JUN 07 -
Driven by passion and zeal for music, the spirit of the rock group Monkey Temple has been alive for almost a decade now. Yet, not many know of them because of their constant disappearing acts. In 2002, when most of the band members were just teenagers, they rocked from the premises of their high school. Old-timers will probably recall their hits such as Acoustic 11 and Stoned at 920—but despite making their presence felt, the band had to split up.
Now, eight years later, Sareen Deoja, the lead vocalist, has come back from the US and started the band again, this time with a new line-up. Which isn’t new; in this gap, Monkey Temple had released a few tracks under a different line-up. Then, they disappeared again.
After their first album, Black Bee and the Flower, the band unfortunately, had to split as the members disbanded in favour of further studies. The original line-up featured Subodh Gurung and Prashant Manandhar on the guitars, Devashish Yonjan on the drums, Gaurav Basnet on keyboards, bassist Avaya Bajracharya, and Deoja.
Now, Sareen has teamed up with guitarist Girish, bassist Bijay, and Bikram on the drums. And in the pipelines are a few more singles that promise to bring back the focus on the Temple.
There are four new singles that the band is currently recording. Sareen, who has written the lyrics, explains that the theme revolves around life’s philosophies. For instance, the single Prashna talks about the known and unknowns of space; the song Ananta Samma intends to make the listener escape from the realities of life. The other two singles, Swapna and Anubhuti, follow similar themes as well.
Though the band had come up with their own English compositions in their last avatar, they are now keener on Nepali lyrics. Their YouTube hits are testament to this. Their earlier songs, Samaya and Baachau Sangai, have each gathered more than 15,000 views each, with the latter track already crossing 40,000 views. Comments on YouTube are full of praise for the band.
Deoja believes the band’s songs are targetted towards those living in urban Nepal. But there is a wide following for the band among Nepalis living abroad, especially in the US and Australia. To cater to this fan base, Monkey Temple will release their new tracks on iTunes. Eventually, they hope they can put out a new album in its entirety.
Monkey Temple started out as an alternative rock band. The members agree that during the initial phases, they were immature and lacked good instruments. But this time around, they are resolute about bringing a different sound to the Nepali music scenario. “We listen to all genres and we have been greatly inspired by senior bands such as Nepathya and 1974 AD,” says Girish. The band is enthusiastic about how the rock scene in Nepal has evolved, and is looking forward keeping in mind the rising popularity of the genre.
This time around, Monkey Temple hopes to stay for a longer time—a good sign for Nepali music fans.
Driven by passion and zeal for music, the spirit of the rock group Monkey Temple has been alive for almost a decade now. Yet, not many know of them because of their constant disappearing acts. In 2002, when most of the band members were just teenagers, they rocked from the premises of their high school. Old-timers will probably recall their hits such as Acoustic 11 and Stoned at 920—but despite making their presence felt, the band had to split up.
Now, eight years later, Sareen Deoja, the lead vocalist, has come back from the US and started the band again, this time with a new line-up. Which isn’t new; in this gap, Monkey Temple had released a few tracks under a different line-up. Then, they disappeared again.
After their first album, Black Bee and the Flower, the band unfortunately, had to split as the members disbanded in favour of further studies. The original line-up featured Subodh Gurung and Prashant Manandhar on the guitars, Devashish Yonjan on the drums, Gaurav Basnet on keyboards, bassist Avaya Bajracharya, and Deoja.
Now, Sareen has teamed up with guitarist Girish, bassist Bijay, and Bikram on the drums. And in the pipelines are a few more singles that promise to bring back the focus on the Temple.
There are four new singles that the band is currently recording. Sareen, who has written the lyrics, explains that the theme revolves around life’s philosophies. For instance, the single Prashna talks about the known and unknowns of space; the song Ananta Samma intends to make the listener escape from the realities of life. The other two singles, Swapna and Anubhuti, follow similar themes as well.
Though the band had come up with their own English compositions in their last avatar, they are now keener on Nepali lyrics. Their YouTube hits are testament to this. Their earlier songs, Samaya and Baachau Sangai, have each gathered more than 15,000 views each, with the latter track already crossing 40,000 views. Comments on YouTube are full of praise for the band.
Deoja believes the band’s songs are targetted towards those living in urban Nepal. But there is a wide following for the band among Nepalis living abroad, especially in the US and Australia. To cater to this fan base, Monkey Temple will release their new tracks on iTunes. Eventually, they hope they can put out a new album in its entirety.
Monkey Temple started out as an alternative rock band. The members agree that during the initial phases, they were immature and lacked good instruments. But this time around, they are resolute about bringing a different sound to the Nepali music scenario. “We listen to all genres and we have been greatly inspired by senior bands such as Nepathya and 1974 AD,” says Girish. The band is enthusiastic about how the rock scene in Nepal has evolved, and is looking forward keeping in mind the rising popularity of the genre.
This time around, Monkey Temple hopes to stay for a longer time—a good sign for Nepali music fans.
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