MONOTONIX (IL)
Wednesday
Øya representatives could not believe their eyes when they saw Monotonix in Texas last spring, and not when they saw them in New York a few months ago, either. Playing such intense and powerful shows shouldn’t be possible! They’ve taken this madness on the road on both sides of the Atlantic and played several hundred gigs over the past two-three years. Their debut album ‘Body Language’ was released in the spring of 2008 and contains sassy garage punk. Still, it’s on stage that this trio belongs.
American mag Spin has called them “The most exciting live band in rock’n’roll”, something which our head of booking can confirm. Rarely has he seen anything as wild and intense as this! Among the band’s own faves are The Sonics, Thin Lizzy and everything in between. In the course of only a few years they’ve played together with a varied selection of rock acts, for example Gore Gore Girls , Neko Case, Dark Meat, Silver Jews, Genghis Tron, CPC Gangbangers, Best Fwends, Calvin Johnson, Torche and Crystal Antlers. Sources inform us that during ATP they brought their gear and the audience out into the street and continued the show there. This summer they will be playing a wide variety of wicked European festivals, and we’re very happy that Øya is one of them.
Our head of booking, Claes Olsen, saw Monotonix this fall and won’t be forgetting it anytime soon: “You simply HAVE TO check out this band on YouTube. It’s totally far out. We simply had no choice but to book Monotonix after having been completely dumbfounded when we saw them at the Knitting Factory in New York during the CMJ festival in November. The lead singer started out by climbing onto the guitar amps at the front of the stage. Then he took of his t-shirt and stuffed it into his thong before he took a stage dive onto the drummer, who was placed out on the floor among the audience… The whole concert turned into one giant moshpit that included the entire venue. The show was brought to a close when two drummers were lifted up by the audience to play the drums on top of us all, swaying back and forth. That night there was no point in seeing other bands. Nothing could surpass this. We’re looking forward to seeing Øya become one giant moshpit.”
If you want similar memories to think back on, be there.
