my chops
Gabe: When did you first realize you’re a ro-butt?
Anton: When I was first powered on and I handled the transient spikes. My internal skynet turned on and well, I AM A STABBING MACHINE…001010011
Gabe: Think fast, favorite shower time singsong jam?
Anton: Barcelona – Sunshine Delay
Gabe: Follow up to that question, what current bands get you the most pumped about music today?
Anton: I dunno, I’ve sort of been in a musical conundrum lately. I don’t know what I want to listen to. But, Algernon Cadwallader is badass, and the new Towers’ CD is amazing. I’m a big fan of bands that have friends of mine in them because I get to see how they start, how they progress, and how they come into their own. Its fun to see it change over the years. In terms of bands I don’t know, recently I saw Man Man and I was really impressed with them live. I’ve also been bumping Collection of Colonies of Bees, Elliott Smith, Andrew WK, and Sun O))) depending on the mood. I’m just glad people are continuing doing interesting things and hopefully I’ll have the honor of finding out about their work and enjoying it
Gabe: What are your thoughts on surrealism?
Anton: Sometimes I wonder if animals live in a constant state of surrealism. Maybe that’s why they’re always having a good time?
Gabe: What sticker is your favorite on your Ibanez?
Anton: I have lots of stickers on my guitar. Those who know know they are covering up poorly airbrushed (and of course lacquered) flames I painted on when I was 14. I have a wax and wane sticker that I really like on there. It’s of a condor.
Gabe: What is… love?
Anton: Love is…hu-man emo-tion?
Brandon to Gabe:
Brandon: What’s with the shrine to Brandon in your closet?
Gabe: Umm… How’d you figure out the combination of books to pull out of the wall?
Brandon: What was your favorite/least favorite show to play? What is the best and worst show you’ve been to?
Gabe: Favorite show is a difficult one; it’d have to be a toss up between the French Stewart last show and the show with Algernon at the party pit. Both had this amazing energy to them that was just overwhelming. Least, uhh… probably that show at the warehouse next door where nobody showed up and I felt nauseous the whole time. Not fun. Best show is a toss up between Black Eyes last show at the black cat and the Braid reunion show. Worst is probably like hfstival of warped tour, I can’t stand those huge fucking fests.
Brandon: You’re somewhat of a gear junkie. What are you drawn to and what are your favorite things to mess around with? What’s the best deal you’ve ever gotten?
Gabe: I’d say I’m drawn towards the more weird vintage stuff, amps, guitars, pedals, and analog synths the most. I love playing around with anything that makes noise! If it’s loud and sounds awesome, I’m into it. I scored a Roland Juno 6 (80’s polyphonic analog synth) last summer for $25, thanks Goodwill, for not knowing how to price things!
Brandon: What’s the furthest distance you’ve traveled to play music?
Gabe: When we traveled all the way down to Florida to play ONE show and then drive back up. I would totally do it again too, especially if I can relax in the back, take naps, and play pokemon on the Nintendo DS again!
Brandon: What are your goals with the music you write and play?
Gabe: I think I would like to make something that I would be really stoked about hearing. I like to constantly push myself as a musician both technically and creatively. Really, I’m just trying to have fun!
Brandon: What are your favorite aspects of the DIY music scene? What are your least favorite parts of it?
Gabe: It feels more honest and heartfelt. I feel like the people who do this sort of stuff, like setting up shows, putting out records, people in bands, etc. really care about the music and bands… for the most part. The flipside of that is people who flake on their responsibilities and/or are just doing it to make a buck and “make it”. Fuck that.
Brandon: STOP LYING!
Gabe: Ok ok… I’ll get out of bed and sit down at the desk already… geez.
Brandon: What types of music/bands have you been listening to lately? What is your favorite guilty pleasure band/music?
Gabe: I’ve been listening to a lot of Pinebender, Minus The Bear, and the Pirouette demo recently. I guess goofy electronic music and R. Kelly “Double Up” would be my biggest guilty pleasures. Whatever, no shame.
Brandon: The towns and suburbs of the greater D.C./Baltimore area tend to foster their own punk communities, especially amongst people of high school age. As a teenager, did your town have this? What was unique about it?
Gabe: Gaithersburg definitely it’s own thing, which kind of tied into the DC Ska thing too at first. I kind of came into it late, right around the time more hardcore bands were coming up instead of ska bands. There were bands like The Max Levine Ensemble, Ready Steady Go!, Shakedowns, etc. I went to a lot of those shows about 5-6 years ago. It was a really friendly scene for the most part, shows were always a blast even if the bands weren’t very good. People helped each other out a lot with shows and places to stay.
Brandon: Describe some ways in which you and Monument come up with song material.
Gabe: We sit around a circle made of various stones at midnight, every Wednesday. Set down some staff paper, and we sacrifice Dan to the music god, and wherever the blood drops land, that’s what we play.
(Really we just throw out certain riffs or ideas and build and modify off of that.)
Dan to Brandon:
Dan: Why is Dan the best member of your group?
Brandon: His totally sweet balls
Dan: How did you get started in DIY/punk rock music? How have you seen it change?
Brandon: My taste in music has always been influenced by what my friends are listening to. I don’t really seem to be one to go and seek out new music, I just kind of get into whatever anyone around me is listening to. Towards the end of high school and beginning of college the bands I was in started playing more and more house shows and our (my friends and my own) tastes in music I guess gradually shifted from the epitaph/fat wrek chords to more DIY bands. I didn’t really know these were DIY bands at the time, all I knew was that they felt more intense than the music I had been listening to before. Bands like Hassan I Sabbah and The Assistant were way more badass than the hardcore/pop punk music I had been listening to before. Then when I ended up playing shows with bands that I was really into I realized how special it was that you could not only see and hear these bands at shows, but you could also walk up to them and hang out and really get to know the people behind the bands that I loved.
Dan: You’re getting pretty old (in punk rock years). Do you look at DIY music differently than at, say 15?
Brandon: Absolutely. Honestly, at 15 I was totally going to make it big, and I just thought it was a place where you had to pay your dues before you could start playing bigger venues. Now that I’m older and have been around a bit more I can see the bigger picture. People work really fucking hard to put on shows/put out music/organize events just because they love the music and doing these things is fun. People helping people, maaaaaaan.
Dan: What DIY bands are you currently excited about?
Brandon: I gotta be honest, in the past two years I’ve been super lazy about being involved with the DIY scene and finding new bands. I’ve really loved Algernon Cadwallader or however the fuck you spell their silly band name since the first time I got to see them in Philly, and they just seem to get better with time. Also, Slingshot Dakota make really great music and are really great people and you can’t really see or listen to them without walking away feeling all posi.
Dan: What was the best show you’ve ever played/been to?
Brandon: Best show I ever went to might have been the Braid reunion show. Also, there was this house party/show at Macrock this past year with Algernon and Slingshot Dakota. That was the most ridiculous house show I’d ever been to. It was so packed people had to crowd surf to get down the hall. Then the dude from Maps and Atlases showed up- he was probably one of the last guys I’d have expected to see at a college party.
Best show I’ve every played- Mustard plug, Catch 22 and Edna’s Goldfish at Saint Andrew’s church in April 1999. Also whenever I played with Dawntreader in iowa/omaha- those kids were always fucking nuts. Really good memories.
Dan: You’ve known Anton for quite some time. How did you two meet originally?
Brandon: We were deck hands on a steamer bound for the south pacific. Or through the high school punk scene in Howard county, MD. I can’t remember.
Dan: You come from Columbia MD, which while you were a teen had a pretty prominent local ska scene. Do you think in today’s time it is possible to have such a loyal, enclosed scene?
Brandon: The thing about that scene was that there were so many high schools in the area and such little to do after school and on the weekends that for many people shows was just an obvious activity to take part in. Another cool thing about that was there were several different organizations that made available lots of resources. Two in particular that I can think of was this monthly youth newspaper that would put on these shows at a local community center that would draw 100+ people per show, and this storefront cafe run by kids in the scene through local high schools. So to answer the question I would say I think the potential is always there it just depends on whether or not the community as a whole is receptive and interested in fostering a music scene.
Dan: Don’t Gabe’s farts smell real bad?
Brandon: QUIT HATIN.
