1
00:00:01,200 --> 00:00:07,640
Speaker 1: Another big interview are weighty and here it goes a

2
00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,920
Speaker 1: lovely conversation with you, Johann, you are the big interview.

3
00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:11,360
Speaker 1: Haw's it?

4
00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:14,200
Speaker 2: How's it? Man? Like you?

5
00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,079
Speaker 1: Lecko Man? All right, Johan, we have a lot of

6
00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:20,200
Speaker 1: catching up to do because the thing is Monarch has

7
00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:24,279
Speaker 1: a brand new lead singer. Don't don't un that's JOm No.

8
00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:26,759
Speaker 1: You know, I've I've always wanted to start off with

9
00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,680
Speaker 1: asking people about coming into a group that's well established,

10
00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:32,760
Speaker 1: but being a new lead singer. It's kind of like

11
00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:36,480
Speaker 1: when Emily Armstrong became the new lead singer of Lincoln Park.

12
00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:40,199
Speaker 1: It's like, what does that feel like to step in

13
00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,440
Speaker 1: to what is already a house that's been built, but

14
00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:45,479
Speaker 1: then also have have to put your own spin on it?

15
00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:46,239
Speaker 1: What does that feel like?

16
00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:51,239
Speaker 2: It's an interesting feeling. I mean, you're walking into a

17
00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:56,440
Speaker 2: room that's that's already been furnished beautifully. Yeah, and some

18
00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:00,160
Speaker 2: of the surnature has been there for quite long and

19
00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,240
Speaker 2: now you have to find a place to sit. But

20
00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:05,360
Speaker 2: I think the main thing is you have to make

21
00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,920
Speaker 2: it something new. I don't think trying to keep it

22
00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,280
Speaker 2: the same as was the way forward. So yeah, yeah,

23
00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:15,080
Speaker 2: we basically decide we're gonna we're gonna build on what

24
00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,800
Speaker 2: there was, and we're also gonna we're gonna whatever it's

25
00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:21,520
Speaker 2: due to us now, we're going to stick to that

26
00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:23,600
Speaker 2: and we're just going to keep on as if it's

27
00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:24,720
Speaker 2: something new as well.

28
00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:27,680
Speaker 1: So, yeah, Monarch has been around for a while, and

29
00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:30,720
Speaker 1: you know, we still play you know Monarch on KFM

30
00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,480
Speaker 1: ninety four point five often because it's one of those

31
00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,160
Speaker 1: brands that are so well established in South Africa. But

32
00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:39,200
Speaker 1: to find a new lead singer that is going to

33
00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:41,280
Speaker 1: be a story on its own, like how do you

34
00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:43,560
Speaker 1: how do you get approached by that? How do you

35
00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:45,640
Speaker 1: be in the same room with something like that? How

36
00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:47,760
Speaker 1: do you walk into a room that's so well furnished?

37
00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,520
Speaker 1: What is the story about saying Hey, Joan, that's you,

38
00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:52,720
Speaker 1: let's do this thing.

39
00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, honestly, honestly really know.

40
00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:59,840
Speaker 1: Why it's me, But come on, no imposters.

41
00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,320
Speaker 2: I'm very honored to be and asked to think Monarch.

42
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,760
Speaker 2: But I think it's because in bands you need really

43
00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:16,799
Speaker 2: good personal connections between each other. And me and Volt,

44
00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,440
Speaker 2: who lives in and he's produced Monarch since the beginning

45
00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,960
Speaker 2: and still produces Monarch. I think me and Evolt we

46
00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,400
Speaker 2: get along very very well, and I think we share

47
00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:34,400
Speaker 2: a certain musical and maybe maybe lot more more than musical,

48
00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:38,160
Speaker 2: because we're both actually producers. We love producing music and

49
00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:42,120
Speaker 2: mixing and talking about stuff like that. And also I

50
00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:44,080
Speaker 2: think we've we've got a little bit of trust in

51
00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:47,320
Speaker 2: each other as well. And at that point, Dionne Clerk

52
00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:51,200
Speaker 2: stayed in the cave. At that point he really wanted

53
00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:55,160
Speaker 2: to to start something again for Monarch, and I think

54
00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,919
Speaker 2: when he spoke to Evolt told him about this guy

55
00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:00,799
Speaker 2: that you know he gets along with, yeah, and that

56
00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,000
Speaker 2: that guy was me. So next moment I was it

57
00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:05,000
Speaker 2: was actually like I was driving to the Cape for

58
00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,480
Speaker 2: for a completely different reasons. Someone dared me that night

59
00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,480
Speaker 2: before that I wouldn't do it because I was too old,

60
00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:12,880
Speaker 2: and then I proved them wrong. And literally the next

61
00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:15,519
Speaker 2: day I was driving to Cape Town with my friend

62
00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,240
Speaker 2: and that's true story. And as we were at like

63
00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,240
Speaker 2: both the wasted something like I think that he called

64
00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,280
Speaker 2: Medon sent me a message and he's like, dude, are

65
00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:28,160
Speaker 2: you in the Cape? Buy any chance because I want

66
00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,799
Speaker 2: to talk about something. So it was very interesting how

67
00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:33,799
Speaker 2: that all happened. And then yeah, well I wasn't the cap.

68
00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,440
Speaker 2: And then the next night we spoke and he was like, dude,

69
00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:38,240
Speaker 2: he was going to be like the most crazy thing.

70
00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:41,000
Speaker 2: And I thought he was going to say, like, yeah,

71
00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:43,080
Speaker 2: me and some other dance maybe open from on Arch

72
00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:46,360
Speaker 2: at some show or something, and then he was like, dude,

73
00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:50,160
Speaker 2: I think if it was, if it's cool with you,

74
00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:52,840
Speaker 2: we would like you to sing for us, like York Dude,

75
00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,440
Speaker 2: this is insane, but okay, So yeah, it was interesting.

76
00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,520
Speaker 2: It was a scary feeling. But I'm very honest because

77
00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:01,880
Speaker 2: I mean I've listened to Monarch also for for many

78
00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:04,600
Speaker 2: years before that. I thought Monaco was an international band

79
00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:06,280
Speaker 2: when I first heard and I heard Bill it up

80
00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:10,160
Speaker 2: on the radio, Man, this is very really cool. And

81
00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:12,520
Speaker 2: then when I heard it's a South African man, I

82
00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,440
Speaker 2: was like, this is insane. So yeah, no, I'm very honored.

83
00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:17,800
Speaker 2: D And it's it's it's a cool journey because now

84
00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:21,120
Speaker 2: it's it is something new. It's also referencing things that

85
00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:23,000
Speaker 2: have been none in the past, but it's also building

86
00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:27,160
Speaker 2: on building on that and making something new. So yeah, one,

87
00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:29,000
Speaker 2: I love love that story.

88
00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,000
Speaker 1: There's a big word in my head, serendipitous. That's what

89
00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:35,240
Speaker 1: it was. You know that's you're driving down they get

90
00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:37,880
Speaker 1: a call. You think it's not you, but then it

91
00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,719
Speaker 1: is you. This is great. And now you walk into

92
00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:43,880
Speaker 1: a studio and you have to in the back of

93
00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,320
Speaker 1: your mind you think about those hits like you Lie

94
00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,320
Speaker 1: and Broken and something, and you know, like that show

95
00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:52,159
Speaker 1: me the Love and that there's there's a lot hush

96
00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:54,599
Speaker 1: like there's a lot of tracks that has been you

97
00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:56,920
Speaker 1: know in you know, Smiling is another one I'm thinking

98
00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:58,920
Speaker 1: of as well. And then you think, okay, now what

99
00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,920
Speaker 1: am I going to do here? So let's talk about

100
00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:08,279
Speaker 1: Panorama because this track is a whole vibe. It has.

101
00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:11,919
Speaker 1: Literally when it landed on my music compiler's desk, he

102
00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:14,440
Speaker 1: got so excited that he called me immediately. I was like,

103
00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:16,640
Speaker 1: what do you It was like, you're the call that

104
00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:18,000
Speaker 1: you got when you wonder when it came down to

105
00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:19,599
Speaker 1: be the lead sing of Monarch, I got the same call,

106
00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:21,839
Speaker 1: except there wasn't mark me being a lead singer. It

107
00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:23,760
Speaker 1: is about me listening to the song. I listened to

108
00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,600
Speaker 1: the song, I'm like, what is this something? And then

109
00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,400
Speaker 1: I'm like, what's this new energy? Like there's something different?

110
00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:33,920
Speaker 1: And then I do a bit of deep diving new singer,

111
00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:36,719
Speaker 1: but then just the energy is a little different. So

112
00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:40,279
Speaker 1: tell me, walking into that studio putting together a track

113
00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,359
Speaker 1: that is now the first track as you as new

114
00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,640
Speaker 1: lead singer of Monarch Panorama, how did that come together.

115
00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:50,040
Speaker 2: We just decided we weren't gonna try to falls anything.

116
00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:52,160
Speaker 2: We just wanted to do something that we're happy with.

117
00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:57,960
Speaker 2: Writing wise, we really didn't want to try to copy

118
00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,440
Speaker 2: anything that's been done in the part and to of

119
00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:03,599
Speaker 2: what Monarch's done. And it was the first time that

120
00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:05,280
Speaker 2: me and we all got together in a studio to

121
00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:07,280
Speaker 2: write something, so it was a It was a very

122
00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:09,719
Speaker 2: interesting experience because we both were sitting there and we

123
00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:13,920
Speaker 2: haven't written anything together before, but on our own. We've

124
00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,360
Speaker 2: written many songs with a lot of other projects and

125
00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:18,520
Speaker 2: other bands, but now it's me and him. It's a

126
00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:22,279
Speaker 2: whole different dynamic. But it was so cool because we

127
00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:26,320
Speaker 2: already have this kind of musical and production language and

128
00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:30,279
Speaker 2: this trash between each other, and we just played things

129
00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:33,040
Speaker 2: to each other and kept we kept on balancing things

130
00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,320
Speaker 2: and I would sing a line, he would play a chord,

131
00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:38,480
Speaker 2: and I would do this, and then we just decided

132
00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:40,360
Speaker 2: we're not going to force anything we're just going to

133
00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:43,080
Speaker 2: try to be happy with simplmmaking, and then the lyrics

134
00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:46,240
Speaker 2: kind of just slotted it into that and it was

135
00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:48,320
Speaker 2: It was a cool experience because basically we didn't know

136
00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:50,479
Speaker 2: what we were going to write about, you know, what

137
00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:52,360
Speaker 2: the sound was going to be. I think that was

138
00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:54,800
Speaker 2: the biggest thing, like, what is it? What will it

139
00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:58,240
Speaker 2: even sound like? Let's say ten years later, after some

140
00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:00,680
Speaker 2: of the Monarch songs came out, how does sound in

141
00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:04,719
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, how I was writing? How was writing work?

142
00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:08,159
Speaker 2: And pop music? And like to be honest and to

143
00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:10,720
Speaker 2: do all of this at the same time, And that's

144
00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:13,200
Speaker 2: kind of what we just try to do. We just

145
00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:14,880
Speaker 2: decided that we want to be happy with the song

146
00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:18,239
Speaker 2: and we were and if we were excited, we thought, okay, cool.

147
00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:20,360
Speaker 2: If our friends were excited, that we'd be even better

148
00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:22,960
Speaker 2: and then maybe other people will also like it. So

149
00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,520
Speaker 2: that was the whole process. It was. It was we

150
00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:28,840
Speaker 2: try to be as honest and just not not to

151
00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:31,680
Speaker 2: overthink it. So yeah, that was that was the process.

152
00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:36,160
Speaker 1: What a what a big lesson, don't overthink, don't just

153
00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:38,560
Speaker 1: have fun feel it because I feel like when you're

154
00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,600
Speaker 1: recording what you're feeling there is what your listener is

155
00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:42,240
Speaker 1: going to feel.

156
00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:45,680
Speaker 2: That's very true, right I think so? Yeah, And you

157
00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,120
Speaker 2: shouldn't try to fool people and put up the citain

158
00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:52,200
Speaker 2: vibe of yourself. That's not authentic. I think people see

159
00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:55,560
Speaker 2: through that, especially now, like people are very aware of

160
00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,640
Speaker 2: what's true and what's honest, and it's just better to

161
00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:00,640
Speaker 2: tap into yourself let that out.

162
00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:04,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, But before we play this track for anybody who

163
00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:06,480
Speaker 1: will listen to this song, like, what do you want

164
00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:08,200
Speaker 1: them to take away from the track, because they're going

165
00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:10,080
Speaker 1: to hear it in the KFIM Top forty now, So

166
00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,120
Speaker 1: if you first time listener, what do you want them

167
00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:13,920
Speaker 1: to take away from this?

168
00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:19,480
Speaker 2: Please know that this is honest song. It was written

169
00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:24,600
Speaker 2: very with very pure intentions, just because we loved it

170
00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:27,360
Speaker 2: and we hope you love it as well. Great, it's

171
00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,520
Speaker 2: you can make it your own whatever meaning you find it,

172
00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:33,920
Speaker 2: it's yours. So yeah, it's definitely your song from now

173
00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:34,800
Speaker 2: love it.

174
00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:37,760
Speaker 1: This is so good man, and I'm really excited about

175
00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,880
Speaker 1: hearing the new Monarch and twenty twenty five. And my

176
00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,000
Speaker 1: final question, and this is quite a deep one, all right,

177
00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:51,319
Speaker 1: how would you feel if your track Panorama was an

178
00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:54,400
Speaker 1: instant KFIM Top forty charter, a number thirty one this

179
00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:54,720
Speaker 1: week