Monkey Intrusion, Rock is undoubtedly our common thread

Monkey Intrusion is an independent rock band based in Trieste, North East of Italy. Their music is a melting of genres influenced by the different backgrounds of band members.
The project started in the summer of 2013 from the ashes of a previous band formed by Marco Plesnicar (bass), Vincenzo Reina (guitars, voice) and Enrico Goti (voice, guitars). They started to develop their own music in a slow process due mainly to the changes at the drumkit until finally Marco Bertoli (drums) joined the group in 2021. His presence provided the stability and sound needed to take the next step…entering a recording studio. The Album was recorded in 2022 at Jork Studios (studiojork.com) Dekani, one of the most relevant in Slovenia. The result is a journey through the emotions, observations and sometimes fears of a dystopic society where the music shifts in genres to underscore what the lyrics portray. At present they have released 6 singles – The Brighter Side, Fire Dancer, Life, Police of the Soul, Hard Times and Bad Love – and their debut Album ‘Pussycats And Monkeymen’.

METALMUSIC – Hi guys, how’s your new album going?
Monkey Intrusion – Hi mates and thank you for this interview. The feedbacks are positive and we are very happy giving the fact that it is our first full album. What we like the most is that we have positive feedback from European listener as well as from the States and most of all South America. As an Italian independent band we didn’t imagine we could reach this audience.

METALMUSIC – Tell us something about it!
Monkey Intrusion – It started as a selection of the best songs we composed in the last 10 years and the result was a kind of concept album about the human condition in a dystopic world. It was not intentional. Probably it’s a kind of mirror of how we perceive the world and how we feel about it. Once we had the songs in 2023 we went to Jork Studios in Slovenia working with Jadran and Gabriel Ogrin that supported us superbly in the recording process and in the production itself.

METALMUSIC – What about the cover ?
Monkey Intrusion – Pussycats and Monkeymen cover was created by Keluhart, an Indonesian graphic design artists that contacted us after listening to our first single ‘The Brighter Side’. She interpreted in are view in a very keen way what’s the mood of the band and the atmosphere of the album.

METALMUSIC – What’s your favorite song and why ?
Monkey Intrusion – Difficult to say. But I think the band would agree on ‘Bad Love’. It is one of the most intense and varied of the whole album with a spoken part and a great female voice solo of Sara Cova, guest in our album.

METALMUSIC – How a song is born and how much time do you spend on it on average.
Monkey Intrusion – Enrico J. Goti (voice&guitar), Marco Plesnicar (bass), Marco Bertoli (drums) and myself, Vincenzo Reina (voice&guitar) are all 4 composers. We propose normally a rough idea of melody and harmony to the band and then we work on it all together. The first structure comes out pretty quickly, but we are all quite picky on the arrangements and we all strive to achieve something different and emotional and the same time. So in the end it can last for months!

METALMUSIC – How many stile we can listen in your music ?
Monkey Intrusion – The album and the songs are a mix of the very diverse musical background we have in the band. Rock is undoubtedly the common thread, but you can hear classic and hard rock, progressive, grunge, classic metal as well as punk, reggae and South American influences. A salad bowl of many genres.

METALMUSIC – Are you planning a tour?
Monkey Intrusion – We are trying to plan it, but for the time nothing concrete. This will be the next step.