Of Monsters And Men

Part 1

0:17Hey, it's Matt with MSN. These guys just released what is going to be the biggest record of the summer. As I'm sure you've already noticed with this tour of Monsters and Men are here. So you all learn English in school. I've heard that's like part of the curriculum. So how is songwriting in English? Why did you decide to name your band in English? It's really not a conscious decision. I think it's just kind of happened. It's just kind of... It's maybe because like a lot of the music that I hear and a lot of bands that I like growing up with, you know, have English lyrics and you know the lyrics that you like take in and like, oh my god, it's so good. What was the first song you guys wrote together? What was the first one? I think it was Little Talks.

1:03Really? The big one? Well, together like from Finner is probably like... Yeah, yeah. The song we wrote together, we did it in a basement in a small town in Iceland called... The Porca Ferresti. We were like in a basement and there was a stage on top. Like we were staying at the basement beneath the stage and there was this weird... What was going on on top? It was like... There was a... There was a music festival held in this town each summer and it's really fun because there are only like 200 people living there. So they hold it in an old like fish factory.

1:48And there was a party upstairs. That's a party. Yeah, there was like a really strange party going up... going down upstairs and... Well, we were in the basement because we had to stay there. It was two years ago I think. So yeah, we stayed on mattresses on the floor. It was terrible and we wrote a song. Right here you guys, you look for strange stories to write about. So has anything strange happened to start writing? Have you written it all? Well, no, actually we haven't. It's just been so crazy that it's just not possible. But I was actually thinking about this and I was talking to Leylo. She's on tour with us and you know, she's writing stuff for a new album now. And I was like, can you...

2:35And she was like, no, well, I find it good to just take stuff, you know, like experience that you had on the road back home and then write, you know. So I think that's something that's gonna happen for us. Any other album? Yeah, there's a sizzling. And how do you guys write? Do you come with an idea and then everyone kind of jams it out? Or do you come up with a lick? Like how does that come about? It's just like anybody can come with an idea. Nobody's forbidden to have creative input, but yeah, maybe Nana, Raki or Artner or somebody brings in an idea and we work on it. And then somebody else has an idea and we sometimes put them together. So it's two ideas in one. So we do something called Five Questions. Five quick questions. One more answer is you guys can all answer.

3:28Road or studio? Ooh, yeah, I'm not sure. Road, doesn't mean anything. Landon or McCartney? McCartney. Landon. McCartney. When you hear a song what hits you first, lyrics, melody or rhythm? Mmm, the overall sound. The overall sound. Mm-hmm. Muddy and lyrics. I've answered these before. Yes, yes, you have it. Yeah. Muddy and rhythm. The song you've written you're most proud of. I've written, uh, like us. King Leonard. That's about it. Yeah. Mmm.

4:17I don't know. What's your favorite to play live? Well, I like playing the new songs a lot. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, probably that. Cool. And in one word of Monsters and Men. Can I say two words? You can say two words. I'll give you this one. Oh, I have three words. I'm Eric, but fun. Oh, what did I say last time? You said fun. Yeah, fun. Mmm. Rainbow fun. Oh, fun. I like that.

Part 2

0:00Hey, it's Matt with MSN. So today you're showing me a little bit of a preface. That's why I'm talking to you before of Monsters and Men Get Out Here. So I had this great Icelandic trivia game. We were going to play with the band, have a great time. But just before we started rolling, a gust of wind flung the questions into Lake Ontario, and they were lost and gone forever. So you'll see me fiddling with my phone throughout the interview, trying to pull out my backup email of the questions, but that was to no luck. So what we ended up doing was luckily or unluckily, Kathleen Edwards, baled last minute. We were supposed to tape a show with her. So I had this whiskey trivia and a bottle with me. So we ended up playing whiskey trivia with the monsters and men just before they go on stage. I know it has nothing to do with the band, but they had fun. I had fun and I hope you enjoy too. So without further ado, hello, we are of Monsters and Men. And you are watching MSN exclusives. Oh, yeah, we.

1:15See you guys again. So how many guys are back in Canada? We're rolling. I'm freezing and Anna, you're so kind. You brought me something? I was going to loan you my old sweater. I hope it's my mother in law made to me. Your mother in law made for you? Yeah. You're a married woman. You're breaking my heart. Oh, no, I'm not married. What's a mother in law? Well, it's like step mom. Do you mean step mom? My boyfriend, it does fit. We're the same size. I would not have thought it, but this is amazing. So you guys, I was talking to you, Christian a little bit here, uh, Bridge, or sorry. You guys haven't really been home since the last time we talked like a year ago. It's even touring nonstop. We just did, uh, ice on the airwaves in November. So we were home for like two or three weeks then. And then we were home for Christmas and then we had given home.

2:03Is there time to do anything other than be of Monsters and Men now? Well, in our off time, we play basketball. Yeah. So we have a basketball team now. Yeah. Those are the few in the band to be a basketball team. That's true. Yeah. Do you play against other bands? How does that play? Do you play against each other? No, we play against each other. Okay. We should, maybe start challenging other bands. I think so, especially it's something like this, the festival, Chant, Chant, C, and Rauch, or something. It was a bit of shit, doesn't it? It was the best baller in the band. Not me, probably not me. Probably me. Very cocky. Okay. So I'm from Cap'lary, which is like the basketball capital of Iceland. I was just going to say that. Is there a basketball, is basketball a big sport, nicely? Yeah. Yeah. Second biggest sport, probably. What is the first? Uh, soccer. Soccer. Where's hockey rank? What's the first? Football.

2:49Football is probably the biggest. But there's no, there's just teams maybe in, like there aren't teams heavily, which is in handball. Yeah, but it's like, you know, like handball, like, you know, we go to the Olympics, and we're like very proud of her. I'm talking about the handball team. Yeah. So the sport that people mostly play. I, like, there's not a handball team, right? Or a hurdle. Oh. So what is in his town? Yes. Wow. So you get the best handballer in the band? I don't want to know. So what have the highlights been while I try and figure out these trivia questions? What are the highlights been of this year? I mean, you've done everything. I think everything in band sets out to do on a first record has happened, as far as I know. Yes. I think that one of the highlights was playing actually Red Rocks, which is played a little

3:35bit ago. Oh, just a couple of days ago. Yeah. It was amazing. Amazing. I've never played a show like that before. How come? So what makes something like that so special? Just the location, you know, around these crazy looking rocks. Yeah. So it was just something like, you know, there was like, it's cheesy the same way, but there was like magic in the air kind of. There's something as you don't, you know, I went to Watts' front part, I went afterwards and I've never like loved watching a show so much, you know. It was just like, it's a good one. It's a good one, you know. It's like, you can see everybody and everybody can see you. It's just like, I am listening. Well, I know this is terrible right now. I am listening and I'm working on it. I'm trying. I'm trying. Last time we talked, you were saying, Layla was on the road with you, and talking about

4:21taking an experience on the road because you couldn't run on the road, she was having some trouble running on the road too. Have you been able to take in those experiences and turn them into songs? Are you still kind of banking stuff and waiting for inspiration to hit to right? There's definitely ideas. There's definitely some ideas, you know. But I think the main thing is to like, all come together and be like very organized and like, you know, all come together and like making these songs into like. Staying in one place. Yeah, yeah. But we're trying. We're trying like after sound check, we sometimes try to stay later and like try to, you know, work on those ideas. So I mean, I don't think like when we get to home, I don't think we have any trouble with writing because we have a lot of stuff. It's just a matter of like settling down. Just the better of being all together and you know, playing it.

5:09Yeah. When is there going to be downtime? Do you have any idea? Like when you're going to have time? Yeah. End of August. That's quite a while away though. Yeah. Stop doing then. I love you guys. You guys are awesome. I wish this trivia thing had worked. Well, a little upset. The phone is frozen for some reason. Do you remember any questions? What's the population of Iceland? 300 and 10,000. It's about 300,000. Yeah. Thanks. 320 or something. Yeah. You know what I can do? Do you guys like whiskey? Yes. You drink whiskey? Do you want to do whiskey trivia? I have some whiskey trivia here. Yes. Well, it's trivia about whiskey. Oh, well, I don't know. I don't know. I only like whiskey. I don't know anything about it. I know it. Well, they'll be true or false or multiple choice. So everyone, they'll be options. Give me two seconds. We'll do that. We'll do that. We'll do the whiskey trivia.

5:55We'll do it. We'll do it. We'll do it. We'll do it. We'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it. Yeah. No, because I was going to do Kathleen Edwards who's playing the festival. We were going to do, you know that five questions thing that we did last time there? Anyway, her answer when I said in one word, Kathleen Edwards, was whiskey. It was like, oh, it's amazing. We'll do it like a whiskey trivia. And I'll give her a bottle of whiskey if she gets it right. Now you have to give her an Icelandic whiskey. Well, no, she's not doing it anymore. So now it's not going to happen. So now you guys win the bottle of whiskey. Well, one of you wins the bottle of whiskey. Oh, baby. I'm going to lose. I don't know. I don't know. You can. Okay. So here's what's going to happen. It is, let's go with, yeah. It's American. Johnny Walker is American? Probably. Okay, it's black labeled. I don't think I can show this on the camera.

6:42No branding. That's something to drink for you guys. If you guys can win this whiskey, I can't believe we're doing this. It's crazy. Okay. So you guessed this right. It's true or false. So it's 50-50 chances. Three of you, someone should get this. The first makings of whiskey were crafted by the Babylonians in the second millennium BC. True or false? The worst answer. Yeah. Everyone can answer. False. Incorrect. True is correct. One point. Wait, no, he said true after he said false. That's true. That's true. That's true. That's nothing. No points. Everyone is even Steven. Okay. Whiskey was used as a currency during which revolution? The American Revolution, Spanish Revolution or French Revolution? American. American's correct. American's.

7:27One point. Too late now. No. He said it first. Okay. Yes. By law in Canada, whiskey must be aged in wood barrels for no less than three years, five years or one year. Three years. Yeah, no, one point. Three years. That's just that false. Canada and the US have different spellings of whiskey. How do we spell it in Canada? W-H-I-S-K-Y or W-H-I-S-K-E-Y? Second thing. Second. You're saying E-E-Y? E-Y? No, not the E-Y. Not E-Y. Two, two, zero, one. It's so bad at Michigan. It's so much better with Iceland, but this is fun.

8:14I love this. Distillers refer to the angel's share of whiskey as the amount lost to evaporation while sitting in a barrel. As it ages, how much whiskey is typically lost to evaporation? A third, half or two thirds? Two thirds. Half. Three, zero, one. Yeah. This is crazy. Oh, zero. A third is correct. A third is a V. This shirt is very comfy, by the way. I like this one. Yeah, that's good. Thank you. Which US president, when informed, do you guys know the US president's? That's going to be hard. Yeah, a little bit. It's a very famous US president. There might have been a movie about this person recently, too. Which US president, when informed that General Grant drank whiskey while leading his troops reportedly replied, find out the name and the brand so I can give it to my other generals. Is it Laker?

8:59I think Christian got that first. And he doesn't have any points yet. We'll give him one. You're winning. Three, one, one. Can whiskey mature in the ball? Yes. No, no. He said no first. No, no is correct. Which two countries have a dispute over who were the first to make whiskey? Scott is in the Irish. Correct. Wow. That was a really no. I don't know if you guys can beat me. You are on fire. A closed bottle of whiskey can be kept for more than a hundred years and it'll still be good to drink. True. True. He said yes, but then you said false things. No, true. I don't know what happened to you. Yes, true. What? She gave me a sweater. After opening a half full bottle of whiskey will remain good for how long?

9:47Five years, ten years or fifteen years? Five. Five is correct. You're on fire. There you go, my friend. Big winner. Thank you. Thank you guys. This was a strange kind of interview, but I had a blast. I can't thank you guys enough. You guys just keep making records that make me happy and make everyone else happy.