Hey man, congratulations on the release of your debut LP "Inverted Signs" under the alias Monsters Around Us and thank you for agreeing to take some time out to answer a few of my questions!
Before we talk about "Inverted Signs" I wanted to get some more background on yourself as a musician.
Based on our chats and some of the research I've done you clearly aren't a newcomer to the music industry.
Could you tell us more about some previous projects you were involved in (I understand you used to be the vocalist for deathcore band Cross the Lips of Grace and more recently for tech death band The Schoenberg Automaton) and how this eventually led you to start your solo endeavor as Monsters Around Us?
Firstly thanks for reaching out and sending these questions through!
I appreciate you taking the time to write these up!
As you’ve mentioned I was previously vocalist in Cross the Lips of Grace and a founding member of Aussie tech death band The Schoenberg Automaton.
While doing Schoenberg I suffered a vocal injury called a Supra Glottic Constriction which basically ended any chance I’d have at touring in any form due to muscles needing time to repair.
After my time in metal I continued doing photography and music videos under my Col B Cadell Photo and Video banner.
Through this I was able to still engage in the creative aspects of metal and heavy music.
This also led me to get over to Euroblast fest in Koln, Germany a few times and make some of the connections I still cherish to this day!
A few late night raves and good hangs with friends and I knew I wanted to take the solo experience.
Although "Inverted Signs" definitely has a lot of strong metal elements to it, your music in general with this project is mainly rooted in electronic music, which is quite a departure from deathcore and technical death metal.
What drew you to electronic music in the first place and what would you say are your biggest influences for this project?
I’ve always had a strong interest in electronic music and have listened to stuff like Aphex Twin, Amon Tobin, Squarepusher and more since I was a teen.
If I was going to do anything musical again it needed to be on my terms under my control.
This is how Monsters formed, an individual led amorphous blob that can absorb or reject as needed. Wholly me but able to make use of other artists and their respective talents.
It's become fairly common in recent years to namedrop Mick Gordon whenever it comes to electronic music that crosses over into extreme metal territory and to be honest, a lot of the music on "Inverted Signs" gave me some strong video game soundtrack vibes, both recent and "retro", including Doom.
Would you say that video game soundtracks are a big influence on you as well when it comes to writing for Monsters Around Us?
Always! I’m a massive film and game soundtrack nerd, and it’s probably one of the biggest influences on me.
I’ve always aimed to take the heaviness of Mick; mix it with the bombastic attack of Junkie XL; run through the filters of Amon Tobin/Two Fingers.
Some of my favourites are:
Shenmue - Original OST;
Hotline Miami - Original OST;
Sorcerer - Tangerine Dream (Film score);
The Thing - Original OST
Speaking of Doom, Chad Kapper (Frontierer, A Dark Orbit) who did some work for the soundtrack of the franchise's latest installment also makes an appearance on "Inverted Signs".
Which brings me to talk about the features on the album!
There's some pretty cool guest spots including Chad, Owen Hughes (Komoru, ex-Frontierer) and Pierre Danel (Kadinja) which makes for a pretty interesting international music patchwork!
Could you tell us how did that come about and what was it like working with these guys being at different corners of the globe?
Euroblast. 100% Euroblast, I met Frontierer there, Pierre there and a million other legends.
The Schoenberg lads were always active reaching out to other acts around the world that we gravitate toward. Frontierer was one of those acts that we embraced.
Eventually I met the lads at the fest.
After that it was just a case of reaching out, knowing that Owen loves working on creative projects and Chad has a passion for Industrial/IDM. I figured they were the perfect duo for this release and their relative tracks.
Pierre I met through The Algorithm and just knew once I heard him playing that I wanted something not metal, more angelic or as Pierre described it, a gospel vibe.
Future tracks will continue this!
I’m planning on keeping working with other metal and noise artists. I welcome collabs!
You were supporting Perturbator live and even made a guest appearance during his show before the pandemic canceled shows all over the world.
What was that like? Do you have any plans for live shows once this mess is over and are there any artists in particular you would like to tour with?
Perturbator was nuts and a complete honour!
He’s a massive influence and also an incredible performer.
Getting to be his solo support in my home town to 500+ people was beyond unreal.
100% want to play live, though I treat it more ritualistic than some.
I would love to do a big tour or two but don’t want that to dictate the flow of production or releases. As for artists I’d love to tour with:
The Amenta are probably my top pic, uncompromising, crushing and chaotic.
Gulf Blvd who are an awesome US act!
From my idols and inspirations I would love to just smoke a joint and have a beer with Amon Tobin/Two Fingers. That dude is god to me.
Finally, moving forward from "Inverted Signs", have you already begun working on some new music for Monsters Around Us?
Can we expect the future material to be more metal-oriented or will it be focusing even more on electronics, or is that something that takes shape along the way of your writing process?
Very much a reactionary project.
The next release will have a very strong metal vibe but then it will likely have strong noise vibes too so it’s a hard one to judge. Some releases might be completely electronic, some not.
Part of what I loved about starting this is the freedom to create in a way that doesn’t prohibit or block options. Sometimes electronics are the heaviest thing, sometimes guitars are.
Either way I’ll be exploring more crushing vibes and dark corners of the mind on future releases.
Thanks again so much for taking the time to answer these questions and for being my first interviewee! Take care and good luck with whatever comes next!