Home Music Interview – Hello Monroe!!!
Interview – Hello Monroe!!!

Interview – Hello Monroe!!!

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Say Hello to Hello Monroe!

In a discreet coffee shop in Temple Bar, we at the Arcade interviewed the two gorgeous lead singers Aimee Prizeman and Rona McHugh from Hello Monroe.  The band was only created a year ago and so far they have toured with the Ourzone tour and their album is soon to be released.  Armed with fur coats, a random guy and milkshakes the girls told us all about their colourful band.

How did you create the name Hello Monroe?

Aimee: Me and Rona are obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and well like we had been away for ages.  I arrived back to my house and my nanny had bought me loads of canvas paintings of Monroe and she had them hung all over my walls and the second I walked in I was like “Wow, Hello Monroe” it was right in  my face and the name just stuck.

How did you start the band?

Rona: We saw each other out always and we started meeting up and jamming and doing covers together.  We just said “do you want to do a band?” Aimee had been in a band before and that kinda fell through.

Aimee: And I’ve known Connor years, he’s a childhood friend and I was thinking that we could get the guys from England so we could start a fan base in England and Ireland.  So the boys would have a place to stay over here and we would have a place to stay over there.  Also Connor goes to school with Max and Taylor.

Is it difficult having half the band in Essex?

Rona:  Yeah it’s difficult but we fly over all the time, Ryanair cheap flights! 

Aimee: It’s an advantage as well because we don’t over see each other, we’re not like any other band where we socialise all the time or fight.  We’re the best of friends and we always have somewhere to stay in England so that’s handy.   They’re just finishing college as well, so they meet up for a jam.  Me and Rona will sing along to the tracks or quiet down the vocals so we can have something to sing along to and we will try to rehearse along with.  Rona plays guitar and I play piano so we can jam together that way.  We do a load of Skype jams as well.

Would you both consider moving the England?

Aimee: We’ve been thinking about it a lot.

Rona: We get asked this all the time. I don’t know, it might make sense if we did but we love Dublin, we love Ireland, we love living here and all the people here.

 

Aimee: Right now we have the best of both worlds because we have a combination.

What inspires you to make your music?

Rona: We’re obsessed with summer, we like dressing like its summer every day.  We don’t own any jeans, I just hate wearing them and I just feel like a boy.

Aimee: We like to have colourful kinda bouncy music.

Rona: Yeah floral…? Oh sorry I thought we were talking about clothes not music. Floral music?  When you listen to the songs there meant to make you happy and think of summer.

Aimee: We love Katy Perry and Lady Gaga; we’re very inspired by Pop music in general.

What process do you go through when writing a song?

Rona: We usually come up with a concept first.  We sit down and ask each other “what would you like to write about?”. It’s almost like a story; we will think of something first and think what music would go with that like with one of our songs Secret Agenda, it sounds like James Bond. You could hear in the song, the music the whole concept of the story, it’s so James Bond.  We get our concept, think of the music and write the lyrics.

Aimee: Yeah we get lyrics, the music and form vocal melodies around it to see if the music and lyrics fits.

How can new fans gain access to your music?

Rona: We haven’t released anything yet. We are going to release an album, we’re waiting on our schedule, we’re finding out our six month plan tomorrow by our manager.

Aimee:  We have an album we just need to pick when to release a single and which single to release but you can find our tracks on our Twitter and Facebook page.

Rona: We don’t have them available to download yet but we will soon.

Warning: This song is mega catchy, expect to be singing it all day!

What has been your greatest challenge as a band?

Rona: We have just been having so much fun that we just take it all on board and any chance we get.

Aimee:  Because of our first few shows we were so lucky to get the Ourzone Tour for upcoming bands, because that was our first shows, we’re just so happy to get that and it did so much for the band, we got fans in Scotland and all around, we really got out music out so we’re all so happy with that, so anything else is just a bonus after getting such a good head start.

Rona:  If any challenge comes along our way, we just enjoy it.

When is your next gig in Ireland?

Aimee:  We’re having a gig in the Academy 2 on the 26th of April.

Rona: We’re playing with Down Hill and Colour me pink.

What is your ultimate direction for the band?

Rona: Well at the moment we’re just happy playing shows, obviously every band wants to get to a bigger stage to play for a bigger audience but right now we’re just happy to be getting shows in general.

Aimee: I would like just to have our music out just so people can hear it. We have worked so hard on the album that I just want people to hear it. I just want it to do well and for people to like it.

If the band were trapped in an arcade for eternity what one game would you play to pass the time? 

Rona: Tetris….. Actually hold on, probably not Tetris that’s very boring.

Aimee: Oh a dance machine is that allowed?

Rona: I like that game; you know the one with the blue and pink guns? House of haunted?


                          Aimee                                                                    Rona

Some of us at the @rcade will be seen at the gig throwing our knickers at the band and trying to get backstage for an after party so don’t miss out!

If you want to come along with the @rcade to see Hello Monroe play live in the Academy, then click here and enter our forum members only competition to win yourself a pair of tickets!

This competition is open only to members of our Forums so hurry up and join!

You can also follow Hello Monroe on their facebook page for frequent updates and news! Click here!

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