Dragon Soop Ambassadors Monasteries on Getting Signed, Touring & Nearly Being Arrested

Monasteries

Hailing from the West Midlands / North West, Monasteries profile has rocketed in the past 18 months. The technical deathcore five-piece was created with the sole purpose of being as heavy as possible, and we think you’ll agree they’ve succeeded.

The band signed to US label Seek And Strike Records last year, they’ve been championed by Kerrang! Radio, Metal Hammer, Idobi Radio, Primordial Radio, Slam Worldwide, toured extensively throughout the UK and Europe and clocked up over 1 million views and streams on YouTube and Spotify.

Renowned for their high energy stage presence, Monasteries embark on a co-headline UK tour with Preston band Gassed Up, kicking off on 28 August.

Their third and most successful EP ‘Silence’ is out now, we spoke to our new Monasoopies, Josh Davies (vocals) and Aaron Wright (guitar).

Interview by music journalist, Derick McKinnon

Tell us a bit about the band and how you got together?

We’ve always been long-time friends, meeting each other through other bands at shows when we were younger or at parties. We then slowly joined Monasteries one-by-one, replacing other members that were leaving, and we’ve had this line-up for the past three years now, we couldn’t ask for a better bunch of idiots to make music with than each other.

What has the response been like to your most recent EP, Silence, from both your fans and the music press?

It’s been phenomenal, better than anything we were hoping for. Silence has brought in a tonne of new fans for us, and the press response has been incredible as well. People have been moshing out in their rooms to the track in YouTube reaction videos, so we’re looking forward to that same energy when we finally get back on the stage.

Monasteries 'Silence'


Can you tell us a little more about Technical Deathcore and what does Silence mean to you?

Technical Deathcore for us is a genre that lets you do pretty much anything you like within the context of the song and the fans will still appreciate it. Silence is our next benchmark in exploring that. We’ve got drum and bass, ambience, hardcore two step riffs, clean singing, heavy vocals, mixed in with your typical deathcore stuff, and that’s all just in one song. It’s just the most fun genre of music to write.

How do you go about writing and recording, how do you pull it all together, and who’s involved?

Our tracks are very much a collaborative effort. Everyone has input into what each member of the band should be doing at a certain point in the track, and it helps to really bring out the Monasteries feel of a song. We get to use all five of our collective brain cells instead of just the one. We managed to sneak into the studio last year during that 3 month grace period around October when some of the lockdown rules were lifted, which was a real blessing for us (and also maybe the hottest place on planet earth temperature wise at the time).

We noted you have a big tour approaching, where are you most looking forward to playing, are there any of your favourite cities / venues on this tour?

We don’t particularly have a favourite town to play per se, every show in every city has the potential to be crazy and that’s what we love the most. We do have a hometown show happening in Wolverhampton though, so it’ll be amazing to smash a show and then sleep in our own beds, we’re getting kind of old now! 

What’s your plan for the rest of the year and into 2022?

 We have our co-headliner tour with Gassed Up and additional support from Free Howling across the UK from 28 August to 5 September. We’re touring in mainland Europe playing festivals and shows like Herrie Metal Fest in The Netherlands plus we’ll be visiting Germany, Belgium, France and Switzerland from 13 - 17 October. In January and March next year, we have more UK tour dates alongside Tenside and thousand thoughts we’re playing in London, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham and Glasgow and we are going to be writing lots, working towards bringing out the best release we can for you.

What do your career highlights look like so far?

Getting signed to a record label in Los Angeles is definitely something that blew our minds last year. The amazing response that we’ve had to The Amygdala Chorus, and playing live at festivals and gigs all over the world, we have plenty more to come too.

Tell us something most people won’t know about the band?

We were nearly arrested on our way to film the Allowing Your Traitors to Die video. Basically, someone had seen the prop gun in the car and called the police on us. They were following us down the motorway towards the location, we were none the wiser, singing along to Edge of the Earth by Volumes with not a care in the world! After they stopped and searched us and we explained we’re just a bunch of greebos shooting a music video, we got a warning, basically a slap on the wrist. We had a bit of a joke with them about it - so it turns out there is a specific phone number you should call if you’re filming something with replica weapons, we’ve got the number for future, it was a crazy experience but it all worked out in the end. 

Which Dragon Soop flavour best reflects the band's music and why?

100% Red Kola, because it’s dark and tasty.

 

Keep Up to Date with Monasteries music, tours and news…

Monasteries is Josh Davies (vocals), Aaron Wright (guitar), Dan Hill (drums), Sam Mitchel (bass) and Ben Standley (guitar) and they embark on a co-headline, UK tour with Gassed Up plus Free Howling (from Paris, France) visiting:

  • 28 August 2021: Leeds, The Key Club: Tickets click HERE 

  • 29 August 2021: Stoke, The Underground: Tickets click HERE

  • 30 August 2021: Bristol, Exchange: Tickets click HERE

  • 31 August 2021: Southampton, Suburbia: Tickets click HERE 

  • 1 September 2021: London, New Cross Inn: Tickets click HERE 

  • 2 September 2021: Wolverhampton, The Giffard Arms: Tickets click HERE

  • 3 September 2021: Leicester, The Cookie: Tickets click HERE

  • 4 September 2021: Newcastle, Head of Steam: Tickets click HERE

  • 5 September 2021: Manchester, Star and Garter: Tickets click HERE

  • 23 October 2021: UK, Swindon, Furnace Fest

  • 30 October 2021: UK, Wolverhampton, KKS Steel Mill

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