Moneen

Posted by Editorial Intern on 01-Jun-06 @ 12:05 PM

HQ: Brampton, Ontario, Canada

NOW PLAYING: The Red Tree (VAGRANT; vagrant.com)

WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM:These four unassuming Canadians aren't just sweet enough to bring home to Mom: With their explosive new album, they've also created what will surely be a cornerstone for this music called "emo."

YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE: Braid / Circa Survive / The Get Up Kids

You might be curious about Moneen frontman Kenny Bridges' green thumb, considering the title of the band's new album, The Red Tree, but according to Bridges--who also took the album's photos and designed its layout--it wasn't his doing. "I headed out into the country by where we live... [and] there was a really bright red bush in this dead creek bed, and it just sort of jumped out at me in this Sin City sort of way. It was really symbolic, but I realized I can't call the record The Red Bush," he says, laughing.

But that crimson shrubbery actually helped define the record, Bridges explains. "It's just a stupid tree sitting in the middle of nowhere--it doesn't really affect anything. But that's not true: Every single thing around us is also affecting us without us really realizing it. All these terrible things happened in the past year--the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina--that I was not directly affected by; but I wanted to write about them [and] do them justice. [People] were going through the most terrible things you could ever imagine, so I wanted these songs to mean something--to me, to them, to everyone who heard them--just so we all know there's more out there than our own little bubble."

It's just that educated worldview that inspired the band--Bridges, drummer Peter Krpan, bassist Erik Hughes and guitarist Chris "Hippy" Hughes (no relation)--to create The Red Tree, including one of the disc's most haunting, epic tracks, "The Day No One Needed To Know," about Hurricane Katrina from the perspective of a New Orleans resident. "I'm more of a guy who looks for the good in all that's bad," Bridges admits. "I don't wanna waste peoples' time by complaining about meaningless shit going on in my life." With its sound and sentiment perfectly captured by producer Brian McTernan (Thrice, Circa Survive), there is nothing meaningless about The Red Tree. --Scott Heisel