The Monochrome Set are back!

[editor]

Have they sacked the drummer?

The drummer took the picture.

 

[Libertad]

The drummer took the picture.

 

[High Voltage]

I was hoping to hear of some Keith Moon / Tommy Lee "drummer excess" along the lines of a TV out of a hotel window / car driven a high speed into a swimming pool from your recent tour of the US, to be honest

There's always a night out in Bristol, I 'spose

 

[editor]

I was hoping to hear of some Keith Moon / Tommy Lee "drummer excess" along the lines of a TV out of a hotel window / car driven a high speed into a swimming pool from your recent tour of the US, to be honest

There's always a night out in Bristol, I 'spose

I would have liked that too but it was so bloody hectic: we had nine shows and three radio sessions in 10 days and covered both sides of the US. The one day we had 'off' was spent travelling 10 hours in a bus.

Still, I'm not complaining for one second as it was a fantastic experience.

 

[editor]

Our driver for the west coast part of the tour has written a really entertaining diary:

Tour diary – The Monochrome Set on the west coast of the USA

 

[editor]

Well, this is an exciting update from the FB page:

Happy to announce that we have begun to book dates for a return to the USA in May next year We've already got dates in Sommerville (Boston), New York City and Philadelphia and we are hoping to go down to Washington and then drive across country to end up in Chicago. If anyone has any contacts in cities on that route (Washington, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinatti, Indianapolis, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Chicago etc) do let us know. Please don't suggest random venues, we are looking for contact names/emails. There will be a tour on the west later in the year, all being well.

 

[Ming]

Well, this is an exciting update from the FB page:

Any Vancouver dates?

 

[editor]

Any Vancouver dates?

I don't think so, sadly.

 

[Ming]

I don't think so, sadly.

Should have caught you in Portland. Bollocks. If you're doing any more gigs in Portland check out McMennimans hotels. They make hotels out of places which shouldn't really be hotels (classic USA high school, gay bath house, etc). Super cheap and many rooms are hand painted on a musical theme.

 

[Yossarian]

I don't think so, sadly.

What about Toronto? It's kind of on the way from Boston to Detroit, if you do a big loop north through Montreal...

 

[editor]

What about Toronto? It's kind of on the way from Boston to Detroit, if you do a big loop north through Montreal...

It seems Canada is a bit of a tricky one logistically. Although I'd LOVE to play there.

 

[editor]

Should have caught you in Portland. Bollocks. If you're doing any more gigs in Portland check out McMennimans hotels. They make hotels out of places which shouldn't really be hotels (classic USA high school, gay bath house, etc). Super cheap and many rooms are hand painted on a musical theme.

Here's a clip from a radio session we did in Portland:

 

[8ball]

Here's a clip from a radio session we did in Portland:

Where's the tartan suit?

 

[editor]

Where's the tartan suit?

Wish I never mentioned it now. I don't wear it every day of the week and certainly wouldn't be able to play comfortably in a full suit!
Besides, most of the clothes you wear on tour ar ones you shouldn't feel too precious about as you're likely to leave them in a hotel somewhere or on the backatga e area after you've had 10 Jagers.
See: I need to get a package picked up from the USA - what's the best way to do this?

 

[8ball]

Wish I never mentioned it now.

...most of the clothes you wear on tour ar ones you shouldn't feel too precious about as you're likely to leave them in a hotel somewhere or on the backatga e area after you've had 10 Jagers.

A lot of bands separate their regular gear for knocking about and travelling from everyone's 'stage clothes', which goes in the cases with the other gear that goes to the venue. Has some logistical advantages. Tends to be bigger bands to my knowledge, which makes sense as they are sometimes changing costumes mid-set anyway.

See: I need to get a package picked up from the USA - what's the best way to do this?

What happened to the jacket in the end? Is it still in that warehouse with the alien corpse and the Ark of the Covenant?

 

[editor]

A lot of bands separate their regular gear for knocking about and travelling from everyone's 'stage clothes', which goes in the cases with the other gear that goes to the venue. Has some logistical advantages. Tends to be bigger bands to my knowledge, which makes sense as they are sometimes changing costumes mid-set anyway.

We're really not not enough to have stage wardrobes on tour! We only take what can fit in our standard luggage on the plane. And with 9 gigs in 10 days, the bag's almost full with normal clean clothes!

What happened to the jacket in the end? Is it still in that warehouse with the alien corpse and the Ark of the Covenant?

Lost in space. It was supposed to be returned to the USA but I'm sure there's a postal worker somewhere strutting around with a nice jacket.

 

[8ball]

We're really not not enough to have stage wardrobes on tour! We only take what can fit in our standard luggage on the plane. And with 9 gigs in 10 days, the bag's almost full with normal clean clothes!

I wasn't thinking as 'big' as stage wardrobes really. Played in a band years ago where we wore those Guantanamo orange jumpsuits sometimes. They fitted in the pedal bag and we didn't need to think about what to wear and whether it was practical for before/after.

Devo, Kraftwerk and others have had the same basic idea.

Would love to go on a short tour like that.

 

[editor]

I wasn't thinking as 'big' as stage wardrobes really. Played in a band years ago where we wore those Guantanamo orange jumpsuits sometimes. They fitted in the pedal bag and we didn't need to think about what to wear and whether it was practical for before/after.

Devo, Kraftwerk and others have had the same basic idea.

Would love to go on a short tour like that.

I wouldn't want to be stood near you onstage after three or four days into the tour!

 

[8ball]

I wouldn't want to be stood near you onstage after three or four days into the tour!

Well yeah, we never did a tour, so that wasn't an issue. A mate of mine was on tour with his band once and there were sometimes lots drawn to determine who went to the laundrette (signed band, but not *big*).

 

[editor]

Well yeah, we never did a tour, so that wasn't an issue. A mate of mine was on tour with his band once and there were sometimes lots drawn to determine who went to the laundrette (signed band, but not *big*).

We didn't have time to visit a laundrette, but I would wash some pants and socks and t-shirts when I got to the hotel and leave the heating on full to dry them out. Not exactly Lenor fresh but better than whiffing like a beast.

 

[8ball]

We didn't have time to visit a laundrette, but I would wash some pants and socks and t-shirts when I got to the hotel and leave the heating on full to dry them out. Not exactly Lenor fresh but better than whiffing like a beast.

Yeah, looked at a bit of your driver's diary - looks like a hectic schedule.
My mate's band was touring the UK and on getting to each town seemed to have late morning til early evening to hang around and see stuff.

If I had to name some things that ska-punk bands were interested in, cathedrals wouldn't usually be first thought.

 

[pesh]

We didn't have time to visit a laundrette, but I would wash some pants and socks and t-shirts when I got to the hotel and leave the heating on full to dry them out. Not exactly Lenor fresh but better than whiffing like a beast.

Always worth asking if the venue has laundry facilities... A lot of them do for exactly this reason...

 

[Ming]

Here's a clip from a radio session we did in Portland:

Great tune Ed! (More cowbell!). I get what the vocalist was saying about the roots of creativity is not necessarily in the higher brain functions. The older parts of the brain (it evolved from the top of the spinal column outwards, upwards and forwards) govern the more primal emotional functions generally.

 

[editor]

Ooh, the album has been announced with a few audio snippets here:

I really like 'Summer of the Demon'

We have always loved the Monochrome Set at Rough Trade - from the label releasing their early records to seeing them play all through their career, so we are incredibly pleased to be sharing with the band their new album on dark green vinyl. It is also one of their best ever releases.

At the end of the 70s, The Monochrome Set were part of the first wave of 'post punk' bands. Right from the beginning, the band earned a solid reputation as purveyors of fine pop, gaining praise from 80s contemporaries such as Morrissey and Edwyn Collins. Importantly, in later years this praise has continued with artists such as Franz Ferdinand, The Divine Comedy and Graham Coxon, all citing the band as a key influence on their own work.

The Monochrome Set sound has often been described as 'timeless', and that alone explains why, over the years, the band has continued gaining admirers. "Fabula Mendax" is based on manuscripts written in the 15th Century by Armande de Pange, a companion of Jehanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc). Follow Armande as she flees her unhinged family, only to be caught up in the chaos of The Hundred Years' War. She encounters and trails the enigmatic Joan, later becoming a part of her expanding group of followers. As they travel west into the war zone of Northern France, they meet a motley medley of scheming noblewomen, bellicose knights, nefarious bishops, and assorted rotters, rogues and renegades.

This is The Monochrome Set at its most ornate, and, much like Joan of Arc's ensemble, features a myriad of fiddlers, pluckers, beaters, tinklers and wailers, surrounding a central core of notorious crackpots. The hauntingly melodic pop harks back to the early TMS period of "Eine Symphonie Des Grauens", but is now complemented by a (periodically unemployed) vampire's orchestra, whose cha-cha-charnel chiming careens into carnal rhyming chanting, while saints and demons trip lightly across the slick red fields of liberty.

The Monochrome Set - Fabula Mendax - LP+ – Rough Trade

 

[editor]

Here's a full listing of our upcoming gigs, with US dates to be announced for May 2019)

21/09/2019 - AN Club, Athens, Greece, tickets sold locally only and on the door.

28/09/2019 - The Lexington, London, UK www.wegottickets.com/event/464726

01/10/19 - Kantine, Nuremberg, Germany https://www.eventim.de/the-monochrome-set-nuernberg-tickets…

02/10/19 - KOHI-Kulturraum, Karlsruhe, Germany, No advance tickets, on door only.

03/10/19 - The Cave, Frankfurt, Germany www.frankdiedrich.de/03-10-2019-the-monochrome-set

04/10/19 - franz K, Reutlingen, Germany https://franzk.reservix.de/p/reservix/event/1403524

05/10/19 - Yoko, Hamburg, Germanyhttps://www.tixforgigs.com/site/Pages/Shop/ShowEvent.aspx…

12/10/2019 - The Crofter's Rights, Bristol, UKhttps://www.bristolticketshop.com/events…

25/10/2019 - PAARD, The Hague, The Netherlands https://www.paard.nl/event/the-monochrome-set/

26/10/2019 - Petit Bain, Paris, France https://billetterie.petitbain.org/…/26-10-2019-19-00-the-mo…

02/11/2019 - Printworks, Hastings, UK www.seetickets.com/…/the-monochrome-…/the-printworks/1320036

08/11/2019 - Shinjuku Marz, Tokyo, Japan Tickets from Vinyl Japan www.facebook.com/Vinyl-JapanEikoku-Ongaku-202367046441666/

09/11/2019 - Koenji High, Tokyo, Japan Tickets from Vinyl Japan www.facebook.com/Vinyl-JapanEikoku-Ongaku-202367046441666/

23/11/2019 - The Jericho Tavern, Oxford, UK,www.wegottickets.com/event/469179

14/12/2019 - TAGV, Coimbra, Portugal https://tagv.bol.pt/…/77811-the_monochrome_set_uk_tricycle…/

01/02/2020 - Waterfront Studio, Norwich, UK https://www.seetickets.com/…/waterfront-studio-nor…/1402460…

08/02/2020 - Jimmy's, Liverpool, UK https://www.seetickets.com/…/jimmy-s-liverpool-liv…/1402461…

28/02/2020 - Mono, Glasgow, UK https://tickets-scotland.com/events.html…

29/02/2020 - Beat Generator, Dundee, UK Tickets TBA

07/03/2020 - The Cluny, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK https://agmp.seetickets.com/…/the-cluny-newcastle-u…/1388501

11/04/2020 - The Deaf Institute, Manchester, UK www.seetickets.com/…/the-monochr…/the-deaf-institute/1397724

25/04/2020 - The Greystones, Sheffield, UK Tickets TBA

http://www.bid.myzen.co.uk/shop/shop.htm

WEBSITE

www.themonochromeset.co.uk

TMS ONLINE SHOP

http://www.bid.myzen.co.uk/shop/shop.htm

 

[planetgeli]

When are you announcing the Welsh dates editor?

 

[editor]

When are you announcing the Welsh dates editor?

I bloody hope we'll have some but it's down to what promoters offer us.

 

[editor]

Here's an updated listing, plus link to the new album preview

 

[kalidarkone]

Oooh to 12/10 at crofters rights in Bristol! See you there!

 

[planetgeli]

editor

That album title - posh Latin for lying? Or...please explain. Ta.