An Interview with DevilMonkey

A new single release from DevilMonkey delivers a rich and full-bodied crossover of metal and Industrial that feels like something released in the late 90s or early 2000s with this aesthetic comes heavy-handed distortion, layers of percussion that give the track an actual danceable vibe, and aggressive but melodic vocals that balance the song out but still add the same drive and energy as the rest of the band has.

"Hypertrophy" is a track that hits hard and gives you all the right kind of tonality throughout its course. The bass guitar tone is super key with this track as it's fat, but it also has a sharp high end, which is kind of a solid attribute to classic industrial music.

The way they bring together those elements is outstanding, and it really has a way of feeling impactful and edgy, but still with a deep-rooted groove that makes you want to move.

I love the way the vocals are layered and tracked. At times, there are two or three vocal tracks going on at once, and they're layered perfectly so that you could hear everything that's going on, but it had such a thickness to the atmosphere of the track itself.

There's also a lot of range vocally. Some of them are growling and sort of death metal influenced, while others are more melodic but still rough. So, you get a lot of different areas of vocal approaches throughout this track, along with really heavy guitars that are super tight but add a liveliness to everything as well.

As the song unfolds, you get some outstanding guitar work scattered about along with electronic elements that show face, adding quite a bit of vastness to the underbelly of the song.

Something about this track is cinematic as well. There's a slight haunt and its backbone, which also adds to that atmosphere I mentioned earlier.

This track is like an escape. It pulls you away from whatever you're doing and puts you in this other sort of world for a chunk of time, which is something I really love.

Another thing I dig is the energy level across the board. It feels like these guys were all just feeding off of each other's energies the entire time giving the song that alive and breathing sort of feel.

I'm hearing a lot of influences on this track, including classic White Zombie, something I grew up listening to, so hearing this track gave me bouts of nostalgia.

These guys have a lot of influences, but that aesthetic in particular was nailed for me.

You also have little elements of new metal in there, especially towards the end when everything gets rambunctious and wild.

It's quite an explosive track and has a few surprises around its corners, but you want to listen to it forever because it's fun, spirited, and has a lot of personality attached to it.

Upon listening to this track, I took a deep dive into the band's back catalog and found a bunch of amazing releases including one previous to this one called "Talk in Technicolor", a track that bears even more of an industrial style and also layers beats and guitars so that the whole track comes through really thick and packs a hell of a punch.

It seems that these are the kinds of staples that the band bears, and the deeper into their stuff that you go, the more of their evolution you get to hear, which, for me, was really fun.

These guys have been around for quite some time as their first release on band camp is from 2013.

Listening to the latest track is something that obviously lets you know they've been together for a while, doing their thing.

They have tightened up their sound and have found the vibe and aesthetic that they're looking for.

I definitely got addicted to a lot of their music and how their guitar tone and drumming really thrived and added that bountiful sort of edginess to everything as they mended the industrial and metal elements together with plenty of alternative rock and more rolled in.

I think "Hypertrophy" is an excellent way to introduce yourself to the band because it's a killer track and one of their best to date.

But after that, you should definitely dig into some of their other releases because if you like this track, you'll like them all.

With the release of such a killer track, we wanted to have a chat with the band about the song and what may be coming next for them.

Here's what happened.

Buzz Slayers: Let's talk about the Hypertrophy single! This was such an edgy alt rock style track with an anthemic feel! Where did this song come from?

Hypertrophy's been in existence for a while now. It started life as a collection of beats & riffs until it morphed into what you can hear now. We've been steadily adding more flesh to it as we've gone along. It went for a loooooong time without any vocals. This is the second time it's been recorded. The first stab at it was great, but I couldn't really hear it in the same way I was hearing it in my head, if that makes sense, so I decided to leave it alone. The version that's out now is how I've always imagined it being. The anthemic feel in the chorus is wholly down to Si Durrant who provided some guest vocals. He's a bandmate from waaaaay back. He wrote that hook & I was able to build the rest of the lyrics around that. Th sg wouldn't be what it is without his input.

Buzz Slayers: I'm hearing a few different approaches on this track! Who are some of your biggest musical influences?

We've got a lot of them & we all like different artists. For me, my primary influences are Killing Joke, Ministry, New Order, Pink Floyd...loads of post punk, pop, industrial & metal type stuff. If you ask Wayne or Jesse, they'll mention Rammstein, KMFDM, Tool, Porcupine Tree, The Police, 90's video game music...sooooo much stuff!

Buzz Slayers: How did this all start for you guys?

This is the 2nd incarnation of the band. It started with me having a long break away from music for family reasons & then taking a significant period of time to figure out that a driving cause of much of my agitation as a human being was that I was suppressing my creative urges. The "caged animal" routine is NOT a good fit for me.

DevilMonkey sprang to life when I was able to devote a bit more time to getting these ideas that were bouncing around in my head & sending me nutty into a pair of speakers so I could hear them. Earlier DevilMonkey was significantly different to what we're playing now...a lot more chilled out compared to things I'd done previously. I was posting stuff to Soundcloud which was getting a reaction & I found myself networking again. I got the taste back. Eventually I figured it might add value to the experience to at least see if it could be performed live so I recruited a couple of friends into the project (Beck & Nuno). & then my heavier musical tastes started to creep into the music.

At the end of lockdowns, Beck & Nuno decided they needed to step away from the project to devote more time to their families. That's when Jesse & Wayne stepped in to become DevilMonkey V2...& I fully embraced the "dark side".

Buzz Slayers: Are you guys performing live right now? Any touring in support of this release?

We play very sporadically but we've started getting some shows booked for the future. We're pretty well drilled at what we do in the live sense. We won't be going on tour anytime soon though. Still...never say never!

Buzz Slayers: Did you record this in a home studio setup, or did you go to a big studio for this?

We recorded this at Singing Bird Studios which is in Frankston, Australia. Very cool facility! They've got a wicked recording studio, rehearsal space & performance spaces. They put on some really cool shows there & the vibe of the place is a good fit for us. A dude named Max Dangerfield recorded this. Once we were done in the studio, we took the sessions away & mixed them in my studio at home.

Buzz Slayers: Now that this is out, what's next for you?

We've got more mixing to do for future releases from the sessions with Max. We also want to go back to Singing Bird to record a couple of newer songs that go over pretty well live. & hopefully more gigging. We all work & have families & play in other bands too, so we've got a little juggling on the horizon.

Buzz Slayers: Who's in all your headphones right now?

I couldn't tell you what the other cats are listening to, but I've been listening to a band called Bruise Control a LOT. They're British. I saw them when they played here in Australia a couple of months back & became instantly obsessed. Sorta sounds a bit like Motorhead meets Minor Threat? I've also been listening to Soft Play a bit too.

Buzz Slayers: Was writing and recording this track a big undertaking? How long did it take to finish this?

There's a fuckload of moving parts on a sonic level in our stuff. The sessions are massive. It's not just the band elements. The electronics play a huge role in our music. We recorded 4 songs over a three day period. We're all fussy about our performances too & Max (our engineer) was brilliant at getting the best out of us. We think we covered it pretty well. We rehearsed the arse out of the songs prior to going into recording mode. It made a huge difference working with an engineer who was sympathetic to what we were trying to achieve.

Once we got out of the recording studio we spent a fair bit of time making sure the sessions were sounding the way we wanted them to sound as if they were the last thing we heard at the time of our deaths. For mine, the biggest pain in the arse in all of this has been ME. Specifically in the area of vocals. I'm not a natural vocalist & am VERY self-conscious about that area of my game. It takes a LOT for me to write the sorts of lyrics that fit the song...& then I've gotta perform those to the song itself without making myself cringe. It's gotta drive the other two bonkers...

Buzz Slayers: What would you tell people they can expect on this release?

I would tell people they can expect to fall in love with getting punched right in the face & then having a big ol' dance about it!

Buzz Slayers: Before we go, what would you like to express to fans of the music? 

We'd like to say "Thank you eternally for giving us the opportunity of visiting your ears & we hope you'll have us back in there! Many, many kisses!!!"

BANDCAMP

INSTAGRAM

SPOTIFY