A sound starts to rise that conjours the ghost of Throbbing Gristle. The industrial ambience of the Beck Road jazz funk combo is, in the way of these things, consumed by growling beats that owe more to Skinny Puppy’s manifesto of aggressive electronics. Welcome to the first performance by m:onitor, which is, in the way of these things, also the Swedish act’s first recording.
Using CCTV footage, we tracked down the members of m:onitor and asked them to resolve some issues for us.
What is m:onitor all about?
John Lindqwister: It’s about being spontaneous and trying out stuff. It’s to learn things we haven’t done before and have fun while doing it.
Joel Lindqvist: m:onitor is all about letting our creativity run amok – with no boundaries. Lots of improv. Basically, things that you can’t do within the framework of the other guys’ bands. For me, it is a lot of playing with samplers, drum machines and modular synths!
Khyber Westlund: This came about as a one-off thing, like Joel mentioned; then we realized that this format gave us the opportunity to experiment and do things we haven’t tried before. So, before we did our first concert, we didn’t rehearse. We made the decision to improvise, and that became the first foundation of what we do. Looking forward, the idea is to let the music lead us, follow the noise, follow the beat…
Tell us about your musical backgrounds.
John: Well, my background is within lots of bands, which have released at least 12-13 full-length albums and lots of other stuff. Bands like Cat Rapes dog, Machinista, Folk är folk, Atemlos, Headtrip Inc. – to name a few.
Joel: I am the one of us with the shortest background in music. I released one album together with John as Basswood Dollies a few decades ago – that is about it!
Khyber: For those who remember, I started my musical journey with q-department. In the late nineties, I met John and joined Headtrip Inc. By that time, I’d come to an end with q-department and wanted to explore new territories, so I started the (h)industrial band, Independent State. About ten years ago, I met Ulrika from Compute, Joakim from Covenant and Richard from Dvala, and we formed the left-field band, amusi. During that time, I’ve done work, programming, remixes, etc., for Page, Machinista, Darkside Cowboys, Den Där Killen – and the list goes on. The last few years, I’ve been recording John’s vocals for different projects like Atemlos; and, in the midst of all this, m:onitor became a thing.
How do you share duties?
John: Mainly, lyrics and vocals; but, live, I will do some synths, drum pads and some bass.
Joel: I do the driving back and forth to our gigs! No, seriously: I write the songs with Khyber and make a lot of noise on my synthesizers!
Khyber: We kind of share things. Me and Joel write the music and make the beats and all the noises, I also play bass, and John is more focused on the vocals – but we also consider that as an instrument.
Are there plans for recordings?
Khyber: The idea is to record every concert we do and release that. From those recordings, we will pick-up ideas as to what comes next. The first recording is called m:ovement and the second probably will follow in October/November. We are going to combine live and studio work, and there isn’t a really clear-cut boundary between those two. Some of our material will only be live and you actually have to be there to experience it, since not everything is about sound. There are other elements involved to make m:onitor what it is.
What have reactions been like, so far?
John : The first gig was at a local record store, Rundgång. It was packed, and the reactions were really positive.
Joel: First of all, this was supposed to be a one-off kinda thing, but all three of us fell in love with what we had accomplished making music together!
Khyber: Very positive, I would say. The first gig was packed ,and no one left. That is always something, since no one had heard us before. People were curious what we were up to, and they really liked it. During the short time leading up to the gig, and during the gig, we realised that we were onto something.
What’s the price of love?
John: Music.
Joel: 99 red balloons?
Khyber: To quote a very famous band, “And in the end/The love you take/Is equal to the love you make.”
The album kicks off with a curl of the lip from Biomekkanik. “Young Savage,” an early Ultravox! track (from their days with John Foxx), hits the sweet spot that Billy Idol missed on his most recent album. Christer Hermodsson is a unique talent, having spent time in S.P.O.C.K and next to Bengtsson in SMPJ. Here, he’s in full Biomekkanik mode, putting the cyber into punk with an aggressive attitude.