Entertainment Features

MONOWHALES: Ready to "Let It Go" On Stage

BY DAVID DeROCCO

“This is adrenaline for me, I love this shit,” says Sally Shaar, lead singer for Toronto’s MONOWHALES, referring to the whirlwind of press, interviews and activity surrounding the release of their newest video. “I’ve always thrived in chaos. If you want to be in this field at all you have to be able to live in chaos. If you try to stay organized, you can’t. You really have to roll with it most of the time.”

The band has definitely been on a year-long roll since the release of the latest MONOWHALES EP, Control Freak, a six-song sampler of alt-pop joy that launched this time last year with the single, “Take It Back.” That song earned the band their first commercial airplay, with the single peaking at #25 on the Canadian Alternative Rock Radio charts. It also earned them a recent trip to the famed Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany, where MONOWHALES represented Canada along with fellow Canucks The Dirty Nil, Double Experience, Kinnie Starr and Iskwé. It was an experience that has Shaar and her fellow bandmates – guitarist Zach Zanardo, keyboardist Holly Jamieson, and drummer Jordon Circosta – excited about the opportunities the next year will bring to this hard-working Toronto quartet.

“The festival was unbelievable,” said Shaar, still sporting a bit of jet lag from the trip back from Germany. “I thought if I’m going to go there, I’m going to make the most out of my time, going to clubs, seeing shows, meeting people, partying. We definitely went into this opportunity wanting to maximize everything about it. Now that we’ve kind of dipped our foot in it, we’re definitely going back to Europe.”

In the meantime, the recent release of the new video for “Let It Go” has MONOWHALES gearing up for a Canadian co-headline tour with Edmonton’s The Royal Foundry, which brings both bands to The Sanctuary in Ridgeway November 2nd. The video features the band surrounded by friends in full-on party mode, a creative treatment that Shaar says was a great fit for the three-minute blast of inspired pop rock.

“Basically the entire shoot was a party,” said Shaar. “Those were real bonfires and parties with a camera present. In the past our videos have been focused on the cinematic aspect of things. This time it was just, let’s have a party. Those are our legitimate friends, invited to a party and just letting go.”

Despite the celebratory feel of the video and the catchy crunch of guitars and vocals that punctuate the song, “Let It Go” is really a message aimed inward at band members who were starting to feel the stress that comes with career pressures and success.

“If I can kind of go into depth about the song, it’s about letting go of tension and conflict,” explains Shaar, who acknowledges that the songs on the Control Freak EP deal strongly with the emotional politics involved in relationships. “It’s inspired by growing pains within the band and the experience of building relationships with one another. Being in a band is like being in a family. You can’t shut people down or walk away. These are your brothers and sisters. As much as people get frustrated and angry, there’s always still love there. It’s about give and take. You have to let it go. That’s something we’ve all been learning.”

Another lesson the band has learned in the past year is that hard work pays off, and Shaar says that playing live is still the ultimate reward for their efforts. It’s something on which all members of the fiercely independent members of MONOWHALES agree.

“I have to say that everything is work at this point. It’s a gross misconception to say it comes easy or it’s all fun and play. We work our asses off in every aspect of what we do. It’s a labour of love. We’re always hungry to do more. Personally, I think we all agree that performing live is our favourite thing. We all have our favourite parts of what we like to do. At the end of the day, when we’re all thrashing on stage, there’s nothing to compare to that. We’ve always been a live band. That’s kind of why we got into this in the beginning.”

For tickets to MONOWHALES/The Royal Foundry, visit: https://www.thesanctuaryarts.org/events