Bio

Monsterworks was spawned sometime at the end of 1996 by a trio discontent with the shape of metal. The first time the band played together was in a small studio in Palmerston North - New Zealand, in January 1997.

Prior to that Monsterworks consisted of infrequent jams in different cities between Jared and Jon and, separately, Eee and Jon. Once a song was ready to record, the opportunity for the band to actually meet each other was unavoidable. The first song, 'Cascading Past' was penned by Eee. Lead vocal duties were also Eee’s responsibility. There wasn’t any bass at all.

The purpose of Monsterworks, even from those early days, was always to gel together a number of different styles of metal into something that made sense. As such Monsterworks offers a bit of something for everyone. If you like death, speed, thrash, black, ambient trance, but most importantly true metal, then Monsterworks is for you.

It was nearly a year before the band played a gig. A twenty-first birthday in Palmerston North. There was free beer at least. But no bass player.

The first man brave enough to attempt bass duties for Monsterworks was Eee’s brother Chris. It was a happy time full of much gigging and recordal of the first full demo 'Dormant'. But then Chris left in a veil of confusion possibly fueled by substance abuse and mental instability.

The band roles became more defined, with Jono assuming vocal duties and Eee specializing in the lead guitar work. Somewhere along the way Jono’s megalomania took over song writing too, but with Eee essentially re-writing all his bits

Eee then moved to Wellington, where Jared lived. So for a couple of years the band was split between two cities. Which mostly just meant a lot of driving for Jono.

A couple of bass players were recruited over the next while. There was this one guy Simon. Then he disappeared one day. However, at most gigs there was this strange rooster with a shaved head who watched intently. Ryan became bass player number four.

In August 1999 a second demo 'Delusions of Grandeur' was recorded in Wellington. The songs were shorter and to the point but still included the trademark rifforamic mayhem.

Plenty of gigs and the odd demo later, Monsterworks spawned 'Dimensional Urgency' in 2001 which was to be Eee’s swansong. Mr. Brock moved to London in July. This left the door open for a lead guitarist with soul.

The eventual triumphant replacement was Nathan. Bringing a new approach but careful not to confuse the sound of Monsterworks any further.

Nathan's ability to align to the Monsterworks vibe meant an extremely quick generation time for the next album 'Rogue'. Recorded in two halves in late 2001 and early 2002.

Monsterworks continued to play plenty of gigs, including the first attempt at a national tour, Wellington Supermetal Warriors, organised by Jon.

Then the time came for tough decisions. While we all love New Zealand, its rolling hills, its spectacular mountain scenery and its sheep, there is only a limited market for supermetal in a country of 4 million people. Even though there have been encouraging words from record labels abroad, no one is going to support a metal band in the middle of nowhere, i.e. New Zealand.

So one morning Jon woke up and decided to chuck in his job and move to London.

Always in the back of his mind was a possible reunion with the other original monsterpower, Eee.

And that's what happened.

It took a year to get things together for a new recording session with Eee, new bass player, Hugo, and drummer Chris, both native Englishmen. And the band keeps getting stronger and more focussed.

Band Members:
Chris (drums)
Hugo (bass)
Ian (guitar)
Jono 'Blade' (guitar, vocals)

Links

• Artist Website