Le Monnier

Meet Alexandra Le Monnier...

2010-06-26T22:49:00.001+01:00

We've finally filmed the second of our three interviews with each member of the band. This time, it's Alex who answers the questions.

Another Band Meeting...

2010-06-23T19:07:00.000+01:00

Hmm... time for an excuse to sit in the sun for a while and talk about all things Le Monnier. Yesterday evening the band caught up and chatted about some possible exciting developments coming up. At the moment we're gigging and write some new material whilst trying to work our way up to that elusive next level.

We may not actually be that far off given some recent developments, but we can't really talk about it as nothing is set in stone yet. It's starting to look promising though so we're hopeful.

At the moment the band are getting ready for a summer break, everyone is off to various places to enjoy that similarly elusive sunshine. We're also sorting out a few dates further afield including a couple of gigs in the Melksham (Wiltshire) and a probable return to Epsom. We'll keep you posted as always.

Epsom : Two Gigs, One Night

2010-05-23T17:40:00.001+01:00

Last night we played two gigs in Epsom and didn't get back till the very early hours. We played to tons of drunk people some of whom wouldn't leave us alone! Here's the video...

Meet Terry Anderson...

2010-05-21T17:37:00.001+01:00

We thought it would be nice for you guys to get to know each member of the band. Today we start with our beautiful drummer...

Pants, Pants, Pants

2010-05-14T17:31:00.004+01:00

Our band meetings are productive...

Don't forget to cast your vote here!

The Making of the 'Black Dot' Music Video

2010-05-13T17:17:00.001+01:00

Back in February we filmed our first ever music video for the song 'Black Dot'. During the day we filmed a little segment of us in between takes talking about the new video. Here it is!

View the 'Black Dot' Music Video!

New Music Video!

2010-04-19T19:31:00.000+01:00

We filmed a music video in February for the song 'Black Dot'. After much editing and preparation, here it is in all it's glory!

On the Radio tomorrow!

2010-01-28T17:06:00.000Z

That's right, we'll be making an appearance on BBC Three Counties Radio tomorrow. The show starts at 7pm and we'll be interviewed on air, plus they'll be playing a track from our album 'Cynic Sister'!

If you can't listen to the show tomorrow night you'll be able to listen to it for up to 7 days afterwards on BBC iPlayer.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T19:20:00.000Z

Just wanted to wish our fans and our readers a very Happy Christmas!

We'll be back in the New Year with some very exciting news!

In the meantime, we've just uploaded the second acoustic video - Underground!

View the Video HERE!

2010 - The First Dates

2009-12-16T16:01:00.000Z

So we've been busy getting the next lot of dates sorted for next year. Here are the first four dates we have, although I'm sure we'll be booking more in the new year...

14th Jan 2010 - The Essex Arms, Brentwood
16th Jan 2010 - The Flag, Watford
2nd Feb 2010 - The Forum (University of Hertfordshire), Hatfield
16th Feb 2010 - Barhouse, Chelmsford

'Bad Dream' Acoustic Video

2009-12-13T13:44:00.000Z

So, here it is...

This is the first of three live videos you'll see over the next couple of weeks. It was actually quite fun to do so no doubt you'll see more acoustic shows next year. The 2nd video should be up soon!

'Accomplished Racket" - Rock Pulse

2009-12-09T19:03:00.000Z

So we got a very interesting review on Music Zine Rock Pulse the other day. It was definitely pleasing to see us be compared to bands such as Lacuna Coil and Pantera, as well as smaller bands such as Symphony Cult and The Dirty Youth.

Hopefully I'll be posting some more reviews on here as they come, but only the good ones though!

Read Rock Pulse's review of Cynic Sister

Just about to have a band meeting which we'll be discussing a whole range of things, from an upcoming music video and more recording to various other important things.

Acoustic Gig @ Walkabout, Watford

2009-12-08T15:25:00.000Z

So we did our gig at Walkabout last week. It was quite a nice gig actually, very relaxed and informal. We filmed the whole thing so expect to see some YouTube videos up in the near future.

The setlist was:
Bad Dream
Underground
Drawing the Line
Home
No Power

Don't recognize 'Home'? That's because it's a brand new song which had it's debut that night. I'm sure we'll post that up to YouTube as well so you can hear it if you didn't make it to the gig.

Chopping and Changing

2009-11-09T22:44:00.002Z

Okay... so I didn't end up writing again soon. I'm sorry.

So, 'Cynic Sister' was released, our first single 'Anxiety' was released and we're currently touring until early December. At the last few gigs we've been changing things around a bit and bringing back songs we haven't play in a while. At Battersea Barge on September 4th we played 'Drawing the Line' which was nice as I don't think we've played that one in about a year. We'll probably try introducing a few others over the next few gigs.

We're at The Pipeline Bar on November 14th, The Square in Harlow on November 19th and Walkabout in Watford on December 3rd. They are the remaining gigs we have this year at the moment, but I'm sure we'll fit in one or two more too.

Are you ready?

2009-08-25T12:30:00.003+01:00

So where have we been? It's been ages since I last posted here and that's because after finishing the album we all took a well deserved break. So what's to look forward to? Well over the next few weeks leading up to the albums' release date (9th September) we'll be bring you news of new videos, merchandise, song previews and of course, the first single. Make sure you check out www.le-monnier.com for all the latest news.

I'll be writing again soon...

Choosing Tracks...

2009-07-01T23:21:00.002+01:00

I've just got back from picking tracks to the new Le Monnier album. We basically had 14 songs written down and we had to decide between us where they are going to be. It started out a lot tougher than I thought as we all came to the meeting with different ideas so it was interesting getting a compromise between us!

So we have our track list and we're proud of it! Very soon I'll be posting what that track list will be! It's coming together now and I can't wait to announce the concrete news very soon!

Stockwell (The Grosvenor)

2009-06-27T22:20:00.005+01:00

I forgot to talk about our gig the other night at The Grosvenor in Stockwell, so here goes...

It was a nice venue and the gig went well, but my god did we have a strange night... After we played we had to listen to the worst band in the history of music. A three-piece band so bad, they managed to murder the punk genre in just half an hour. You may have seen from our twitter posts just how bad it really was...

On the tube home, we played a very interesting game.

It's called 'Guess which moron on the train owns this ridiculous trolley case with a plastic sword and shield made from a dustbin lid'. It was a good game, but I didn't win.

So yes, a very interesting night which seems like a life time ago now.

Here's the set list...

The Grosvenor (Brixton):
No Power
Anxiety
Your Greed
Bad Dream
Black Dot
Kingyo
Save Yourself
Underground
The Front

The Home Run

2009-06-25T10:06:00.002+01:00

So, this is it.
The home run, the final hurdle, the last hurrah.

This week the recording of the album will be finished.

It's been a year long process - stressful, fun, difficult, exciting - it seems hard to believe we are actually on the verge of completing the project. There is still mixing and mastering to do, but for the foreseeable future there will be no more drum edits, vocal recordings or guitar dubs.

I'll miss it really, but that's the nature of the beast.

Next week, we will be announcing the album title, artwork and track list so stay tuned, we are nearly there...

You know when a gig's gone well when...

2009-06-17T22:53:00.005+01:00

The crowd not only chant for an encore, but name the song they want too
The bouncers ask for your CD
A fan gets thrown out for knocking a table across the room (along with our manager's pint)
Matt leaves the stage to play guitar somewhere else in the venue

So yeah, Saturday's Watford double whammy went pretty well. The gigs are starting to come in now - we have five dates listed so far and more to come soon.

On the recording front we have about 4 weeks till the album is done. No really. We are earmarking a release in the first two weeks of September but we'll have more details soon. In fact I reckon in a couple of weeks we'll be announcing the track list and album artwork so hold tight, very soon, you're going to know LOTS.

Acoustic Gig (Watford Live):
Bad Dream
Black Dot
Just Like A Pill
Drawing The Line
Anxiety
No Power
Underground

The Flag:
No Power
Anxiety
Your Greed
Kingyo
Bad Dream
Black Dot
Save Yourself
Underground
The Front
----------------
Pink Filter
Bad Dream

Where have we been?!

2009-05-29T22:48:00.002+01:00

I know, it's terrible. I haven't posted in a while but let me say that we have been very busy working on the album. We now have 9 songs fully recorded which means we have about 4 more left to finish.

We're having a break from the studio for a couple of weeks whilst we play some gigs including one gig at the Amber Rooms which looked like a dominatrix' dungeon. So I felt right at home then...

Two gigs coming up on the 13th June and after that weekend we will be back in the studio to finish the album. Hopefully (fingers crossed) the whole lot will be done by the end of June and then we can bring you some concrete news about the album. Not much else to say really... we are on a break after all...

Radio Show Online

2009-04-28T00:02:00.003+01:00

Just a quick note to say that last night's radio show is now online! QUICK EH? You can listen to it on our MySpace Page. As well as a great interview by the band you can hear two live acoustic versions of 'Black Dot' and 'Bad Dream'. Not bad for an evening's work I'm sure you'll agree.

Feel free to let us know what you think!

One Radio Show Later...

2009-04-26T23:28:00.003+01:00

Just got home from The Vibe Radio show where we had an interview plus playing a couple of acoustic tracks. It went well and I had a lot of text messages from people telling me they were listening...

If you didn't manage to catch the show we'll probably have a recording of it up in the next couple of days.

Back to the studio tomorrow though, until our next gig on May 4th.

Just wanted to let you know.

Until next time...

Matt

St. Albans Gig

2009-04-25T21:46:00.006+01:00

Just wanted to post a big shout to everyone who came to yesterday's gig in St. Albans. We had a great time there so I'm sure we'll be back soon. It was our first gig of 2009 due to recording commitments (which are still on going - see last post), but it was a great opportunity to play a lot of new material which has only seen the light of day in rehearsal and in the studio.

Songs like the 7-minute epic 'Bad Dream', 'Save Yourself', 'Black Dot' and a few others. They all seemed to go down well so maybe the album will sell a few copies?

So, today I was lucky enough to have a day off after a week of rehearsal, recording and performing, but tomorrow the work begins as we will be on 101.8FM - a radio station in Watford. Fingers crossed everything will go okay, but we'll be in the capable hands of our host Dave Easter.

Got to go now, have some mixing to do (so today hasn't really been a day off), but I'll leave you now with a picture of our 'manager' Mark, getting his enormous back tattoo moisturised by my other half... Should I be worried?

Love as always,

Matt

More done than not done

2009-03-29T23:42:00.003+01:00

Well, it's been a while since I last posted... Someone asked me the other day how far we are into recording and all I could say was 'We're more done than not done'. I think it was a pretty accurate response but needless to say it drew a puzzled look.

Anyway, recording is still in full flow, by my estimations we have around 7 songs that are in a state of being nearly done. Terry (pictured) as you can see is busy listening to his drum fills on loop to give himself an ego boost. Meanwhile Alex has been drawing pictures on peoples' backs whilst Aaron (Co-producer) and myself have been getting down to the nitty gritty of mixing tracks ready for mastering. You can hear second generation versions of 'Kingyo' and 'No Power' on our MySpace page.

Aside from hanging out with Metallica, I've also been working out when the album will be available to buy but hanging out with Metallica has got in the way of this thought process. Oh and by the way, did I mention I met Metallica?

Ahem, well anyway, I can't let this blog be about me meeting the greatest metal band of all time, no I should talk about Le Monnier...

We'll be appearing on Dave Easter's Sunday night radio show on 26th April where you can hear more from the band about what's happening. In the mean time, crack open a beer visit our MySpace page and relax for 6 and a half of your valuable minutes.

Until then...

Matt

P.S. I met Metallica :)

So where were we...

2009-02-10T19:52:00.004Z

So what's going on in the world of Le Monnier? It's been a while since we've posted any sort of update on our website, as we have nothing 'official' so say. So that's where this blog comes in handy.

Aside from munching endless bags of Haribo (above) and drinking vodka and orange juice, we've been recording our debut album. All of the drum tracks are complete and we're currently working our way through the remaining instruments in alphabetical order - I wish I was joking.

So far we have about 6 tracks that are at a listenable stage of production. Kingyo and Ballet as you may have heard from our Promo CD have undergone a few changes too so there are no more cockroaches lurking behind a Japanese goldfish.

I think we're recording 15-16 tracks and picking the best 12 or 13 to go on the CD. I'm sure I'll manage to sneak a few tidbits on to this blog to wet your appetite in the near future.

On Monday we record the vocals to a song called 'Save Yourself' and apparantly I've been banned from doing Jonathan Davis impersonations whilst this is all going on.

Not much else to say right now, I'll get messages from the others soon and with any luck you'll see the fruit of our labour sometime in the summer.

Matt

Welcome!

2009-02-10T17:00:00.002Z

Welcome to our official blog! We've been talking about doing this for a while, but haven't got round to it what with recording a certain album...

Basically the idea of this blog is to keep you updated on the recording process for our album, give you news on gigs etc and generally somewhere to post drunken rants and messages of love.

We'll be back soon with some recording updates but for now check out our MySpace page or our official website.