Few bands have made such an immediate impression with the debut album as The Beautiful Monument have with I’m The Reaper.
The recent release has garnered high praise for the hard-rocking alternative chicks from Newcastle and the icing on top is a soon-to-happen showing at the Good Things Festival in Melbourne on December 6.
For the album, chief writer and singer Lizi Blanco mined the depths of her soul to come up with lyrics that stay with you long after the playout ends.
A sufferer of debilitating mental health issues, Blanco wrote from the heart – the only way she knows how to. And to think she had to have it pointed out to her just how good a singer and performer she is.
“I really had no idea I could sing. I really just wanted to be a cool emo rocker. I started playing bass then guitar and started singing. I went to rock school at TAFE and started gigging and things went from there.”
Money well spent at TAFE one would suggest!
“I’ve been trying to make my songs broader. They are very personal and focus on diary entries that are really personal. I talk about experiences and how they affected me. With my mental health problems, music really has been the saviour. Now I find a lot of people approach me for help so it’s turned around a lot.”
Inspiring others to work through problems, to create music that helps with that, and giving the voiceless a voice is what Blanco does best. Her merry band of fellow rockers and groovers seem to agree, and their musical chops helped create such a fine piece of work as I’m The Reaper. Now brighter times are on the horizon.
But that doesn’t mean that the band and Blanco, in particular, aren’t collectively shitting themselves over their up-coming gig at Good Things.
“For our first headline album shows I was vomiting I was so nervous. But it is a mixture of nerves and excitement. With the band, we all tend to have equal input and we’re all very open-minded to different things. And most important of all we are all best friends. We’ve found our happiness.
“For the Festival I just want it to be a day to remember.”
There’s no real chance of that not happening. The band are primed, ready and keen to rock.
We’ll see you with your faded Bad Religion tee in the mosh at Good Things Festival Melbourne, Friday 6 December at Flemington Racecourse. Secure your ticket at www.goodthingsfestival.com.au/
Written by Chris Michaels