"..I read a review online somewhere that referred to this album as a mix between My Bloody Valentine and Grandaddy, I couldn't agree more.. Mellow guitars (both rock and reverberated), gallant synths (both air-y and pulsating/dancey), uncomplicated drums (both electronic and standard), and pleasing vocals make this album a nice addition to anybody in need of a "new" pop sound.."
Monster Movie
Amicable Reverie Pop
Monster Movie Bio:
Christian Savill and Sean Hewson, a London-based indie rock duo, have been playing together under various names since 1989, including a brief stint as the Eternal, a band that released one single on the Sarah label. Savill, who was also in Slowdive, decided to start playing again with Hewson in 2000 as Monster Movie, most likely naming themselves after the Can album of the same name. Since debuting in 2001 with a five-track EP on Clairecords, they've released a handful of EPs and albums, including Last Night Something Happened (2001), a split EP with Dreamend (2002), Transistor (2004), To the Moon (2004), All Lost (2006), and Everyone Is A Ghost (2010). Their recordings have drifted between neo-shoegaze, straight-up indie pop, and synth-driven material inspired by the Factory label's dance-oriented sect (Section 25, New Order).
Hello, how are you?
Sean: Tense, as always.
Christian: Covered in paint.
What are you currently listening to?
Sean: Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Built To Spill, Crocodiles, Wavves, Sebadoh, Pavement. At the moment, if it’s from the US and has messed-up guitars on it, I’ll listen to it.
Christian: I like 'Teen Dream' by Beach House, but aside from that I enjoyed the 'Homecoming' tune by The Teenagers, lots of Kraftwerk and I'm revisiting dear old Syd Barrett again, Sparks 'Number one song in heaven', Gorillaz 'Rhinestone eyes', 'Take it in' By Hot Chip, Dreamend 'Pink cloud in the woods' is an amazing song, and tragically no one will recognise this. Maybe I'm biased, but Ryan Graveface is amazing.
Your latest album “Everyone Is A Ghost” is pretty good, did you find the recording process for that to go pretty smoothly or..?
Sean: There’s no room for hyperbole here, right? Recording always goes smoothly for us because we enjoy it. Things can get a bit tense when we do the vocals because we’re not really vocalists but, as we’ve got older, we’ve become a bit less emotional about it.
Christian: Despite living about 3000 miles apart the album progressed quite nicely. I guess the only issue was that I had to fly to England in February and we didn't give ourselves enough time. It actually worked out better because when I came back in September we had some great contributions from Ryan and Rachel and a couple of new songs.
What exactly do you mean by “Everyone Is A Ghost”?
Sean: We didn’t discuss it but I think we were after something that was quite desolate. We also feel separate from the people we see in the streets. Not better - probably worse; but kind of uninvolved in what is important to them. The title was kind of a steal from the film/comic Ghost World. Just as it’s partner song, How The Dead Live, was nicked from a Derek Raymond book. I can’t remember the lyrics but the song (Everyone Is A Ghost) is about a loved one dying. We’re a good-time band.
Christian: I moved from England to US as we started the album. I felt really weird and disconnected all of a sudden. I really didn't expect it, but it had a big impact on me. I felt no association with anyone.
Visually how do you think the cover of the album explains the themes within?
Sean: We asked Will Schaff to do something desolate. I think Christian may have sent him a few examples. He came back with the front cover. I like that there is also some warmth in the picture. We sometimes forget to inject warmth.
Christian: I was after a bleak landscape. It's a recurring theme for us. We had something similar on our first album 'Last night something happened' with a desolate road. Like loads of people we spend so much of our lives driving places like zombies, going through the motions. This time I was after something more abstract. I found some Yugoslavian animation from the seventies and Will Schaff looked at a couple of stills and made his own interpretations.
Out of all the songs you guys have written together which one are you most proud of?
Sean: I’m pretty pleased with everything on our last two albums. Some songs could have been better if we’d had more time but that’s unimportant now. From our first album I’m proud of Shortwave (Christian will correct me if I’ve got the wrong song) which was a great song that Christian had and I added a little piano to it and it came out really well and made me think that we might actually be able to be good at something. I also really like Driving Through The Red Lights which has a brilliant and unexpected chorus and Bored Beyond Oblivion, great title, great song.
Christian: Not sure really. I'd love to make an album which I wouldn't mind hearing in the presence of other people. I've no idea how bands endure record launch parties. The idea of having to listen to my music with other people fills me with total dread. That's not to say we haven't done songs I like.
If you could tour with anyone (dead of alive) whom would it be with?
Sean: We’d probably need someone who had some kind of experience in psychiatric care to help us get on stage. It’s just not something we feel comfortable doing. Maybe a day festival where we can come on at the beginning before any turns up and then we can hang around backstage posing for the rest of the day. I always get incredibly bored when people start doing dream lists of festival line-ups and it’s all dead people like Lennon and Hendrix. People I would actively walk away from if I saw them. It’s like they’re making a dream band in heaven (let’s ignore the fact that Sonic Youth did this on Tunic). I think that kind of simplistic view of a heaven is damaging for young people. You die and you’re gone, they need to realise that. Having said that: I would have loved to see Rowland S Howard, preferably when he wasn’t so sick that he was coughing up blood on stage.
Christian: The Monkees. They looked like they were having fun?
I gotta ask, will Slowdive ever see the light of day again?
Christian: Not in the foreseeable future. Rachel is having a baby this summer. We've all got kids and stuff. Maybe our kids could form Slowdive Jr.
You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life..which album would it be?
Sean: I like a good combination of noise and melody so probably The Velvet Underground & Nico or Psychocandy.
Christian: Maybe 'Low' by David Bowie.
Are you living your dream?
Sean: I like having a wife. I like being in a band. I like playing football. Everything else is a humiliating kick in the crotch, to quote Sting.
Christian: No. But it's not a total nightmare.
Thanx MM & Jacob!
Monster Movie are currently working on a follow up to "Everyone Is A Ghost"...
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