Tag Archives: Sydney

Sydney’s Monks of Mellonwah Touring U.S.A

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Monks of Mellonwah are touring the U.S.A for the third time.

monksofmellonwah

Full tour dates are:

Passport Approved (A&R Worldwide Tour, Monks of Mellonwah headlining with guests Lime Cordiale, Hamish Anderson & Giorgi + Leo )
June 6th – Last Exit Live, Phoenix, 9PM
June 9th – Viper Room, West Hollywood, 8 PM
June 10th – The Standard, Fresno, 8 PM
June 11th – The Atrium @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA , 9 PM
June 12th – The Boardwalk, Orangevale, CA, 8PM
June 13th – Doug Fir, Portland, OR, 8 PM
June 14th – Bodega Nightclub, Reno, NV, 8 PM
June 17th – Crocodile, Seattle, WA, 8 PM

w/Scott Stapp
June 20th – Chameleon Club, Lancaster, PA
June 21st – The Emporium, Patchogue, NY
June 24th – Latitude Live, Pittsburgh, PA
June 25th – The Chance, Poughkeepsie, NY
June 28th – The Machine Shop, Flint, MI
June 29th – Buster’s Billiards & Backroom, Lexington, KY
July 1st – Gillioz Theatre, Springfield, MO
July 2nd – Neumeier’s Rib Room & Beer Garden, Fort Smith, AR

Band: Monks of Mellonwah (Sydney, NSW)
Style: Alternative, Indie, Progressive, Electronic, Pop
Similar to: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse, John Frusciante, Incubus, Black Keys
Release: Turn the People (March 7, 2014)
Label: Gatcombe Music Pty Ltd
Members: Vikram Kaushik (vocals), Joe de la Hoyde (backing  vocals/guitar), John de la Hoyde (bass), Josh Baissari (drums)

Bio:
The Monks of Mellonwah are a band from Sydney, Australia whose music displays a masterful and unique blend of intense space, driving riffs and sharp metaphors.

The Monks of Mellonwah consist of; lead vocalist Vikram Kaushik,  guitarist Joseph de la Hoyde, as well as drummer Joshua Baissari and  bassist John de la Hoyde. The creative collision of these four musical  personalities yields a timeless, yet inimitable array of alternative rock, progressive rock and cinematic-themed scores.

Together for only a little over four years, the Monks of Mellonwah  have catapulted quickly into success on a global scale. In addition to  worldwide airplay, the band has gleaned over four-hundred press reviews – as well as syncs and licensing – from the likes of  Bunim/Murray Productions, MTV Networks, Discovery Channel, and FOX  Sports. In addition, the band has already toured the U.S.A, Singapore  and Australia. “M.O.M” were voted “Best Indie Rock Band” in the 2012  Artists in Music Awards and placed as the “International Rock Artist  of the Year” at the 22nd Annual LA Music Awards in 2012.

The Monks of Mellonwah stand more as a quadrangle than a quartet, with  each facet reflecting their cumulative creative goal; to deliver  all-original music in its purest, untainted form. Stylistically, the  band has evolved dramatically over a short period of time, impossible  to be boxed into any genre. There’s a variety of subtle hints of  musical influence that arise from each band member, which include Led  Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, as well as bands such as Muse and Red Hot  Chili Peppers.

Brought together in October of 2009, it was the inherent and  collective love of performing live that melded the members Monks of  Mellonwah into what they are today. They’ve already had the  opportunity to perform at venues around the world which include the  world-famous Whiskey A Go Go and The Avalon Theatre in Los Angeles,  The Mercury Lounge in New York, as well as Sydney Australia’s The  Metro Theatre and The Factory Theatre.

With tours already under their belt in the U.S.A and Asia, the Monks  of Mellonwah continue to blossom. “During the last three years, we’ve  developed both as individual musicians – but more importantly –  collectively as a band also,” adds de la Hoyde. To date, “M.O.M” has  released three EPs, beginning in 2010 with Stars Are Out, a five-track  debut that featured the single “Swamp Groove” – which became the  group?s first popular single on Australian radio. In 2011, they  followed the classic-rock and retro sounds of Stars Are Out with an  edgy alt-rock single release entitled, “Kyoto.”

In 2012 it was the release of Neurogenesis, a five-track EP, which led  to multiple licensing agreements, and press exposure via the EP’s title track as well as the single, “Neverending Spirit.” In 2013, showing their diversity in style, the Monks of Mellonwah released a  three-track cinematic trilogy entitled Sky and the Dark Night. The  film-inspired project epitomizes what “M.O.M” is all about –  interweaving a matrix of multiple genres into one track with an eight minute run time.

In 2013 began release their first full-length album, Turn the People  in three-part volumes with the album in its entirety to be released in March, 2014. Volume 1: “Ghost Stories” was released in June 2013,  followed by Volume 2: “Afraid to Die” in October. The final Volume 3:  “Pulse” is scheduled for release, along with the full album, in March,  2014. Grammy-winner producer and sound engineer Keith Olson (Fleetwood  Mac, Ozzy Osbourne, Grateful Dead) produced five of the tracks on the  upcoming Turn the People album. In 2014, the band plans on touring  both Europe and the U.S.A. in support of the album.

The Monks of Mellonwah set out musically not to repeat past styles, yet rather to pave the future for alternative rock. In doing so, they  take the preeminent sounds of 70s psychedelic rock and 90s alternative  – and blend it into something fresh and new.

Making a mess with The Maids – Sydney Theatre Company by David Evan Giles

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Because of the superstar presence of Cate Blanchett, the season of Jean Genet’s ‘The Maids’ has been a sell-out here in Sydney. The radiant Miss B received a standing ovation from her most enthusiastic fans and there was great energy and total commitment in her performance. But, with a weary intake of breath, one has to wonder how this production ever made its way to the stage in its current state of chaos.

The new translation was handled by Blanchett’s husband, Andrew Upton, who is also the artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company, and Benedict Andrews, the director of the production. Perhaps those dual roles for both men provide a clue as to how on earth this mish-mash ever made it through rehearsals without someone pulling it together. An artistic director with some objectivity and distance would have surely told the assembled cast and crew that Isabelle Huppert, playing opposite Cate Blanchett, was literally incomprehensible as she gabbles her way through speech after speech in her heavily accented English. Let us be clear – it is not merely that Huppert’s accent is very strong but it seems almost as if she has learnt the script phonetically, as there is so little connection between what she says and what she does. The incoherence of her performance is mystifying. Whenever a fine actor like Huppert is lost, then the responsibility must come back to rest with the director. Andrews has failed to help her shape her performance into anything that makes sense, so no matter what Blanchett and the impressive newcomer, Elizabeth Debicki, try in an attempt to bring the play together, they are fighting a losing battle. Their response to the manic bursts of energy from Huppert was to inject more and more energy themselves and they have to be commended for their efforts but ultimately the audience was left a little dazed and confused by a display of what appeared to be mass hysteria.

The use of television cameras to highlight various areas of the play and throw them up on a giant screen upstage of the action is not new. There are moments, especially when Cate Blanchett is putting on make-up at her mistress’s dressing table, where the presence of a camera is effective but for the most part, the camerawork presents poorly framed images that are more distracting than enlightening or engaging. Again, the director might have more usefully focussed his attention on the interplay between the characters than on a gimmick.

The play itself was very largely lost in the confusion. The new translation was sprinkled with so many expletives that they quickly lost their sting. Genet’s rage against class and patronage could perhaps have found resonance with an audience had it not been lost in the maelstrom. The play’s text seethes with menace but where a skillful director might have held his cast back, letting the tension build and the danger increase, Andrews has started the play with all the knobs turned up to ten – and the only place to go from ten is an unsubtle blast of, well, eleven.

A tour has been planned but as much as I would dearly love to see the Sydney Theatre Company thrive and prosper, if it is coming to a town near you, there are many other ways you could spend an evening, perhaps by renting some DVDs to see the excellent cast (Debicki is in ‘The Great Gatsby’) at their best. Overall, this production took some of the best talent in the world and made of it a great bowl of ‘zuppa inglese’. The responsibility lies with the director.

Monks of Mellonwah | Music Profile

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Band: Monks of Mellonwah
Location: Sydney, NSW
Members: Will Maher (vocals), Joe de la Hoyde (backing vocals/guitar), John de la Hoyde (bass), Josh Baissari (drums)
CD: “Neurogenesis” EP (Advance release May 24, 2012)
Production: Jeff Bova (Michael Jackson, Billy Joel), Ryan Miller (John Frusciante, Flea), Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, RHCP)
Websites: www.monksofmellonwah.com, www.facebook.com/monksofmellonwah, www.twitter.com/monksofmellonwah
Style: indie rock, alternative rock
Similar to: The Black Keys, Muse
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_8crOOSRu0

News release: Coming off their big win for “Best Indie Rock Artist” at the Artists in Music Awards 2012, and being nominated for best International Artist in the LA Music Awards, Sydney’s buzz act Monks of Mellonwah are now ready to release their new EP “Neurogenesis”. Contributing to the new EP were Grammy Award winning producer Jeff Bova (Michael Jackson, Billy Joel), Ryan Miller (John Frusciante, Flea, The Ruminators) and renowned engineer Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers).

Neurogenesis features 4 alternative rock tracks which explore a range of concepts from Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb in “Neurogenesis” to the longing for life in “Neverending Spirit”. Each track has something to offer and is demonstration of the Monks of Mellonwah’s evolution, both in terms of maturity of song writing and musical and vocal prowess.