Monica & The Explosion Interview

By Chris Röckson

 

Monica and The Explosion is acoustic guitar slinger Monica Welander, originally from Sweden, now based in London and Paul Slack, former bass guitarist with the UK Subs and Flying Padovanis, featuring none other than Henri Padovani of Wayne County& the Electric Chairs fame and original guitarist with The Police. We caught up with Monica and Paul just as they were heading North to play a show in Hull, to find out more about their music....

 

Paul, how’s things? You just got back to the UK right?

Hi Chris, things are good and very positive for us at the moment, and yes we’ve just returned from our latest trip to Europe this time Berlin. We’ve spent a lot of time working outside the UK this year with gigs and tours in Australia, Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and Germany. (Paul)

 

How did you guys meet and at what point did you decide to form the band?

We met at Rebellion in Blackpool in 2009. Monica was appearing as a solo artist and I was performing with the Subs. We were both about to embark on separate tours, Monica was going to India, Australia and New Zealand, and I was off to France. We decided to stay in touch and compare notes about our respective trips. When Monica returned to the UK in March 2010 she told me she was planning a new album and asked me if I’d like to play on it. We had such and great time recording the album that it seemed a natural progression to put a band together. (Paul)

 

You released an album ‘Shut Up!’ recently, how did that come about and who played on it?

After I released my debut album "Monica and The Explosion" in 2007, I focused on my live act and doing shows for a couple of years. The album was recorded with a Swedish backing band but I decided to go solo not along after the album was out, and I toured on my own all around the world. It was when I first came to the UK in 2009 and met some really good punk musicians I started to work on the idea of an album having the British punk tradition in mind.

The album was recorded in Peterborough at Jigsaw studios April 2010, just after I got back to Europe with Paul on bass and Rob Baylis from Dun 2 Def, and The Destructors on drums.

I had an idea of adding more instruments on some tracks, but in the end everyone agreed that just the three of us was what worked out best.

Much of the material on the album is inspired by me leaving Sweden and choosing a life based on music and touring. (Monica)

 

Monica, what inspired you to pick up a guitar and write?

When I was 16 I started a new school, a Swedish equivalent to collage I guess, and there were some bands among the students - cool guys doing their own songs.

So, me and my girlfriends started to go to their gigs and since I had taken guitar lessons a few years earlier I began to believe that I could actually do what they did -write my own songs. Inspired by everything around me, things I experienced, felt or wanted to tell came to life in my songs, I loved it! Song writing has been the most important part of my identity ever since. (Monica)

 

You recently played the Rebellion Festival too, how did that go?

Rebellion was good, as always. This was the third year for me, the second year with Paul. We had a really good and enthusiastic crowd; we could notice that we now have a bigger following one year after the release of "Shut Up!"

The best thing about the festival is the atmosphere and all the people you meet. We spent most of the three days we were there just walking around and chatting to people. For punk bands it is an important event to be part of just because of that, you get to see new bands and meet new and old friends and keep the network alive. (Monica)

 

I was looking through your gig roster and noticed that you still have to play my hometown, Manchester? How come? Maybe some of the local promoters could look into that….

I guess we haven’t gotten round to sorting ourselves out a proper gig there. We’ve passed through Manchestera couple of times and have played a couple of “open mics” there. From what we saw Manchester looks to have a comparatively healthy music scene going on. And we’ve appeared on “Our House” a Manchesterbased on-line TV show.

 

You have a date in York lined up with Hazel O’Connor too?

That’s right at Fibbers on October 23^rd. I think it’s going to be interesting to see how we go down with her fans. (Paul)

 

At the start of 2011 you played over in Australia, and seem to have been out on the road, constantly ever since. Any plans to tour the States in the pipeline?

No specific plans for the US at the moment although we definitely hope to visit next year as Monica has already toured there as a solo artist. We’ve been exploring the possibility with several people, including an old friend of mine Honey Bane who I briefly worked with after I left the Subs when we formed a band together called the Allies. (Paul)

 

What is your opinion of the live music scene in the UK these days, compared to other countries in Europe?

I have to say I don’t feel particularly optimistic about what’s going on in the UK right now. There’s a degree of apathy that’s crept into the scene, the cause of which is probably manifold. There’s too much of everything, too much mediocrity. When I first played with the Subs bands dared to be different, anything went and within the loose umbrella of“Punk” there was tremendous variety - no uniform required. Something isn’t quite right at the moment, how else can you explain the recent emergence of so many tribute bands? Obviously there are still a lot of talented enervative musicians out there struggling to be heard but I ironically I feel it’s as hard to be“different” as it ever was. That’s not to say we haven’t been well received here or that there aren’t genuine hard working promoters trying to do their best in difficult times. I just don’t know how we’ve arrived at a point where venues pay everyone they employ but expect the band to play for free.

Our recent experience Europe is somewhat different. It seems to us there’s a greater willingness to embrace music which doesn’t come with a uniform. This is especially true in France where we’ve played many hugely successful and enjoyable shows. In Europe, as a musician, you’re treated with far greater respect, for example wherever we’ve played, and almost without exception, we’ve been invited to sit down and enjoy a meal with the promoter or bar owner something that would never happen back home. And nowhere in Europe have we been expected to play for free.

I realise this sounds a bit negative,, but I think a re-think is needed here as there are real issues about where we’re heading as far as live music is concerned in this country certainly at the level we find ourselves. (Paul)

 

Any recordings we should know about?

Monica has been in a rich song writing vein recently and we plan to make a new album early next year. (Paul)

 

How about links to your websites and any contact details?

There’s the main band website www.monicaandtheexplosion.com through which you can access our Facebook site as well Paul’s blog (published on the UK Subs website) which will keep you up to date on the latest news. (Monica)

 

Well, thanks very much for taking time out to chat with us, have a great time over in Hull this week-end and we’ll see you out on the road, hopefully with a couple of dates in Manchester soon.

Chris