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Munkinpure is South African alternative rock band, now based in the UK and on the mission of making their dreams come true by taking their South African music flare to the bigger scene. We chatted to drummer/ lead vocalist, Travis Marc about the bands mission, their latest EP, their recent music video and more. See what he had to say.
Band Members: Travis Marc, Darryl du Plooy and James Mattocks.
Instruments of choice: Travis – Drums and Vocals, Darryl – Bass and Backing Vocals and James – Guitars and Backing Vocals.
Years playing: As a band,in this current line up, roughly three years.
Style of music: Alternative/ Rock
Hometown: Originally Johannesburg, South Africa. Now London/ Bracknell, United Kingdom.
How the name Munkinpure came about: Long story really, but the short of it would be that Travis liked the name after discovering it while paging through a paper catalogue. At the time he and Darryl were still in another band and when that band broke up (or disbanded) Travis decided to start a new band and call it Munkinpure. The original spelling of the word is different to this though, so in essence we are the only ‘Munkinpure’ in existence.
Tell us about Munkinpure, how did you guys get started?
I started to put the idea for Munkinpure together while I was playing with a Pop band here in London, I wasn’t completely sold on the music the band were performing so used songwriting as an outlet for my frustrations. Then, when this particular band disbanded I started to put the shows together in studio and after recording a 7 song EP decided to put a band together. Darryl and myself are the only two who’ve been in the band from the start, but with the current line up I feel that we’ve really found our knack.
“Our style is a mixture of Rock and Alternative which some of our fans have kind of branded, MunkinRock”
How long have you been playing together for?
In this line up, for roughly three years. Before this, we were also a three piece but our guitarist was the very talented Chad Cohen who now performs as a session guitarist with groups like Koldproduct in SA, with Chad we were going for around three years.
How long did you perform in SA before moving to the UK?
We performed in SA for around three years if memory serves correctly. We really enjoyed the gigs we did there and are currently discussing coming back to do a small tour, I guess we’ll have to see what happens.
What was the reason for moving and what has it done for the band?
The main reason for moving is as egotistical as they come. We wanted to be bigger and have the chance to perform on bigger stages and bigger venues, etc. SA is great and we will always regard it as our home, it’s where we cut our teeth so to speak so it’s always going to be held in high regard within this band, but we’d love to try and make it big on a global stage as we’re sure most artists do. The UK has simply given us certain opportunities that we might not have had, had we stayed in SA as the scene here is so much larger, etc.
Where are you guys based and how often do you get to play gigs in the UK?
The three different members are unfortunately based in three different areas, namely, Bishops Stortford, Bracknell and London, but we say that we’re based in London as we do majority of our shows within London and rehearse weekly in London too. We perform all the time and up until recently (as we’re working on a new album) seem to do gigs every week. You have to if you want to get your name out there, especially with all the competition on this side.
Where is your favourite place to play and why?
We’ve always had the ‘anywhere to play, is somewhere we’ll play’ type attitude, because you never know who might be watching or listening and ideally, like any band or musician, we just want as many people as possible to hear our music.
Explain your style of music and stage presence?
Our style is a mixture of Rock and Alternative which some of our fans have kind of branded, MunkinRock. You can call it whatever you want to, it’s not something we’re too precious about, all we hope for is that people enjoy it. As far as stage presence goes, we pride ourselves on our live show so we feel like we’re pretty energetic and visually cool to watch. We always give our all, cause you never know when it’s going to be your last show. So you might as well go out with a bang every night right ?
How often do you practice and write music?
Individually we all have different practice routines so it varies, as a band we get together once or twice a week depending on everyone’s’ schedules. The writing part can happen whenever, so I guess in that regard you could say that someone in the band is writing something all the time.
You have just released your EP called “A Different Kind of Beat”, How many songs feature on the EP?
There are five songs.
What songs are your favourite and why?
We’re getting really good reactions to Better Than Ever, Killing Time and Cheekbones so it wouldn’t be fair to name only one as a favourite really. Buy the album and pick your own favourite [laughs].
You have released the music video for the single “Better Than Ever”, what was it like filming the music video and what were you trying to capture?
Filming was really easy. We shot with some of our favourite people, namely Brett Melvill-Smith (as producer) and Kim Szalavicz (Filming) and had some incredibly talented extras/ actors with Monika Heitkamp, Will McCabe and Claudine Michelle Warwick. We were just trying to capture how often we feel that we’re going to be better off in different situations to ultimately see that the grass is not always as green on the other side as we might think, if that makes sense [laughs].
Will we be seeing any other music videos for the other singles?
Totally, we actually already filmed one for ‘Killing Time’ but used a different director and so far we’re not happy with the product so it’s on hold at the moment. We’ve also booked to shoot a video for ‘Cheekbones’ on the first weekend on October. The concept is really cool, so we’re really excited for people to see it. Watch this space…
How interesting do things get when touring, band practising, etc?
Depends on the day really. We’ve been doing this a long time so now days most things run like clockwork really, but everyday gives us a new chance to live new experiences so you never know what’s going to pan out. This is what we want to do with our lives and so even when things don’t run as they should, we always enjoy it. Therefore things are always interesting.
What’s the diversity of the band and what does each member bring to the band?
We all listen to different things so we each bring a different element to the band, sometimes that might be a Grunge element, sometimes it might be Metal. Whatever any of us might be listening to, the result when we come together seems to work so ideally the more ideas the better as it keeps things fresh.
In three words, explain each band member?
Instead we’ll give you some words that we’ll let your readers affiliate to each member – Controlling, Bossy, Determined, Focused, Happy, Carefree, Easy Going, Positive and Talkative.
What’s next for Munkinpure?
We have started pre-production for our new album which we’re going to try fund through Pledge Music. The project itself will launch in October. We’re shooting the next video. Planning some regional tours alongside our management, and just pushing until we achieve what we want to achieve.
