Interviews: Monachopsis

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Technical Death Metal/Melodic Death Metal band Monachopsis from the UK. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name?

RICHARD: The band name MONACHOPSIS was originally proposed by our original guitar player Tony Cowley. It’s an old English term for ‘the subtle but continuous feeling of being slightly out of place’ or words to that effect, and we felt it described our music perfectly. Back then the band was just Tony and myself, there was no one to argue with us and we’ve stuck with it since.

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

RICHARD: I got drawn into death metal and playing guitar in my mid-teens and I was definitely drawn into the sheer complexity, intricacies, and beauty of the genre.

MIHIR: The energy and raw aggression are unmatched in any other genre.

KIERAN: I definitely wanted to get better at my instrument, so playing technical music makes sense and I’ve always been a fan of melodeath, so techy melodeath fits that perfectly.

WILL: The sheer aggression of the sound and the catharsis that comes from generation in a room full of people.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

RICHARD: Myself, Tony, Will, and Mihir all met at University and pulled the band together over a year or so. We hired our original drummer off of an online ad, and after Tony left I ended up chatting to Kieran at a bar in Leicester and mentioned we were looking for a new guitarist. Turns out he was at university with us too!

4. Each band member's favorite band?

RICHARD: My gut response would be either Into Eternity, Darkest Hour, or Dark Tranquillity.

MIHIR: Enter Shikari, Nothing, Nowhere, Northlane, Sleep Token.

KIERAN: Top 3 at any given time change, but now it’s probably In Flames, Allegaeon, and Orbit Culture.

WILL:  Animals as Leaders, Beyond Creation, Black Peakes, Death Grips

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

RICHARD: I tend to take inspiration from the world around me, and how I personally see and interpret the world. We live in interesting times and it makes for interesting ideas, but by and large I just funnel whatever’s going on in my head into some form of coherent musical format. I also take a lot of inspiration from other musical artists as well as heavily from sci-fi and horror books and video games.

6. Where was your last gig?

The Slaughterhouse Festival warm-up show in Birmingham earlier this year (That’s Birmingham, UK, just in case anyone thought we were from the USA!)

7. Where would you like to perform?

RICHARD: Sweden, so we can give At the Gates back all the riffs we nicked. 

MIHIR: Any major UK festival would be a dream.

KIERAN: Definitely somewhere in Scandinavia; Stockholm, Gothenburg or Copehagen.

WILL: Anywhere where the crowd is good. I’d rather play to 20 people having fun than 1000 people politely nodding.

8. Whom would you most like to feature with?

RICHARD: Christian Muenzner (Obscura, Alkaloid) for guitars. Vocally I’d love either Dave Hunt from Anaal Nathrakh or Christian Alvestam from every Swedish band ever.

MIHIR: Probably Rou Reynold or Oli Sykes for pushing the boundaries of the genre and supporting emerging artists.

KIERAN: A solo by Greg Burgess from Allegaeon would melt me.

WILL: Linus Klausenitzer for his brilliance or Billie Eilish for the SEO.

9. Who wouldn’t you like to feature?

RICHARD: Chris Barnes. I don’t fancy a black eye.

MIHIR: Ed Sheeran.

KIERAN: Not going for someone I hate, but someone who would bring something too hard to recreate on a nightly basis – Will Ramos, because I have no idea if Mihir could make those noises.

WILL: Kenny G because I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t want to play on our stuff either

10. Have you ever suffered from stage fright? Any advice for beginners on how to beat that?

RICHARD: Every now and again, yeah. Make sure you know you’re stuff before you walk on stage, but also be aware that you’re human, you’re going to make mistakes and sometimes you’re going to have a bad night. Telling that inner perfectionist to shut the fuck up from time to time is a big winner. Having a drummer that can play to a click, and having bandmates that know their shit is a massive help.

MIHIR: Every time, but getting into the zone where being proud of what you’re doing and enjoying it at the same time minimizes the anxiety.

KIERAN: I have massive anxiety with everything else in my life, so I make sure I know my stuff inside out and have a solution for any major potential problems that might come up. Being comfortable with the material really helps with stage fright.

WILL: I deal with it plenty. Warm up, have a single beer for Dutch courage, and don’t look to the crowd for approval before you’ve gotten through the first song. 

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

RICHARD: I’ll probably catch some flak for this but Avenged Sevenfold got me into guitar-based music in a big way. Mid teens it would be The Black Dahlia Murder and Darkest Hour that really showed me what metal could be. Obscura made me want to play tech-death.

MIHIR: The most influential goes back to my metal roots with Suicide Silence - watching videos of their live shows in my early teens cemented the dream of "this is what I wanna do".

KIERAN: The day I heard Disconnected by In Flames my life changed for the heavier, but Ian D’Sa of Billy Talent is the reason I’m playing guitar in the first place.

WILL: Bullet for My Valentine brought me into the realm of heavy music, Dream Theatre, and King Crimson dragged me into the prog side of things.

12. Weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

RICHARD: If we can start doing Monachopsis lingerie.

MIHIR: Not that weird but I get asked about doing clean singing in some parts of the songs - I'm not opposed to it, but have you heard the music?

KIERAN: Probably something about my beard-care routine

WILL: "Why is your guitar so big?"

13. What do you think of your fans?

We’ve got a loyal and enthusiastic following in and around the Midlands, and the support we’ve had since we started has been wonderful and humbling. Our fans are awesome.

14. What do you think of our site?

Great coverage of a lot of up-and-coming bands across the globe! Keep it up!

15. Anything to add?

Just a huge thank you to everyone who has supported MONACHOPSIS and checked out AS THE DREAMER. The response to the new record has been amazing!