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Pittsburgh Calling: The Monophonics
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Monophonics hold a "Losers' Day Parade" Friday night at Club Cafe.
A capsule look at Pittsburgh bands making news.
The Monophonics
Band: Erik Yurkovich (vocals), Jazz (guitar), Jim Holland (guitar), Steve Linhart (bass) and Jamie Linhart (drums).
Background: The Monophonics consist of former members of the bands Animal (from the '80s), Sunset Strip and Nevermore. The guitarist who goes by the name Jazz was once in the touring acts September's Child and Fat Tuesday. The Monophonics formed in 2004, when they released "Unified Theory of Everything" and debuted at the Graffiti Rock Challenge in 2005.
Sound: Not the retro-garage-rock that the name might indicate. The Monophonics play high-energy hard rock with tight harmonies, catchy hooks and an occasional '70s twist. "I guess the easiest way to describe how we sound is to describe our musical backgrounds and tastes," Holland says. "Jazz is very much influenced by bands like The Cure, The Replacements, Fields of the Nephlym, The Waterboys, etc. I am more from the hard rock and metal vein, with influences like Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, Jimi Hendrix and Thin Lizzy. The Brothers Linhart are into John Mellencamp, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles. And Erik lists influences like Blondie, Cyndi Lauper and the like. The common ground is bands like AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Blondie, David Bowie and on and on .... So, we come from a lot of different sections of rock, so that kinda gets mixed in the collective pot of what we do. You'll hear one song that has a definite twang to it, and the next song can have some real heavy guitar riffs, followed by a piano-based tune."
Song production: All five band members contribute songs. "Many bands start the process by having a song idea, practicing and honing the song, playing the song, in a live situation, and THEN, ultimately recording the song," Holland says. "This album, as with the first one, came together in the studio, so I guess our goal was merely to get those ideas out of our heads, and onto something physical that we could share with the listener. We tend to not look for a direction but instead let the songs take us wherever they take us. I think that's part of why our songs are a rather eclectic mix We just try not to limit ourselves. Our next song we write could very well be a disco tune ... but I doubt it."
New album: The band releases "Losers' Day Parade" with a CD Release Party at 6 p.m. Friday at Club Cafe. For more info, go to www.myspace.com/themonophonicsmusic.
-- Scott Mervis
First published on November 22, 2007 at 12:00 am
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Let there be cool pop
author: Richard Amery Kenora Daily Miner and News
The Monophonics are the hottest group to come out of Pennsylvania, or they should be if their new CD The Unified Theory of Everything, ever hits the mainstream, which it should if the music business was just.
The title sums up the 16 track release very well, combining a little bit of everything from Counting Crows jangle, to Third Eye Blind’s big hooks, a little bit of Buzzcocks vocal harmony, Beatles style pop (Far Away From Here starts out sounding eerily like John Lennon) and that’s all before they start to rock, later on in the CD, when the quintet launches into a full fledged harmonized metalesque guitar solo on The Truth Is A Lie, which is part of a great trio of metalish tunes, like the greasy rocker Sippin’ On Tequila, The Truth Is A Lie, Nothing Left to Talk About. Throw a little bit of funky blues bass on Don’t Leave and you have music to please pretty much everyone. Yet, despite all of the diversity, the CD flows seemlessly. The Monophonics are a great listen. Now watch the charts for them. - Richard Amery Kenora Daily Miner and News
Discography
2007 Losers' Day Parade
2004 The Unified Theory of Everything
Photos
Bio
the monophonics 2007-2008 biography
With “Losers Day Parade”, the monophonics are bringing their ‘A’ Game and win or lose they can proudly stand behind the music they made. The follow up to 2004’s “Unified Theory of Everything” marks the recording debut of new singer Erik Yurkovich, who joined in late 2005. While the wide variety of music that was present on their debut is still present (hard rock, to classic alternative and booze drenched rock) the material represents a giant leap forward. This comes as no surprise to the band who debuted as a semi-finalist in the 2005 Graffiti Rock Challenge. Through constant live performing and songwriting, what once was an experiment in throwing everything at the wall and see what sticks has evolved into a rock band that will venture out into the fringe of ethereal piano epics with tracks such as“Jo” to straight up hard rock of “Don’t.” The band again has writing contributions from all 5 members with Yurkovich bringing the inspired rock of “Alive”, a second helping of 50-60’s Sun Records rock from Steve Linhart on “When You Call My Name”, and the pulse pound of “St. Patrick’s Day” composed by Jamie Linhart. The thread throughout the record is the stellar bombastic guitar work from ace 6 stringer Jim Holland and another batch of catchy, well composed, alternative rock from main songsmith, multi-instrumentalist, and studio ace, Jazz. In February 2008, former Sunset Strip comrade Sean Nestor joined on as the sixth member of the group. He adds stellar vocal and guitar work to the band as well as classically trained dance moves (witness February 22nd Club Café show). The band will be playing everywhere that will have them in the next 2 years in support of the cd and the lead single “(I Can’t Tell You) Goodbye”.
“Loser’s Day Parade” is the musical equivalent of Rocky I. They make this music because they love music…and that is all that matters…..if it sells 1 or 1 million…it an artistic victory. They will stand behind what they created and will do it again so long as the love of music and art is there.
“Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” - Vince Lombardi
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