Electronic pop rock inspired act The Town Monster have released a brand new single entitled "Bela Lugosi". They have taken the imagery of dark and light creating a signature sound that can only be heard from The Town Monster. This four piece came together with an outstanding source of style from each other taking what influences them and creating a sound all their own and they have spoken to me about just that sound.
1. So tell me why the name The Town Monster?
The name "The Town Monster" is supposed to signify a feeling of isolation and loneliness. Sort of like being an outcast from society rather than this big scary creature that first comes to mind.
2. Is there really a town called The Town Monster?
Haha, that's the first time we've gotten that question in relation to the name. I believe that would be "The Town, Monster" though...grammar is very important to us. However, I do not know of any town known as "Monster" or "The Town Monster" though...but we've got some tricks up our sleeves.
3. What type of band are you?
It varies depending on our mood. I guess a lot of people categorize us as this electronic synth rock machine that runs off in different directions. Sometimes we end up in metal territory, and other times you'd probably think we'd fit in with Lady Gaga.
4. Tell us the brief history of your band.
Basically this band came to it's current formation by a mutual respect from each member of the band for each other's talents. We'd all been in various bands in the Columbus music scene. After we'd gotten to know each other a bit we took that next step (yes, it is exactly like dating) and started playing together. The band has existed since 2008, and it's been evolving with the musical direction we take, line up changes, and lots of other theatrical elements. We've been going strong as our current unit for about a year and a half now.
5. Who are your musical and non-musical influences?
Musically we're all over the place, but the one's that keep getting mentioned are The Flaming Lips, Nine Inch Nails, and Prince. Once again, our personal influences kind of reflect our music though...We like the new Mastodon record just as much as we (or me personally) are fans of the production on the new Coldplay record. We really just don't limit ourselves at all.
Non-musically there's constantly ever-present themes or love and fear of death with this band. That's not to say we don't make ourselves susceptible to these things, or that there isn't a ton of other stuff that influences our music...those subjects seem to frequently come up though, and I can't be sure that they'll ever go away.
6. Who writes the songs, what are they about?
It can be a different process every time. Usually someone comes with an idea, and everyone put's their ideas on top of it. Nathan is largely responsible for the arrangement and lyrical content of our music, but we have a very democratic process when it actually comes to putting the whole song together and bringing it to life. As I said before, there's not really one specific thing the songs are about...but we do have those constant themes come up.
7. How about the single you currently have available can you tell me a little about it?
The whole concept originated from conversations Nathan was having with his girlfriend. Basically the idea came up that her celebrity counter part was Marilyn Monroe, and Nathan's was Bela Lugosi. The themes in this song run along with the ideas of .love, jealousy, obsession, and our sometimes inhuman response to these emotions. We wanted to play on the idea that, in a relationship, both parties can be guilty of victimizing one another, as well as outside forces which inevitably get involved. We made a music video for the song played on a lot of these ideas too. We've also gotten really tired of vampires of being romanticized in modern society, so the video gave us a good opportunity to portray the creature as a monster again. (You can check out the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZwsob4iU4w)
8. What inspires you to do what you do?
I honestly think it's the best point of self-expression that we have as people. Playing music allows us to say things that we want to say, but I think that people pay more attention to our ideas when we present them this way. What's becoming more and more important to this band every day too is the idea that it's not just about the song anymore. It's about the way it's presented through so many different mediums too...online, on a physical release, live, on video, etc. All those avenues give us so much control and ways to manipulate our message. and it's actually very exciting for us.
9. What's new in the recording of your music?
We have our recording studio set up in a renovated barn behind my house just outside of Columbus. We all produce a lot of different type of media projects for other bands and businesses around town, but it's also our lab. We exepriment with a lot of different computer programs, recording techniques, synthesizers, instruments, etc., and we're very fortunate to be able to have a space to do that in.
10. What do you plan to do to celebrate the upcoming holidays?
Phew! Halloween really dragged it out of us this year, and to be honest we haven't given Christmas as much though as we did last year. We released a 22 minute animated christmas special last year that highlights the trials and tribulations of being a band starting out in Columbus (which you can find here:
http://vimeo.com/18055711). We are planning on getting back into animation again soon, but this fall has been so busy that we haven't had a chance to get back into it quite yet.
11. What can we expect to see from The Town Monster in the New Year?
We have plans to release a record sometime early next year, although I can't really divulge a lot of details on that yet. We're doing a lot of writing and recording right now though. In terms of our live show, we're planning on introducing a lot of multi-media elements to the show and experimenting with theatrics more. We have a pretty stellar guy named Tony Stewart doing a light show during our sets right now, and we really put a focus on entertaining the crowd...not just being a band up on stage playing it's music. I'm hoping we'll get back into a lot of the animation and video stuff that we've been experimenting too...
12. Is that your final answer?
Bah...can I phone a friend?
