Thu 3 Feb 2022 •
Interview with Monty (1985 Music)
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As we’re looking forward to having the 1985 Music gang taking over the Madhouse stage at Let It Roll 2022, we caught up with the man of the moment, the French badman Monty himself to ask him a couple of questions about his recent New Zealand tour, his debut album which came out just by the end of last year and more.
Hey Monty, we hope you’re doing well! Tell us how the current week has been treating you thus far.
Hi! I’m good, thanks, and you? I’m just working hard on my next EP and my Patreon before I leave for South America, I’m going on a little trip hehe.
You’ve recently undergone a successful tour in New Zealand, was it your first time coming over? And is there anything specific you’re taking from this experience, maybe an extra bit of inspiration for the busy year to come?The tour was amazing! Even better than the first one I did back in 2019, was very lucky to be able to go there, even better with one of the Visages boys.
Yeah, the amazing landscapes and lovely people I met refreshed my mind so that’s always good for inspiration! And great to catch up with everyone including Alix that I’d have not seen for 2 years.
As you’re coming from France, we’d kinda expect you to be a foodie and also a wine lover. Is there any cuisine apart from French that’s close to your heart? Plus New Zealand is fairly famous for its vineyards, did you have a chance to taste some local gems while touring there?
Yes hehe I live here but I’m originally from the UK, yeh I love Indian cuisine so much I could eat it everyday. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit any of the vineyards. I’m not crazy about wine actually but I do like to try them. My thing is rum.
You’re also fresh off releasing your debut album “Hit The Lights”. Putting together an album is definitely a great achievement by itself, but the album was both highly anticipated as well as well-received on top of that. Could you tell us a bit more about the whole process behind it and your overall experience before and after putting it out?
It was during Covid time, and after my 6th EP on 1985 Music I thought it was a good time to make an album. It took me a long time to decide to make an album. I wanted it to happen in 2019, but every time it came to it I wasn’t ready and it felt too early. I still needed to do more EPs and I wanted to step up my work. For me, EPs are sort of like… practicing. Every time I brought out an EP, I was reflecting on it and taking notes like “oh that’s wrong” or “that needs improvement” – then eventually it would become time to put all these notes together for a stronger body of work. So then I started to send tracks to Alix, and he was helping me select them – and we were getting to 8, 9, 10, and eventually 16 tracks. Originally it was going to be 18, I wanted to get Halogenix and Skeptical on there, but unfortunately it just didn’t work with deadlines and what we were able to produce together.
I connected every track together – when you listen to the whole thing in one go, all the endings of previous tracks transition into the intros on the next track. So it never stops basically, just one big listening experience, like how they used to do on a lot of albums back in the day, and still do.
Now that the album has been released I feel a lot of relief and happy to finally be able to play it out with shows coming back.
Putting the 174 bpm vibes aside, your album was fairly full of dubstep and other tempos, too. Is this something you’re planning to experiment with more from now on or did it just kind of made sense for you to include it on the album as it serves the purpose of telling the story you wanted to tell?
Yes I didn’t want to make just a dnb album. I listen to literally all sorts of music and I love to produce a lot of different tempos so that’s the format I went for, making something that I know I’d enjoy from an artist.
You’ve started your 1985 Music journey in 2017 and over those past 5 years you’ve been releasing one stellar EP after another, leading up to the album. This brings an obvious question – what’s next for Monty as an artist, do you have any specific goals set for the foreseeable future release-wise?
I’m not quite sure, I guess at the moment just focus on releasing music. I’m working on my next EP that will be 140 only. I’d like to get involved in making music for video games haha. I also really want to play in the US, hopefully that will be happening this year. So many things I’d like to do.
If we’re not mistaken, this is gonna be your third time coming to Let It Roll. Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to experiencing in the Czech Republic or at the festival itself?
Yeah, definitely the 1985 stage haha! It’s always great to play with friends and Let It Roll is always fun, only good memories there.
The world is currently flooded with amazing music. That being said, we always love to broaden our horizons and explore the vast ocean out there, so could you share with us a couple of personal tips for music you’ve been admiring lately?
Yeah, I really enjoy Skinshape, Pip Millet, Jazzy Bazz, RoboHands and so many others.
We know for a fact that apart from producing you’re also into photography. Is there a background story to why you’re fond of this art form? Also, do you take any particular interest in any other non-music related activities, too?
I just enjoy capturing memories and looking back on them. Photography is like music, there are lots of different vibes that you can feel and sense from looking at a photo, I think that’s why I enjoy it.
Last, but not least, let’s have a quick shootout! Clubs or festivals?
Hard one, I’m more of an outdoors person, but for music I think clubs, but I do love festivals.
Daytime or nighttime events?
Daytime but most clubs shows are at night haha.
90’s or 00’s Drum & Bass?
00’s
Mountains or beaches?
Depends on what time of the year it is but mountains.
Cats or dogs?
Cats.
Thank you so much for your time and we’re looking forward to seeing you at the festival in a couple of month’s time!
Thanks for having me, I can’t wait!
We definitely cannot wait either so mark Saturday, 6th August in your calendars and be sure not to miss it, as we’re in for a treat!
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