Monks of Doom
MONKS OF DOOM
TOR TO HIT THE ROAD WITH HIS OTHER ART/PSYCH/PROG ROCK COLLECTIVE MONKS OF DOOM THIS SPRING | DOUBLE-DUTY AS SUPPORT ACT (VICTOR KRUMMENACHER & HIS FLYING CIRCUS) AND HEADLINING W/ MONKS OF DOOM
Just before the dust settles from a run of sold-out dates that stretched from coast-to-coast with his co-founding band Camper Van Beethoven, Victor Krummenacher will be hitting the road again. Only this time he’ll be doing double-duty as both the opening and headlining acts. In support of his forthcoming solo album, Blue Pacific (out March 1st), Victor Krummenacher & His Flying Circus will open these shows, followed by his other revered art/psych/prog band, Monks of Doom, who just recently released The Bronte Pin, their first album of new studio material in 25 years. Music critic Nick Spacek writing for the music site Modern Vinyl, called it “a welcome return for the band” and that it “sees them exploring folk-inflected progressive rock that manages to be serene and pastoral one moment, and thunderous the next. It makes The Bronte Pin quite an involving listen, and one you’re likely to dissect for weeks after first listening.”
Blue Pacific marks Victor’s ninth solo effort. The inception of this emotionally-charged project started nearly a year after his divorce, and, as it turns out, it’s one-part exorcism and one-part an effort to heal and put it all behind him.
“It was a really difficult album to make, some of the basics were recorded three times,” Krummenacher admits. “I went through two other drummers before settling on Michael Urbano. There was a lot of tension this time, and [co-producer] Bruce Kaphan seriously went all out to help make the best album we think we could do.”
Despite the fact this record was a direct result of so much pain, heartache and hurdles, musically it turns out to be one of Krummenacher’s most rewarding efforts of his lengthy career – be it solo, or with his other bands. “There was a LOT of time put into this one,” the musician reveals, “and I don’t know if I can really do much better in as far as writing or recording. Between the emotional context and the difficulty in getting all the aspects of the recording taken care of, it was one of the hardest projects I’ve worked on.”
From beautifully reflective numbers such as “No One Left To Remember, No One Left To Tell,” “Skin & Bones” and “Nowhere Out There On The Line” to the sturdier, high-energy tracks like “The Prettiest Train,” “Some Time Ago,” “Lawrence in the Desert” and the infectious title track, this is an album that satisfies on so many levels. Throughout this sprawling effort, Krummenacher channels a number of the musicians and bands that have influenced him over the years, such as The Stones, The Dead, The E Street Band, Elvis Costello, The Flying Burrito Brothers and, perhaps more than any other, Pete Townshend. In fact, he admits, “There’s actually a lot of reference to Townshend on this album. He was the big hero when I was very young and first getting into music, and I think his expository writing affected me a lot more than I realized growing up.”
“These songs are more autobiographical and directly honest than anything I’ve done. I tried to leave enough ambiguity in them to keep them from being memoir specific, but most of the detail in here come from my experiences directly. It seemed like the more direct I was, the more resonant the songs became. My perspective is pretty odd at this point, when you do something this raw it’s hard to maintain one. But I know also it’s as good and focused as I can do, and that I got a lot of good musicians to help elevate these songs to a place I wasn’t sure they could reach.”
The Preakness
Despite the fact that the band shares its name with a 134-year-old horse race, The Preakness can trace its genesis to the 21st century technology of Myspace. Guitarist Brandon Arnold began posting homemade four-track recordings on the ubiquitous portal in 2005, eventually catching the attention of bassist Tracy Clark, who felt that her sense of harmony would be the perfect foil for Arnold’s subtle pop melodies. The band finally came to fruition in early 2006 in Atlanta, when Arnold (ex-Licentious 5) and drummer Tim Genius (ex-Bon Vivants) were winding down from other projects. Arnold re-connected with Clark, who was already playing in Silent Kids and the Blue Hour, and The Preakness was born. The potential of Arnold’s early demos, and what Clark saw in them, became apparent right away, as lo-fi four-track charm gave way to explosive jangly pop, reminiscent of 80’s and 90’s college radio staples like Let’s Active, Sebadoh, Superchunk, and Yo La Tengo. Playing its first live show in April 2006, The Preakness became an instant attraction in Atlanta. The band would go on to play such festivals as Corndog-o-rama, The Other Sound Festival, and the Paste Rock and Reel Festival later that year. The band recorded an EP’s worth of material with Matt Glagola engineering (Glagola would later join the band as its drummer in 2009). Four of those songs made their way onto a 7″ EP, Demons, which was released on the Eskimo Kiss imprint in 2007. The Preakness enlisted pop savant Jason NeSmith to engineer its full-length debut. Recorded in early 2008 at NeSmith’s Bel Air Studios in Athens, A Class Act fulfills the promise of the Demons EP and the rave reviews of those early shows. As described by Creative Loafing: “Each song condenses epic emotions into short vignettes brimming with metaphor and jangling emotions.” “What They’re Saying,” “I Thought I Was in Control,” and “On the Couch” all previously released on the EP, find their way onto A Class Act. Also included is a cover of Smog’s “A Hit.” The band stays active in the Atlanta scene by playing in other side projects, though The Preakness remains the band’s primary focus. Arnold now plays bass in Silent Kids, which coincidentally was one of Clark’s gigs before joining The Preakness. Arnold also plays with the Liverhearts, as does Glagola. Clark currently also lends her talent as a multi-instrumentalist to Mary O. Harrison and the Tiny Tears.
