Getting to Know Young Monks

Experimental quartet Young Monks have just released their long-awaited, self-produced debut album, Swamp Creek. We asked hem to tell us about themselves:

We are… a group of young men from the wilderness of Canberra, exploring and imploring this world to chill and hit up the vibe ride that is Swamp Creek. What started as a casual collaborative, interested in letting out some creative energy, quickly grew into a commitment to producing music that we loved and wanted to share with our friends. Thommy, Sam, Jarrad, Matt and Stevie love jarmin away in the dark, playing with new ideas and dipping into the sense of discovery that this world offers so abundantly.

Swamp Creek is… a ride that just won’t quit baby, it’s a psychedelic journey into our creative process, a passion project that has driven us to and beyond our breaking points, revealing the inner workings of our personal and musical dynamics. Coming off the tail end of half a decades work, Swampy, as we affectionately have named it, is a retrospective into our influences and ideas from the past years. Although this album has taken its sweet time to be ready, we couldn’t be more proud of the times and moments we’ve had leading us to this point.

Our upcoming tour will be… mental! Our first tour of Australia! How bizarre is it that these sounds we have spent years creating, are able to take us around the country. If you see us at any of these shows, pinch us, then buy us a beer. Just as the album, this too has been a long time coming, we’re extremely passionate and excited to be sharing these tracks and the performance of them with our friends and fellow monks all across the country.

Home is… next to a river, inside a cave, outside in the snow or deep in the ocean. We all have many loves of the natural world, as well as an interest in how they each play parts in shaping our minds, inspiring ideas and challenging thoughts. Canberra may be where we all met, but home is where the moment is, and we intend to seek it out. With any luck and a lot of energy, we hope that every show feels like home, people let loose and get comfy.

We spend too much time… diligently going through all our tracks, formatting and rearranging individual parts of tracks to suit our evolving personal tastes. On Pub Days, discovering the local scenery, foraging through the woods to find the goods and forgetting about the sun lotion for the midnight dips into the ocean.

We’ve never… given up on the dream of living the freest, happiest, progressive lives that we first dreamt up during the process of creating this sonic landscape. Or performing inside an active volcano, which although cool, probably impractical. Coordinating a group of guys to get together to rehearse and create is never easy, but we’ve been persistent with our creative process, pushing ourselves to return to our older songs and make progress through the new ones.

It might surprise people to learn that… Steven Reinhart has many stephenisms including: Microscoft, Begs Enny, Kitar, Pinch black, Soupcase, and so much more. Thommy Caldwell may be a chippy by day, but a full shred lord by night.
Sam Koster is often missing for days, adventuring the wilderness of the surroundings or sometimes the wilderness of his mind.
Matt Santos can make a mean veggie patty, blood has been spilt trying to make him reveal the secret, but he just won’t. (It’s tears.)
Jarrad Stewart is our newest member, but he’s been actively destroying drumskins and creating comedy sketches for the sketchiest amount of time.

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Young Monks’ self-produced debut album Swamp Creek is out now independently via Bad Bad Records/UNIFIED Music Group. Order it here.

YOUNG MONKS – SWAMP CREEK AUSTRALIA TOUR
Tickets on sale now from youngmonks.net

Friday 13 July – Bloodhound Bar, Brisbane
Sunday 15 July – Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
Friday 20 July – Workers Club, Melbourne
Saturday 21 July – Brighton Up, Sydney
Sunday 22 July – Rad Bar, Wollongong
Wednesday 25 July – Roundhouse Beergarden, Randwick
Friday 27 July – The Park House, Mona Vale
Saturday 28 July – Waterfront Hotel, Moruya

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