Drogheda rared and Dublin-based quartet One Half Monk have a blunt and refreshingly honest approach to the whole new band gaining attention malarkey.
You can get far more achieved with a kind word and a gun than with a gun alone, states a smiling Deano aiming a Magnum .45 directly between my eyes. One Half Monk then bundle me into an unmarked van and whisk me down to studio 2 in The Factory to perform a brief showcase.
From the moody, opening murmurings of the keyboards, the thing that hits you is that OHM have a big, bold, brash shut up and pay attention sound. The songs are towering little epics that brood, bite and bay for your attention. And why are they involved in this filthy dirty business called rock n roll? Well, it s all Terry s auntie s fault.
His auntie saw an ad for the Swords Heritage Festival, explains Dino. We only entered because we thought we would be playing on the Guinness truck, but we ended up playing in a car park from a Hiace van that looked like it had half of it chopped off to form a stage! We had to play three songs and get on, set up our gear and play in the space of just one minute. Anyway we ended up winning, which was a somewhat controversial decision much to the disgust of most of the crowd as there was a huge turnout for a local band. The judge ended up getting cans thrown at him when he announced the result.
The prize was to spend a day in The Mill studios where we ended up meeting our fifth member Pete. And the rest, as one day they will no doubt say, is history!
Peter Eades has produced and engineered with Clannad (Warriors), Thin Lizzy (Thunder And Lightning), The Four of Us, The Dubliners, Bill Whelan, The Chieftans, Moving Hearts, Christy Moore (Ride On), Donal Lunny, and In Tua Nua. Awestruck by the band s natural talent and knack for knocking out great tunes, a productive creative alliance was formed. The fruits of the relationship are evident from a quick listen to One Half Monk s four track CD demo, which is impeccably and highly originally produced, without resorting to clean-cut, digitally polished pap.
We listen to Pete since he has spent so many years in the music industry, but that doesn t stop us from just throwing ideas at him, adds Terry. The great thing about working with Pete is that we take in what we might consider a full song, Pete strips it down to a bare template and it just goes forward from there. It s an interesting evolution complete song to bare bones and back to complete song again.
The One Half Monk masterplan for 2000 is to gig a little bit more. They ve already done successful Whelan s and Mean Fiddler headline slots. They have also performed and recorded their own original music in the US including a musical score for a social awareness project for a Washington D.C based production company, Video Action Fund , which subsequently was broadcast on PBS. Another project by Video Action Fund included a track from singer/guitarist Terry Quinlan, which also featured the work of American singer/songwriter, Ani DiFranco.
So here s to world domination in the 21st Century, boys?
Well our ethos is to be sure of hitting the target: shoot first and call whatever you hit the target, concludes Terry.
With such breadth and scope of ambition, how can they possibly fail?
One Half Monk have an eponymous four track EP available now. For details on distribution and forthcoming live dates check out /homepage.eircom.net/~ohm1 or e-mail [email protected].