Interview by Mike Aylward
Mike: How would you define the Moneen sound to a newcomer to your music?
kenny: boring...stupid...ugly...smelly...and just down right bad, oh wait...thats me I am describing!
o.k. hmmmm, maybe 4 guys coming from a punk rock background who are really into melody and harmony and like pushing themselves to try different things and are fans of making their songs big roller coaster rides...now we happy, now we sad, now we angry, now we dead yo!
Mike: Is their any specical meaning behind the band's name?
kenny: you kow the classic story, of boy meets girl. boy stays with girl at her dorm room. boy meets roomate. boy makes fun of roommate all the time. boy decides to steal roommates name but has new mission in life, destroy roommates identity. roommate gets emails constantly about the boys band. roommate gets very angry and tells people that she is not a band, that she is a person. boy laughs really hard. boy and roommate are still good friends and everything is fine. roommate keeps her name, boy has a good band name and boy is still with the girl.
Mike: What types of music and which musicians/groups influenced you growing up?
kenny: growing up?, well I really like twisted sister alot. in grade 4 I bought alomst all of their vinyl.
you kow I think what helped our sound the most early on for me was all the old school hip hop I used to roger rabbit to. but my first "MY" band was the red hot chili peppers. I liked naked guys back then...wait what? then there was nirvana of course. then I found punk rock like the sex pistols and the ramones. then trigger happy, nofx, propaghandi. then came the crossover that changed my life. quicksand. from there I started listening to so much different stuff from jimmy eat world to grade to 400 years to hum. but along the way was a really important band for me called failure. them and jimmy eat world are my biggest influences.
Mike: How did growing up in Brampton (Toronto?) influence your music?
kenny: toronto meant nothing to me...NOTHING! but brampton was a huge influence on us. the scene was so good here that every show was the craziest most fun anyone could ever have...well at least for us. when you went to brampton shows you would have to be ready for chair jumping and to get soaked or just to watch many guys run around with no pants on...well really just me. there was a great scene here. so much different music and alot of really good people coming to the shows.
right now there are some really good bands coming up out of the scene like FALLEN YEAR and WHEELS ON THE BUS. i love brampton. choke was scared to play here the first couple times they came...we went a little crazy for those choke boys.
Mike: Which do you prefer, recording/producing or live performance and why?
kenny: live performance...way more fun...we can do what ever we want live and there is no one to tell us different. playing live is our playground and
we have too much fun on it. recording is great too but it gets pretty crazy sometimes when you only have x number of days and have to do so much. playing live is way too much fun. I will have to keep eating my wheaties so when I turn eighty I can still do my dumb jumps.
Mike: Whose music are you listening to right now?
kenny: cursive "the ugly organ"
failure "magnified"
taking back sunday "what ever the cd is called"
sigur ros "( )"
Mike: How would you describe your new cd, "Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now"?
kenny: rockin! it is some good rockin stuff. the perfect balance of the ep and theory. it is kind of straight ahead while having the weird spacey parts...it sounds different than anything we have done before but it is not that ar away from what we do. we like it if that means anything.
Mike: How has new technology affected how you deliver your musical message to the world?
kenny: I dont know, we have a website now. I learned to do email. I have six toes?
when we recorded we used some computer action..we went into the technical world. we recorded most of the song to tape and then used the computer for vocals and extra sounds an things...but for the most part we kept it real yo! trever and chad (Producers) didn't want this to be an overproduced album...they wanted us to make the noises not a plug in.
Mike: What is a musical goal that you would like to achieve with the band?
kenny: to be able to just keep doing what we are doing...I would love to release an album that people like our selves would consider a masterpeice...you know like a clarity or a pet sounds...yup we shoot our goals high! but I know it won't happen so In want to be able to write a really good three chord punk rock song...yeah! da da da da chnky laka too too.
Mike: What do you think are the embodiments of good and evil in the music business, and in the world today?
kenny: well...most evils are in the form of a man. yup thats right...men are all evil...I'll tewll you girlfriend I had a mans once and he was no good! money ususally makes things complicated. I have seen alot of bands start getting somewhere, they must get a little taste of the life and then they change. that is the money saying "hey if you do things this way then you can keep seeing me." but there is alot of good right now. alot of punk rock and hardcore bands have come up through the scene and are starting to make it now, but since they came from the scene they understand where they came from and want to show people that there is more to music than selling units.
Mike: What can Thunder Bay expect from your two live shows in June?
kenny: you know the normal thing...us standing around looking at our shoes picking our noses.
you want to know what? I will tell you!! we are going to rock so hard that my ass is going to implode.
I can't wait for the shows, thunder bay is one of our favorite places to play in canada. this time I am going to land the frontflip and not land on all my pedals (the first time I broke all my pedals and it was the first show on the tour...stupid kenny)
Mike: A hundred years from now, how would you like Moneen to be remembered?
kenny: I would like to be remebered as...hey isn't that the band with that hippy in it? yeah they were allright...but you gotta love the hippy though.