Tony Cummings quizzed Hastings rockers THE MONDAY BAND.
Tony: Tell us about The Monday Band.
(Ian Edwards) The band first got together back in September 2003 after
a large Bible week event down in the south. I sing and play guitars
and keyboards. I had a vision to get a band together and found Paul
Sutton (guitar), Jon Sutton (drums) and Pete Crease (bass). We
ventured out mainly as a worship band playing praise and worship songs
plus a few that I had written previously. However 2004 brought about a
change to our style and I began writing songs with a more
contemporary/mainstream sound. We played at a few local gigs alongside
other well known acts as well as our own events. We've released 'Life
Is A Journey' and so far have had some great feedback including an
excellent review in the Hastings local newspaper.
Tony: Do you still consider yourself a worship
band?
(Ian) What we do is all part of a worship lifestyle, but as far as us
being a band, I'd say that we have pretty much left praise and worship
songs behind, as the songs that I've written are aimed more so at the
mainstream side of things. However, all of the band members are still
very much involved with their churches' worship bands and TMB can
still play for worship events if ever needed!
Tony: What's your favourite song on 'Life Is A Journey' and
why?
(Ian) For me, it probably has to be the opening track "Freefall", as it pretty much sums up my life being a Christian in the real world, it's a big mission for God! "Song Of Love" is also very special as a live track, gets the audience very active. they'll understand what I mean by that!
(Paul Sutton) "Deep Inside" - It's the favourite style of music we play and the lyrics for me are very powerful.
(Pete Crease) My favourite is "Take Me Back". The song has a nice combination of live fills and looped synth drums, a powerful pop/rock ballad which is great to play live!
(Jon Sutton) "Deep Inside" has lots of energy. It's great to drum to,
as there's nice variety in there.
Tony: Why the
name The Monday
Band?
(Ian) We get asked that one all the time and yes, it's probably what you might be thinking, because we practice on a Monday night. Pete suggested it one evening, we couldn't think of anything else, so there we go!
The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.
Hey there! I'm one of Paul and Jon's mates and I know that TMB are a fantastic band with a great and varied sound! Ian's right when he says that Song of Love keeps the audience very active. Active meaning everybody running round doing the conga!!