Queen really is a great name for a band huh? One word, just jumps out at you, its got a hard sound, and it brings to mind images of, well, the Queen. That last bit there, I think the use of the readers imagination is a really underrated part of the name. Even if you don’t really think about it, your brain conjures up the image of the powerful royal just by reading it, and by extent, you apply those feelings to the band. Before, of course, they shatter that illusiona dn show you who they are.
But there’s a studio in Vancouver that uses that same logic, and they absolutely deserve the title. I’m talking about Monarch studios. Though technically taking its name from the Monarch butterfly come on, work with me here.
Anywho, the studio itself is pristine. Sharp interior design, nice easy colour palettes, and a brick wall! It’s like looking at everything any music studio wants to be. It’s like if It’s a Small World didn’t have that creepy clock face. It’s really an amazing looking building. But what can it do?
They have rooms for every part of a band. The main tracking room has a custom ceiling to make the room sound even bigger than it is, which I can’t imagine how that works. Is it a fake ceiling that sound passes through, meaning the room is bigger than it is? I don’t know but whatever it is, it works and I’ll get into that later. But even if you only took your drummer and put him there you’d be fine. Monarch has an amp room and a vocal room so everyone can sound great. It even has a piano room!
That’s enough of me telling you how great the space is, how about who’s used it? Well they have a long list of clients, but I found one I want to share with you. It’s these guys called Lazy Ghost. They’re now an Australian surf-punk band but initially started as a band from Whistler before relocating! Isn’t that cool? Anywho, I checked out their album “Snacks” and I definitely liked what I listened to. When you think Surf Rock, who do you think? I’d bet good money you came up with the Beach Boys, well throw them right out the window! Don’t actually the Beach Boys are great, but these guys are completely different. I honestly don’t know what to compare them to, I’ve never heard anything like them, do yourself a favour and check them out. The song Hotdog Citizen on Snacks was my favourite of the ones I listened to.
But they wouldn’t sound half as good, if they didn’t have a solid studio behind them. Which Monarch definitely is, and they’ve got the talent to boot. I mean with 7 in house engineers, they’ve got what you need.