Know Your LA Bands: The Monolators Interview

BeatCrave brings you band, The Monolators, as part of our Know Your LA Bands series. What started out as a trio, then turned into a duo has now grown into a massive indie pop rock band locals have come to love. Being around for six years equivalates to about forever in band years, and it’s amazing to hear some of the stories bands collect during such a duration. We’re not talking about who drank too much or which band member had an unfortunate crowd surfing experience. Sometimes the stories of longevity and its rewards make the best ones, and The Monolators were kind enough to share some with me.

The Monolators have just released their CD, Don’t Dance, at Spaceland and now they are busy at working hard – but also having fun – at their Pehrspace residency every Monday for November. With pop hooks that are original as their stories are, this band is bound to add on even more years of expertise. They do all of this while having a blast. So if you’re in the area, make sure you see The Monolators live. I promise; you’ll have a good time and definitely want to dance despite their song titles.

Until Monday, here is an exclusive interview with wife and husband, Mary and Eli Chartkoff. Discover how the band prepares for parties and the effects their music has on little kids.

Congrats on Don’t Dance. Your CD release party was so fun! Whose idea was it to get the gong on stage?

Eli: Well, the last track we have on our record is a disco remix. It was kind of inspired by this older 1907’s disco record by Amanda Lire. She’s got almost every song starting out with a gong, and we were making a list of everything we wanted to have on our disco remix, and of course there was “gong.”
Mary: And these wind chimes.
Eli: Yeah, wind chimes and bongos… and we didn’t actually rent a real gong. We bought a sample of a gong. I mean it sounds fine, but we thought that was kind of lame. When we were talking about our record release show, we wanted to do a live gong. We actually almost came close to wrecking the gong. Apparently, if you don’t warm up a gong before you hit it…

Warm up a gong?

E: Before you whack it, you’re supposed to tap it and run the mallet over it to get it started. If you just take a gong and whack it, it can shatter. Of course, that’s what we were doing because we didn’t know. Fortunately, the gong did not shatter.

Mary, I just loved your face when you unveiled it to the audience.

M: I was really excited. Frankly, I’m a big fan of the Muppet Show.
E: Everyone needs their own gong.

And the Bass Attack? Have you done that before?

E: We’ve done three. It’s something we’ve been talking about. One our songs was filled out with two basses a long time ago, and we noticed that other people were doing double bass things, so we tried to up it and do three basses and saw other people do it and it went to four…. and then we just told everyone to bring a bass when it came to our release party. We told all of our friends to bring a bass. I think the official count is 9.
M: I’ve never heard a racket like that.
E: The sound up there was so loud, I think my ears started to cut out. Kind of like when you listen to something really loud on a cheap stereo, it kind of cuts out. That’s what my ears were doing. I couldn’t hear it that well, but I think it looked pretty cool.
M: What I couldn’t believe was that the bass players were remarkably together. I thought the song was going to fall completely apart, because we had just planned for complete chaos up there.
E: I’m not sure what we’re going to do to op that. Maybe bagpipes or something.

The Monolators started out with just you two?

E: Well, we actually started out as a trio and been around since 2002 . I was playing bass and we had friend named Mike who was the guitar player. He was with us until 2005, then we became a duo. Mike played on our first EP, our first album and our first single. We’re actually doing a residency at Pehrpsace this month and we’re doing a history of The Monolators. So as part of that we’re asking everyone who’s ever been in the band to play with us for their various periods. Mike played last week and this coming Monday.

What made you decide you wanted to start a band?

E: Well Mary was in a band when I met her.
M: Yeah, but we were the complete garage band. We didn’t play any live shows. We played one show at my house for friends and that actually led to him leaving the band, haha. The stress of playing a show and preparing for a show wasn’t as fun… because before we spent a lot of time just jamming. So it’s very different from preparing for a show. You have to play songs you’ve played for a long time over and over again, but you have to do for a show. I wanted them to feel comfortable and it was fun but it was stressful for them then. So we just started jamming again and that was when I met Eli. (Our first date was just playing together.)
E: It’s true.
M: So we started playing together, and Mike was just like, well can I play with you guys? The three of us started playing together, and in the meantime, (Eli and I) got engaged, married. Once that had all settled down, we decided something: It was enough practicing in the garage.
E: We then wanted to play a show – like in a club (laughs) – just out of the garage. That was the big goal, almost unattainable. We had to buy an amp for the bass and other stuff… it was really funny.
M: But Mike had horrible stage fright, and we just wanted to make things for him, so we reformed the structure and started a new band (The Monolators from Lonely 451). We asked him if he was going to be with us or not, and we was!

Six years is a long time. What keeps you going strong in the life of a musician?

E: We made sure to keep the goals for the band very modest. I think if our goal was to be big rock stars, we would have given up a long time ago because it’s unattainable. Especially at our age, we know it’s unattainable. So we keep our goals very small. As a matter of fact, we actually have little goals that we set. We work towards those goals, and if we meet them, we set another one. For example, I mentioned that for the longest time our goal was to play a show.
M: At a club. (Laughs.)
E: At a club, not in our living room.
M: And we accomplished it!
E: We did and then we moved on, and then our goal was to play more three shows consecutively because I’ve been in about 10 or 11 bands… and every single one of them, until The Monolators, broke up like magic after the third show. It’sa curse.
M: It’s a total curse. My all girl band at the time, Hope Rides a Pony, broke up after three shows. (Eli’s really good at naming bands.)
E: Yeah, so did my band, called The Heinous Brothers, broke up after the third show. So our first goal was to beat the three show curse. Then the goal was to make a record, then the goal was to have three LPs, two singles and two EPs. Then our goal was to go on a tour and we did that. Then we wanted to play The Echo and we did it after a really long time. Our most recent goal is to play a residency and we’re finally doing that after six years.
M: Our next goal is probably to play The Troubadour.
E: So, small and modest things keep us going.
M: When we first got our first LA Weekly write-up, we couldn’t even imagine any of this before.
E: Then anything after that is just great. You know when Mary and I first got married, we went out to dinner with her dad’s cousin, who’s been married to his wife for 50 years, he said something that I thought was horrible at the time but I remember him going, “People always ask me, ‘Didn’t you ever want to get divorced from your wife at some point?’ and the answer is ‘Yes, of course but neither of us wanted to get divorced at the same time and that’s the key!” Of course, Mary and I have only been married for 7 years so that’s not an issue. But with the band, there have numerous times where I have wanted to quit, but she wouldn’t let me quit.
M: And then there were times where I was discouraged, but Eli just told me, “No, we just have to keep going.”
E: Running a band is also quite expensive. Another thing that keeps us going is that locally, people know who we are but are somewhat respected rather than written off or dismissed.

How did you find Ashley and Tom?

E: We met Tom first. It’s funny; before Tom ever met me he actually heard our first ever release, “Spandex Hitman” on Demolisten. And some time ago, I downloaded a track by an artist by Bennett, on this blog and I loved the song. There was some guitar playing on it that was really weird which I thought was cool… Years later, I met Tom via Home Recording message board and Tom was one of the other people who lived in LA. So, he was like, “Well how about I come over to your place?” I was like, well what if this guy is a freak and kills me? But then it turns out, when he came over he played our song and I found out he was the guitar player on that Bennett song.
E: We got to know Ashley because of a show we put on at Pehrspace in 2007 with just the two of us. I distinctly remember that we played somewhat badly that night because I climbed up on Mary’s drum kit and it collapsed and Ashley thought it was hilarious.
M: Yeah that night was a weird disaster. All of our equipment broke.
E: But I guess she thought we were nice. She wanted to be in a band and she’s had offers but it never worked out. So we offered her a bass spot in Cobra Lillies and when our other bass player Andy couldn’t play shows in Monolators, she just started filling in. Eventually, we asked her to be a part of Monolators and that was right before we started recording on Don’t Dance.

Don’t Dance added keyboards to your sound. Do you think you’ll ever recruit a permanent keyboardist?

E: We don’t know. We would really like one. Our problem is that everyone we know is in five other bands. So, our problem is that we can’t find someone who can actually play every show. I can play a little but I have a long way to go.

I heard you guys think no one dances at any of the east side venues. Are you trying to change that?

E: For sure! We love it when people dance.
E: In the Silverlake and Echo Park area, I feel like people are little self-conscious. Maybe if the whole room is dancing, they’ll dance too. But nobody is willing to put themselves out there and just start dancing.
M: I’m just as guilty with that but sometimes I’m just so tired. However, I do think it’s important. I was dancing to Downtown Union at the Henry Clay release.
E: But everyone will just be standing there with their arms crossed.
M: It’s very hard to say “I’m going to dance and I don’t care what other people think.”
E: But we do think of ourselves as dance band. We pretty much try to make everything we play danceable. When people do dance, it doesn’t even matter if you’re not play that well. The show just starts to feel wonderful.

I noticed you had You, Me and Iowa (who we’ve also interviewed before) was in your opening line up for that night. They are a big fun pop sound. Is that the sound The Monolators aim for as well?

E: Well, we’re well aware that our version of pop is not poppy enough. However, we’re heavily influenced by ABBA – just huge pop. It’s just that when it comes out the other end, it doesn’t come out the same. I like pop music because it’s really inclusive. I like to think of myself being into pop music because it combines all sorts of different genres. I feel like the indie music here, especially here in LA, is very compartmentalized. For example, “I only listen to stuff that sounds like Pavement or I only listen to this particular facet.” The idea of pop music, whether it has anything to do with reality is that it sort of stand is multiple genres, and whether we do it well or not that’s one thing we strive for.

Who  are some local bands that you think aren’t appreciated enough?

E: Downtown Union, for sure – great songwriter. They’re where we were a while ago. They’re more than just a garage duo. Jeff Electric is just the greatest guy of all time.
M: What a great drummer. He’s great to watch and adds so much to the show. I
E: Another band is Summer Darling. They’ve been around as long as we have.
M: They should be playing stadiums. Their music deserves it. They hark it back to the grunge area a little bit. Emm’t Swank. Again, amazing songwriting and great shows too.

Quick-fire round:
Where’s your favorite place to eat in LA?

E: Don Felix. They’re Peruvian but there is also a strong influence to their cooking. There’s this dish that is basically a stir-fry with vegetables, squid and rice… but there’s also French fries in it. I’ve tried to make it multiple times, but I just can’t get it right.
M: Yeah, you’re pretty much obsessed with it.

What is your favorite LA radio station?

E: Demolisten has been supporting us since the beginning. Definitely, Demolisten.

What’s the best advantage of living in LA?

M: For me, honestly, it’s the weather. I also like the pace here, especially after living in New York. The pace isn’t crazy, crazy, crazy.
E: I hate the weather. I’m only happy when it rains which doesn’t happy very much. Basically, Los Angeles when compared to Michigan, is an amazing place. In terms of being a band, there is a tremendous potential for reaching many people at the same time.

What’s the greatest thing a fan has ever said to you?

M: I have a friend who has a little daughter who absolutely loves the band and makes her parents play “Spider in the Woods” over and over again. One time, we went to this party of theirs, her little girl was like “Look! It’s Mary and Eli. It’s The Monolators!” and when she saw Eli, she was totally awestruck and went behind her mom.
E: She couldn’t talk to me.

Tell us one thing we probably already don’t know about you.

E: I used to do animation. I actually went to school for it and then I realized I didn’t really like doing it afterward. It’s just being in a little room doing the same thing over and over again.
M: I designed a men’s sweater line in Ireland. I was working at DKNY in New York and I ended up designing sweater in Ireland for one summer.

Photography courtesy of Angela Maria Ortiz S.