The Sheffield Scenester

The Monicans are a three piece psychedelic alternative rock band from Sheffield, consisting of two Australians, Paul Beard (vocals and guitar) and Heather Lonie (bass), and one Englishmen, Lee Harvey (drums). An odd combination of players...but it seems to work as they have received press coverage from countries as far a field as Australia and Brazil! With this in mind they have released their first official tracks in the guise of a double A side single.

Beginning with the track, ‘Into The Rows’, it starts off fairly inconspicuously enough with quite a simple drum and guitar riff, to be fair it just verges on the wrong side of ordinary but then, as the lyrics ride above this, just when you begin wondering “why am I listening to this?” the chorus kicks in with such intensity that you suddenly realise the answer is starring you in the face!! With a grinding onslaught of guitars, bass and drums all blitzed together into one maelstrom of fused hysteria, Paul screams over this as he virtually pleads with you to listen to his cry against mediocrity. With an interesting blend of punk paced riffs strategically dispersed amidst contrasting simple yet steady back drop of a cheesy eighties pop intro, growing too love this is not really a requirement, more of a necessity!

The second track in this double sided release is ‘My Love’, a more up front, in your face track as the rhythm picks up where the chorus in ‘Into The Rows’ left off. Yet again the song structure is similar with all energy focused on the chorus in a truly dysfunctional outpouring of instruments at their demented best as Paul really lets his vocals chords do the screaming with a simple chant, though I can’t be sure if he’s saying “We all wanna rock!” or whether it’s “We don’t wanna Rock!”, might be wrong in both counts but it works as a sing-a-long. This particular track though does seem to have a distinctive Doors sound to it as Paul’s vocals are given a subtle echo effect during a rare sedate section in the recording.

They have plenty of dates coming up in the gigging calendar, the first of which is at The Grapes on July 22nd, this one in particular looks promising as they are playing with Ruberlaris. With a complex blend of music spanning the decades all thrown together and served up in the form of experimental punk laced psychedelic folk, it really is well worth listening too!