Monkey Knife Fight are Fred Roberts, Jeremy Sarka, Carla Gates, and Max Russell, four mates with enough collective energy to light up the entire Northern Beaches. They’ve earned a fierce reputation as dynamite live performers, and as of June 19th they’ll have a debut single out to the world.
They’re also one of the five emerging bands selected to play alongside Hockey Dad at our Underproof show at the end of the month. Before the gig, we caught up with Monkey Knife Fight for the insider goss.
Introduce yourself to Monkey Knife Fight, the four-piece rock n’ roll band supporting Hockey Dad at Underproof.
HAPPY: Hey, how are things? What are you up to at the moment?
MKF: Things have just been getting better and better! We’ve been keeping ourselves busy writing some tunes and playing some awesome shows. Lots of reasons for us to avoid uni and get awful hangovers.
HAPPY: Tell us about yourselves. How did the band start out?
MKF: Well here’s a story for ya. Fred, Jeremy and Max were playing in another band with a really long name, that wasn’t quite working out. Fred and Carla met through a half-forgotten conversation at schoolies, and started jamming and writing songs together. Being sick of hearing Fred complain about his band, Carla begged to let her sing for them. Her audition was effectively this gig she and Fred played at a tiny youth centre, with Jeremy and Max watching from the side. Aaaand here we are today!
HAPPY: For new fans, what’s the band elevator pitch?
MKF: We’re just four mates who love to make noise, trying to find common ground between all our massive taste in music. What common ground is this?
Energy. Guitars. Distortion. Power. Epicness. Jumping. Shouting. More energy. Drums. Boogie-ing. Headbanging. Belting. More distortion. All you’ve ever wanted to hear from a rock band. Did I say guitars?
HAPPY: Give us a little bit of a vibe on your live show. What’s the setup like?
MKF: Energetic af. We’ve got Jeremy groovin’ on bass, Fred going nuts on drums, Max shredding up on lead, and Carla strumming away and belting it out on vocals. We love to make music that gets you moving! Jumping, shouting along, we want you to have as much fun as we do onstage. We want to bring our energy and sound to the Northern Beaches rock scene.
HAPPY: What do you love about that scene around the Northern Beaches at the moment?
MKF: We love the diversity of bands that are coming out of the beaches. We’ve got artists like Ocean Alley, Dear Seattle, Lime Cordiale and Winston Surfshirt who are all going on doing great stuff. There’s also all these opportunities available to us like triple j Unearthed and Underproof.
HAPPY: That’s a pretty sweet list, but which other bands are you listening to right now?
MKF: Hockey Dad (obviously!), Violent Soho, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tired Lion, Royal Blood, Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, Foster the People, Nothing But Thieves, Queens of the Stone Age, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Wolf Alice… there might be more.
HAPPY: Very soon you’ll be playing the Underproof show with Hockey Dad, are you psyched? Anything special planned?
MKF: We haven’t even been together for a year and now this?! 19 years of living have boiled down to this moment. Everything else pales in comparison. We’re keener than a Mexican jumping bean first time at nationals qualifying for high jump. We were all beside ourselves when we found out, and planning something special in the pipeline for the big show.
HAPPY: Tell us about what else you have coming up?
MKF: We’re releasing our first single Icy Shoulders on June 19th, super hyped. After six months recording and rerecording in a mate’s home studio we’ve got something we’re really proud of and keen to finally put out there!
Our next big gig is supporting Georgia June at the Parkhouse in Mona Vale on June 21st, we’re big fans and super excited to play with them. Then more gigs and more recording, hopefully in a shorter time frame this time!
HAPPY: Thanks for the chat!
MKF: Thanks for having us!
Underproof
Hockey Dad
The Brights
Butterbox
Dial Denial
Monkey Knife Fight
Tarantino
Fri 28 June – Dee Why PCYC – SOLD OUT
