Formed in 2019, burgeoning Synthpop collective Close To Monday champions a nouveau strain of indie-laced Electronica for the contemporary audience. In 2020, the one-man band evolved into a duo, welcoming the inclusion of vocalist Any and debuting their union with ‘Interference’ in April of this year. The LP proved to be a raw and rebellious offering, receiving staunch support from industry peers and audiences alike, and subsequently holding a fourth-place position in the Deutsche Alternative Charts for six weeks running; standing as the only representative of independent music across the full chart. Another of the album’s shining successes was ‘Step By Step’ which made it to #1 in both the LRDR Radio and Klangwald Radio charts. Currently residing in Berlin, Close To Monday are proving they are a force to be reckoned with, securing themselves as ones to watch, the future is very exciting for Close To Monday.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you formed the band?
Alex founded the project in 2019 and the first two albums were completely instrumental, or rather, absolutely electronic-experimental! I (Any) joined Alex in a common project in 2020, and almost all this time we have been creating and continuing to record new tracks. We released the album in the spring of 2021 and we are now completely focused on collaborating with other musicians! The most important and rewarding event of this summer is our remix with Ron Flatter!
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
Depeche Mode led us to music! There are many bands that have inspired and continue to inspire us, but the starting point was the music of David Gaham and Co. The modern music industry is very rich in talent, we are constantly making new discoveries. We admire the work of DJs, how they create a completely new musical masterpiece from the same track. We have recently been loving tracks by Flume, Hugel, Toby Romeo, Famba and Tinlicker to name a few.
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Since we started our project, every day has been amazing for us! Everyday is different, which is very exciting, it is hard to plan a day a lot of the time as we never know what each day entails. Right now, of course, our focus has been on the remix release, an amazing master of melodic-house-techno by Ron Flatter! Initially, Ron was imbued with the vibrations of our GUNS track, but in the process of working on the remix, his attention was drawn to our track ‘Time’!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
We constantly learn from our mistakes, we nearly did not include ‘Step By Step’ and ‘Waiting’ in our album. Both of these tracks have been huge successes on German radio stations, being on them for 8 weeks in a row. Our friends came along to the studio one day and listened to these tracks and told us to include them on the album, looking back we can’t believe we nearly did not include them!
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
We have recorded 18 (!!!) tracks in the last year alone! Eleven of which were released as part of our first album INTERFERENCE, the rest will be released as singles and/or as collaborations. Right now we are recording two of our new singles, three remixes and two collaborations with amazing musicians! We are so excited about the work of other musicians that we want all our new singles to be released as joint tracks! Our goal is to make remixes for these singles later. We want to hear different interpretations of our musical ideas performed by our favorite creators, and there are a lot of them!
We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?
It seems to us that now is the greatest era for entertainment. People can connect with each other through Tik-Tok, Instagram and other social networks, with entertainment from every corner of the globe available at the touch of a screen. Diversity is extremely important in every outlet whether that be film, television, music or fashion to inspire, educate and lead change for the next generation. For us personally, the best entertainment is music festivals where there is more and more diversity that will only have a positive impact on the next generation. There is communication, energy, music, attractions and delicious food here! Everything you need for a high!
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started”:
1. Believe in yourself.
2. Don’t waste your time on alcohol and smoking.
3. Look for the right community.
4. Live where it’s convenient.
5. Appreciate quality.!
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Do not be disheartened when things don’t go your way, sometimes we need testing. The modern world is a continuous challenge. We think that by next summer in 2022, everything will be fully restored, festival and club performances will return! We believe this is a huge stress reliever and allows creatives to appreciate their work and see the enjoyment in people’s faces, this will bring another level of inspiration for creators.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
We think that it is absolutely necessary to support one another, particularly children and their creativity. Let’s support all our friends or strangers, we should support each other’s change and encourage growth. Sometimes a little more support is enough to get what is intended.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are a lot of people who we are very grateful for! We are constantly inspired by other creatives that push us to do more. Life can be compared to a bonfire, inspiration is the spark that ignites the fire — but in order for the fire to burn brightly and give warmth and beauty, it is necessary to constantly throw firewood. For us, firewood is the faith we have in ourselves, in our strength, in our destiny! The most important people who influence our lives are ourselves!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Many good tips have been given to us and I’m sure we will be given more, but one of the most memorable for us is — All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. (J.R.R. Tolkien). This is an eternal reminder that there is only one fate for a person and we should make the most of the time we are given.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
We would love to spend time with the extremely talented Techno Marching Band MEUTE. They are absolutely fantastic, their energy is electric. The guys perform everywhere — at festivals and on the streets, they make amazing collaborations and we would love to collaborate with them in the future, but we would definitely not pass up the opportunity for a private breakfast haha!
How can our readers follow you online?
You can find us here on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. Due to the time we spend in the studio, we have not been able to create content for TikTok and Twitch, but we will get there! On our accounts, we post everything that inspires and surprises us, not only our own photos and videos but sharing paintings by contemporary artists, cool performances by other musicians, street art, urban art, and some funny photos and videos that catch our attention. Be sure to follow us to keep up to date with all our latest releases.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
