Monaco

There are two different bands named Monaco on Last.FM:
1) Monaco, a duo consisting of New Order bassist Peter Hook and David Potts; and 2) a Boulder, Colorado four-piece.

The UK Monaco's biggest hit, 'What Do You Want From Me?', came from their 1997 debut album, 'Music for Pleasure'. The album was a big hit and sold over half a million copies. In 2000 they released the follow-up, 'Monaco', although this was nowhere near as much of a commercial success as the first album. This and New Order's reformation led to Monaco's break-up.

Boulder, Colorado’s Monaco is singer/guitarist Brandon Whalen, singer/guitarist/pianist Andrew Martin, bassist Jeff Lambert, and drummer Matt Hayes. The quartet, incepted in September 2006, write and perform anthemic, introspective rock songs with metal—and plenty of melody to go hand in hand with the spacey, atmospheric guitar riffs and angular drumming. Their demo was recently finished and showcases five atomic rock pieces, tying them together with spacey, delicate interludes.

The band share an array of tastes; Hayes enjoys everything from legends like Pink Floyd and The Doors to modern influencers The Bled and Refused; Lambert enjoys post-modern rock acts like The Smashing Pumpkins and Tool; Whalen gets off to today’s metal and rock as shown by bands like Thrice, Every Time I Die, Norma Jean, and Underoath; and Martin encapsulates a wide spectrum of tastes from bands like Circa Survive, Armor For Sleep, Rival Schools, Saves The Day, The Receiving End Of Sirens, and Brand New. It’s this wide span of tastes and loves that makes MONACO all they are—a diverse group of individuals combining forces to form equally diverse songs.

Over the band’s spring break, the four members collaborated and recorded a 9-song demo, filled with songs the band has written over the past 6 months. A result of pure dedicated vigor, the demo showcases the band’s ability to write songs that are belligerent and vicious one moment, calm and serene the next. Sure, it’s a formulae we’re all used to—that is, part screaming, part singing—but it’s the band’s notion for dynamics that makes them something special. The EP was a result of literally 80 hours of hard, rigorous effort; even though it was all self-recorded, the quality is quite astounding.

Whether it’s the blasting opening to “Let’s Talk (In Terms Of) Fashion,” the intense crescendo of “Ambulance,” the poppy, sing-a-long hooks of “Hand To God,” the spacey atmospheres created on “Not All Fertilizers Work,” or the introspective lyrics on “White Light,” there’s a lot of something everyone can enjoy from what MONACO have to offer. If you’re enticed by bands who create sounds truly on their own, who strive to avoid the clear borders and boundaries set by the scope of vanity and trendsetters, you’ll certainly enjoy what MONACO have to offer. Though the influences of today’s Thrice, Circa Survive, Boys Night Out, The Bled, and Underoath are all clearly apparent within the songs the band creates, it’s hard to pin-point exactly what the band sounds like—probably because they couldn’t even tell you themselves.

Download their entire debut demo, “The Hope Sessions EP” album here, and be sure to check them out if you’re in the Denver/Boulder area in 2007.