Monolord
have returned with their epic and progressively heavy new album –
RUST. The album which to be released on Sept 29th 2017 via
RidingEasy Records sees Monolord play a heavier and psychedelic blend
of their trademark Doom/Stoner Metal riffs.
I
caught up with Esben Willems (Drums) from the band to discuss their
new album and his recent recording work with bands such as Vokonis
and Cities Of Mars.
Read
on for more info....
Hi
Esben, Long time no speak. Thanks for doing this interview. How are
things with you today. Congrats on your excellent new album. You’ve
released one of my favourite albums of the year.
Hi,
everything's great here! And thanks, really happy to hear that you
like it. Getting eager to getting it released.
What
can people expect with your new album – Rust.
They
can expect us to always be Monolord. To us that means allowing the
band and the sound to evolve, without losing the core of what we feel
is our band.
What
are the underlying themes of the album.
Human
kind's never ending urge to destroy both our surroundings and
ourselves with religion, insane fantasy based politics, wars,
pollution and so on. We're a flawed race, it seems like we just can't
help ourselves. Rust never sleeps, just like our collective
self-destruction never does.
What
influenced you when recording the album and was it hard album to
write and record for.
All
songs on this one are written by Thomas; when it comes to the musical
part of the writing process, he's an ever-flowing stream of amazing
riffs and song ideas. Our collective part has been selecting among
the massive amounts of ideas and finalizing them together.
The
influences regarding lyrics are everything above, with the
misanthropy that follows. We love humans, but not humanity. As a
collective, the human race never learn from our mistakes and we're
obviously not intelligent enough to handle or constructively use our
“intelligence”.
It’s
very different to your last album. Was that the plan to release
something different.
No
specific plan as such. To us it's not that different, just a natural
step forward. We always work on new material and a lot of the pieces
of the patchwork that music is are old, pieces that just needed the
right time and place to fit in. Rust is just the result of us wanting
to release a new album that feels relevant to us.
My
favourite song is perhaps the fourth track – Wormland. The violins
that appear toward the end of the song. It gives the album a more
uplifting feel. Who idea was that to include the violins on this
track.
Thomas
presented the idea of adding an instrumental track with the beautiful
melancholy that's the key characteristics of Nordic folk music. And
we all loved it. The violin at the end really added to that vibe, I'm
happy to hear you enjoyed it.
RidingEasy
Records is releasing the album. Did you have any other record label
offers to release Rust. Or was it an easy decision to stay with
RidingEasy Records.
RidingEasy
is a relentless label, they keep impressing in everything that comes
out from there. So yes, the decision was easy.
The
artwork for Rust is very cool indeed. Very understated without giving
too much away. Who designed the cover for Rust.
It's
a photo by the amazing Arash Naghizadeh, taken at a war sight in
Iran. The cars are buried like that to prevent helicopters from
landing. We almost instantly felt that this perfectly captures the
theme of the album; human kind's insanity and spiteful behaviour.
Monolord
have been touring regularly more within the last two years or so. Did
you find that an easy or hard environment to adjust to by playing
more shows than you were used to.
EW:
Touring is the weirdest environment, a surreal alternative reality.
But when you get in that bubble, in that mode, you just keep going
and want to play more. The adrenaline high from one show fuels the
next one and that spiral is one crazy ride. It's harder work than you
could ever imagine, but it's also awarding beyond belief. Getting on
stage never gets old.
You’ve
just finished a small European Tour earlier this year. How did that
go. Did you play any of the new material from Rust to unsuspecting
audiences. How was their reaction to their new material.
It
was our first proper run in the UK and the reception was fantastic!
We have some truly amazing fans, they blow us away every night. We
played Manchester two days after the bombing there and the vibe was
electric. We wanted to play the show and just laugh in the face of
the fear-mongers; the audience wanted the same and the whole night
just became a rumbling love fest. A truly humbling experience.
Will
you be touring this record heavily or is it just the joint tour with
Conan happening soon.
We'll
tour as much as possible, plans are in the making.
What
have your been high points and low points being with Monolord or your
musical career in general.
For
me personally, the high points after all these years of playing still
getting on stage and kicking off the first song. It's incomparable.
The lows are the 23 hours in between shows, ha ha.
You’ve
been recording and mastering a lot of cool bands recently such as
Vokonis and Cities Of Mars. What has that experience been like
working with the next generation of upcoming Doom/Stoner Metal bands.
Have you worked with any recent bands that people should be made
aware of. If so can you make some recommendations for people to check
out.
Getting
the trust from other musicians to work with them on their music is a
great feeling in itself. It's always really inspiring to be allowed
to be a part of other band's creative processes, I feel I learn a lot
from it every time. Everyone has their own way of creating; for me,
that's always brain fuel, seeing new ways of realizing ideas.
From
what's officially announced right now I would recommend checking out
the upcoming release from Cities of Mars. They really pushed
themselves one extra step on this one.
Does
Monolord have an advanced equipment setup when playing live or
recording new material in the studio. What equipment do you use to
get the trademark sound.
We
work a lot collectively with our backline. Our aim is to complement
each other soundwise and I think that's key. You often see musicians
being focused only on their own rig, but if that rig doesn't fit in
in the band sound, it's irrelevant what you use or how you tweak it.
All three of us are band members, not solo peacocks.
My
studio equipment doesn't have any magic secrets, it's just a basic
Pro Tools rig with a very standard mic collection. It's the way I use
it.
And
now you have your own Can of Beer named after you. Seems to be the
in-thing at the moment. How did that come about. Big question is have
you tasted it yet.
EW:
We haven't tasted it, I really hope we get to the next time we tour
the US! We got in touch with Steve at Oliver Brewing on our first US
tour and he came to a show with a case of beers for us. He's a music
loving brewer who likes to support the bands he likes, and we were
fortunate to be one of them. They release some great beers, so I'm
really stoked about the Rust double IPA.
Before
you go, do you have anything to say to your fans. All the best with
your new album as it’s a brilliant album.
Thank
you so much! We're always looking forward to the next show, so we'll
see you out there!
Words
by Steve Howe and Esben Willems
Thanks to Dave at US/THEM PR for
arranging this interview. Thanks to Esben for doing this interview.
Rust will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via RidingEasy Records
from Sept 29th 2017.
Links:
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These are mockups and the end result will vary! 
