Behold The New Behold! The Monolith Lineup

Just over a year ago, tragedy struck the up-and-coming Los Angeles progressive doom/stoner metal band Behold! The Monolith when bassist/vocalist Kevin McDade was killed in a car accident.  Guitarist Matt Price and drummer Chase Manhattan (what a name!) were unsure of how, or even whether to continue.  The group had recently released a phenomenal second full-length album (Defender, Redeemist) which graced my own year-end list for 2012 and were just about to embark on their first nation-wide tour when the worst happened.

So it’s particularly inspiring to hear that this baddass band is already back up and running with a new (separate) bassist and a new vocalist, Price himself. In a recent interview for Invisible Oranges, Price recounts the story of how things came back together:

[Jason “Cas” Casanova of Sasquatch] was the first guy we tried out and a month later, we wanted him… We always liked his vibe onstage and stuff, and his tone was awesome… Totally different from Kevin’s, because Kevin was way more “didn’t give a fuck.” Like he’d plug in, turn the fuzz pedals up and hope that his amp was working. He was more fly by the seat of his pants, total punk kind of guy. Cas always seemed like a more meticulous tonesmith, which is where I come from too.

Once the new bassist was in place, Price decided to man the vocals himself, but things did not unfold so smoothly on that front. At the new lineup’s debut, the vocals were accidentally washed out in a wave of reverb and delay. Says Price:

That one show I did [on vocals], I was up there and I thought, “This isn’t so bad.” I thought I was rocking it, but it turned out that my effects pedal… I had Kevin’s effects pedals, like a vocal delay pedal, and there was a problem with the power at the front of the stage. The soundman came up, hit one of the knobs on it by accident, the mix knob… He turned it all the way up wet, and I had no idea because I had no monitors onstage. If you watch the YouTube videos, I’m screaming into the microphone but all you hear is the wash of verb and delay… It was good to play, but it wasn’t our best night.

In attendance at that show was Jordan Nalley, the vocal coach Price was working with at the time, who expressed desire to audition for the band himself after hearing Defender, Redeemist.  Price recounts:

I get a call from him and he’s like, “Dude, this CD is awesome. Why don’t you just let me come try out for the band?” He came in, everybody got along and just like, boom. The [first] gig really solidified that, that gig felt really good.

And so now Behold! The Monolith are poised to make an auspicious comeback with the aforementioned revamped lineup, ample new material that fuses plenty of old riffs the band was working on with McDade before his passing, and a plethora of fresh material as well. The re-inspired group is looking forward to returning to the studio by early next year, again with esteemed metal producer/engineer Billy Anderson.

I can’t wait to hear what they come up with next…