Music Mondays are back with Aaron of ConcertPhotography208. Today’s local band spotlight is Mains and Monitors - a band from Twin Falls, ID. Checkout Aaron’s feature:
The members of Mains and Monitors have been playing together in one way or another for several years. Originally, they played in a band for Jordan Thornquest but during that time Chase Chandler started his own group with some different members. Unfortunately, due to creative differences between his bandmates, Chase brought in Patrick Henry as the drummer. The original bassist ending up leaving and Eli Stonemets joined the ranks. After some years of playing together the band asked Jordan, who was working on a solo project at the time, to play lead guitar. With this final addition, the Mains and Monitors line up was formed!
The band originally started out under the name “The Something Somethings” a play on the “The” that many bands use, The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Black Keys, etc however, an underground British punk group apparently already had that name and asked them to ya know, not do that. Fast forward to the band playing at a crappy bar with horrible sound equipment. The band states: “All they had were these two giant main speakers. We told them we needed monitors, so the sound guy takes one of these giant mains, turns it around, and tips it over. It was not a great show. Chase had the idea to write a song called “Mains & Monitors” about this experience, and when we found out we had to change our name, he suggested it, and it stuck.” Amazing how an experience can have such an impact on a band that this one moment happened to give them influence to change their name! A good grassroots reminder of where the band has come from and the heights this band can achieve.
Patrick started playing the drums during the 5th grade for school where he learned how to read percussion music and began to specialize in the kit. He continued the passion for drums well into high school but took a break until he met Jordan. Patrick is influenced by the funk style and technical ability of Carter Beaufort (Dave Matthews Band). Jordan got his start playing Guitar Hero then he learned to play the real guitar at the age of 14. Jordan bounced between several bands and a solo gig before joining Mains and Monitors. He started off being influenced by the amazing shredders Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, etc. But Jordan found his roots in the kind of music he wanted to write such as, Courtney Barnett, Jeff Rosenstock, and The Strokes. Eli started to play the bass in his youth group when he was 12 years old. Early on Eli was influenced by bands Kings of Leon, and The National. Later in Eli’s musical development he discovered the influences of the rhythmic playing styles of Queens of The Stone Age, LCD Soundsystem, and Spoon. Chase found his love of music from his step-father who introduced Chase to digital recording when he was 11. When he was 12 he started to teach himself the guitar, started writing lyrics and began to sing! Wasn’t until the age of 16 that he became serious about the music world and recorded full songs by using garage band. Chase has been influenced by bands like Car Seat Headrest, Jeff Rosenstock, PUP, and Manchester Orchestra. Chase said, “I’ve always really loved making pop-influenced music, so a lot of catchiness goes into our songwriting as well.”
Where Mains and Monitors are from, Twin Falls, the band is up against classic rock bands, cover bands and post-grunge bands that focus on the older audience. Mains and Monitors wants to create a completely relatable sound to the younger crowd, saying “Being in your 20’s kind of sucks, and being a teenager kind of sucks, and we like to write about that in a (for the most part) lighthearted way.” The band draws influence from personal experience and just life itself to bring a personal and heartfelt performance to the stage. Another heartfelt example is their song “Kalani” about a relationship the front man Chase went through. The song ties in the process of falling in love, to the eventual rough breakup, and finally to the painful recovery of putting yourself back together. “It’s hard to be vulnerable like that, especially when there are people you know personally that know how true this story is, and how they’re more than “just songs.” We’ve found that the artists we connect with the most share these true, intimate, raw, revealing parts of themselves, and we want to do the same.” They said about “Kalani”. Mains and Monitors is a band that sings their heart out on stage. During their performance at Deathproof Coffee, Music Monday was blown away at the amount of passion and love they left on display.
The band deals with the constant hardship of living in a town with a limited music scene. “….it can be stifling & discouraging.” They said. The band has also gone through some growing pains, as all freshman bands do, by learning that they must be brutally honest with each other.
They have also had some major triumphs in their musical career as a band! They won their first battle of the bands and they recently hit 20,000 listeners on Spotify!
Music Monday has had the pleasure to see this band perform and was left with the sense of wanting more. Their passion, their drive and their sound is something Twin Falls should be extremely proud to have.
Want to enjoy the show? Well Boise you are in luck! February 23, 2019 Mains and Monitors will be at The Shredder downtown, participating in the locally organized Music for Mental Health Vol. 2 with several other locals, Caefus, Vascate and Soma Stein.
