With a Juno win for Breakthrough Group of the Year and a successful run of shows as support for B.C. band Mother Mother, Toronto based alt rock outfit Monowhales are having a year to remember. The trio is now in the midst of a cross-Canada headlining tour in support of their just released album, Tunnel Vision, including a stop at London Music Hall on October 13.
Vocalist Sally Shaar took some time to talk with us about the band’s new music and how recording it literally saved her life.
Your new album Tunnel Vision is out and I heard you went through a rough patch during the recording. Tell me about it and the song Stuck in the Middle.
It’s true. Essentially, the way the true story goes is the week leading up to the studio where you do a lot of pre-production, and we had done a lot of that already, I unfortunately was very unavailable and completely did one of those things where I was unreachable. You couldn’t get in touch with me on the phone, nothing, because I just didn’t exist on this plane, on this planet mentally.
I feel bad about it. I know how hard that can be on the other side of people that care for people like that. But at the end of the day, I would say in a lot of ways for all of us, but in these particular circumstances, the album saved my life.
I remember deciding, okay, I feel too guilty not to be there at the sessions and record it because we’ve paid too much money. We’ve flown in this producer, and we’ve worked so hard.
The guilt that it took to not do that for my bandmates was too great. And I decided that I’m going to go in, I’m going to finish the songs and that’s going to be the last thing I need to do on this planet.
And I’m very grateful that I had a lot of support and love, and I spent a lot of the time in the studio just on the roof, speaking to Jordan for hours and him just helping me talk the life back into me.
And the music helped.
It was very therapeutic to be singing and screaming songs like Stuck in the Middle when that was exactly what I was feeling. It feels very honest on that record.
You have a lot of support with your bandmates. They’re your best friends, aren’t they?
Absolutely. I’m very grateful to say in this life that I have a wonderful support system and I know that’s not the same for everyone so I would love if this album could help people in that way and help support them if they don’t have that.
Your music is really uplifting. I find it very anthemic, it really draws a crowd in. Live performance, is that your favorite part of music? You have this aura around you when you perform, it’s just contagious.
Yeah, it’s definitely my favorite thing to do on the entire planet and I think that was what was so hard during that time, too, I hadn’t been able to do my favorite thing in the world.
So, it kind of feels like what am I doing? What am I doing all of this for? We were in an apocalyptic world where it just feels like everything is done. Making it onto the stage and opening for Mother Mother on that tour, I can say now, post that traumatic time in my life was the best thing that ever happened to me in the 30 years that I’ve been on this planet. I’m so glad that I lived through it, got to do that, and it’s just reignited my light in my life to just remember what I want to do with it and how excited I am to be in the room with people and connect that way.
It’s so awesome that first of all, you made it through, that you pulled yourself up and you made it to the recording sessions and you let your friends be your friends and get you to that point. And speaking of the Mother Mother tour, how was that for you? There must have been a tremendous energy between you guys and that band because they have a similar kind of vibe. They’re really a fan based band, they really live off of the energy of their fans. How was that?
Yeah, I would say first and foremost, they’re fantastic people. So, the rumors are true, we became very close to them over the time. And they were so gracious and kind to us and side stage watching us. And then the same way, I was always side stage at every single Mother Mother show that night, and I was rocking hard.
Just taking it all in, the audience, the energy, the way that the band is and the music they make and the performance.
I was like, “How can I learn from this?” I just want to watch and take from this, it’s like going to school. I’m learning so much being here. Yeah, their fans are so fantastic. They’re so fantastic that they’re now with us, on our feeds and interacting and just welcoming us with open arms and love the same way they do with Mother Mother, so I’m really grateful for those fans.
Yeah, it’s really incredible. I was there in London taking photos when you found out that you won the Juno. How was that moment?
Yeah, the funny story about that one is, in all honesty, I know everyone says this kind of thing, but we really didn’t think we were going to win. We were like the smallest band on the roster of nominations, and we were just grateful for the nomination. That was enough. We were happy with it. And so, I did tell my management, I’m like, “Listen, whether we win or not, I have a show in like 10 minutes, I’m going on stage in London, don’t tell me. I need to not have any bump of emotion up or down.”
And of course, three minutes before going on my phone is like ding ding ding ding, everybody texting me and I’m like, Oh, no. And then my manager calls me and I’m like please don’t call me, and he says, “You won!”. And I’m like, “This is amazing but also I have to go, I’m getting on stage.” And I swear before I got on stage, I had to lie down on the ground for a full minute and meditate and read just my body to be able to then go back on stage and do what we did that night.
I was really excited to let you guys know, but I made sure to play the whole set before I told you to contain the energy even within
When you wrote this new album, you had to do it via Zoom. Was that challenging?
I have an unpopular opinion and not even all my band agrees on this. I loved writing on Zoom. I am a technological, weird, whiz, internet loving kid.
I grew up on it and I just feel comfortable like I’ve had Skype calls and webcams my whole life. And so, to then adjust to that I was like, that’s cool, not that weird for me. Again, not for everybody, I understand how it’s different, but I just felt like I grew up with it and I quite liked that I could press mute, walk away, make a cup of tea, think of the next lyric, think of the next musical melody that maybe could go in and walk back over while everyone’s still working, play it, email it to Zach and then he instantly gets it and puts it in the track.
It just seemed like such an efficient, fun way to do something that we would have never done without the pandemic. So, I think the music is going to be different and it is because it was done in not the most ordinary way that we would have never tried, a lot like Postal Service. I really connect with that. I don’t know if you remember the band Postal Service?
The story goes that at the time, it wasn’t as easy with email so I know that they were literally mailing pieces of music to be cut back and forth and that’s why they’re called The Postal Service. I always remember being in love with that idea that you could make music with people all over the world, which we did on this album. We worked with people in California, Germany, it didn’t matter because the barrier of people wanting to do this was broken so they were open to doing this. In a lot of ways, I think it did something really cool for our music to be doing it in a less normal fashion.
Yeah, I think there were a lot of positives that have come out of all this stuff that we’ve been going through the last couple years. A lot of people have had to adapt and find new ways to do things and sometimes some of these ways are actually better.
Your song New Threads is kind of a feel-good song. It makes me feel like the way I did when I was a teenager and I bought a new pair of jeans or a new pair of shoes. Is it that simple?
I’m so glad because it definitely was written to feel very nostalgic and I know that all of us relate to it. Even thinking of us as high schoolers or teenagers and then reflecting on the difference between then and now. But in general, just the lyric “I got these new threads” is like letting go. The thread, you’re stepping on a thread and walking away, and it all unravels into the next thing. Now you have a new pair of pants and a new group of friends and it’s better for you.
It’s really something that I don’t hear talked about that often that we shed our skin while we grow, and we grow into new skins.
Yeah, totally. And then speaking of your friends, the song Rich, that appears to be a song about friendship.
Yeah, and I think the band has different people they devote it to. I know Zack devoted it to his girlfriend. That’s who makes him feel rich. I know for me, damn do my friends save my life literally and make me feel rich. Same with the fans. Like, I look at my fans, now they’re in the shows and we get to play the song and you, you make me feel rich, you know? This is about you. So, I like that you can take that song and make it about your loved ones or your dog or whatever it is that sparks you. That song is to be able to do that for you.
I see Toronto is really highlighted in the video. I love your videos. Like your video for Home, one of your earlier songs is all about Toronto and it’s a lot of things that I love about Toronto as well. Is that really important to you?
Absolutely and that’s why we love playing our hometown so much.
Even in the song Rich we mentioned Queen Street which I don’t think we’ve ever mentioned a street name in our songs before, so we thought it was about time. We have mentioned The Hard Luck in our song Alive but that’s more of a deep cut from Toronto if you know what Hard Luck Bar is. I think we’re embracing more and more that we love where we’re from and it has such beautiful special qualities to be in the city and if we can share it in any way then we’d like to get it out there in the world.
I love the song Control. It’s a really powerful song to open and a really cool video too. Your videos are really important to you, aren’t they?
Absolutely. I co-direct almost all of them on this album because I think that a video or photo or whatever it is that comes from the band, a piece of merch, should always be an extension of the art. You’ll see that with all the merch coming out and exclusive stuff that we try to deal with, so many easter eggs, even if no one notices, it’s fun for us.
But in terms of our videos and visuals, as soon as a song is written, I’m already in my brain thinking what does this look like visually and then trying to get it on paper. And you know, I do that for almost every single song no matter what it is. Even if it doesn’t come out, that’s just the way my brain works is, I have to build these worlds in my head while I’m writing the song and that’s what helps me get into it.
Did winning the Juno earlier this year, create any kind of pressure? Are you just kind of riding the wave?
I think when you get this deep into what you’re doing, if you’re doing this full time, you’re obsessed with your work, so to me, I don’t let those things ever get to my head.
I’m really grateful that people are recognizing our work but at the same time, we’ve got a lot of work to do. We always have our noses down and we’re going on to the next thing. Like that happened.
