Is prog a sound or a way of making music? In 2019, as Thank You Scientist released third album Terraformer, band leader Tom Monda discussed the nature of genres, being mistaken for a ska band, the studio-versus-live debate and embracing the nerd within.
“I look at prog the same way I look at punk,” says Tom Monda, guitarist and bandleader of New Jersey miscreants Thank You Scientist. But before you run for the hills at the mere mention of punk, fear not – he’s not talking about just bashing out three power chords.
“Both genres started as less of a sound and more of an ethos as to how the music is created,” he explains. “Over time it came to define a sound. When you read, ‘This is a prog band,’ your first instinct is, ‘Oh, they sound like Peter Gabriel-era Genesis or Yes or Dream Theater.’ Prog became a sound.
“I would say we’re definitely prog – but I wouldn’t say we’re the thing that people think of in their head when they hear the word ‘prog.’ I’d rather people feel something and walk away with some sort of opinion than going, ‘Oh, that was prog; that was what I expected.’”
There’s no danger of that happening; Thank You Scientist have been defying expectations since they formed out of the music programme at Montclair State University and announced their intentions with 2011 EP The Perils Of Time Travel. With a seven-piece line-up that includes electric violin, trumpet and sax, they initially baffled promoters.
“They didn’t want to touch us with a 10-foot pole,” says Monda. “We’d play metal-centric shows; people would see us setting up and think we were a ska band. Then we’d start playing and they’d just get more confused. It’s been a long road of trying to play as much as we can so people know, ‘It’s not a gimmick, these guys are trying to do a cool, unique thing.’ By the end of our set we usually won them over.”
The breadth of the band’s sound contains jazzy, soulful brass interludes, classically tinged violin, rock drumming, Monda’s knotty yet punchy guitar licks, and singer Salvatore Marrano’s catchy vocal melodies. Monda, who studied jazz at Montclair, loves spitfire fusion guitarists like John McLaughlin and Allan Holdsworth, but equally he’s a believer in the importance of crafting compelling songs.
“We love coming up with challenging arrangements, unexpected harmonies and unexpected places for the songs to go – but at the root, it needs a very strong melody,” he says. “If you boil any of our songs down to the chord progression and the melody, it still sounds like a song. Songs with the purpose of having something difficult to play is not what I listen to – that’s very surface level.
“I want to write songs with unique, off-kilter arrangements, but the purpose is still to make a song; have catchy, poppy melodies, but still try to push it in unique directions. We love weird, experimental music but we also love the Beatles, Harry Nilsson and XTC. I’m a sucker for poppy hooks, and that’s something we’re very cognisant of when we’re writing.”
Adding a violinist was inspired by Mahavishnu Orchestra and Frank Zappa’s work with Jean-Luc Ponty. For Monda, there’s something special in the combination of his electric guitar with Ben Karas’ violin. Add in the brass players and there are a lot of sounds to orchestrate.
“I think of the band like a piano,” says Monda. “I’m very cognisant of the voicings I use on guitar and the register everybody is in. There are a lot of moments in Thank You Scientist where it’s more about the sum of its parts. It’s hard to tell exactly how it’s orchestrated sometimes; everybody is coming together and it’s not like, ‘Here’s a horn solo, here’s a violin line, here’s a guitar line.’”
Terraformer, their new release, is the first album to feature the latest incarnation of the septet. Saxophonist Sam Greenfield, trumpeter Joe Gullace and drummer Joe Fadem joined the fold in 2017, but they weren’t strangers, having played with Monda in bassist Cody McCorry’s experimental project We Used To Cut The Grass.
The newer members are all songwriters. They understand what we’re trying to get across, which helps get a lot done
“They’re all guys I love playing with and I knew very well,” says Monda. “We were very good friends; it couldn’t have worked out better. With the guys in the old line-up, it was very apparent that the touring life and trying to make a living from music was going to be difficult for them.
“Now we’re all on the same page in terms of doing music for a living. We come home from tour and freelance with other artists while we’re here. Our main pursuit is learning more about music and our instruments. We all have a similar mentality in terms of what we want out of music.”
The new blood has led to an evolution in the band’s writing process. On the early albums Monda wrote and scored everything; but now he says the method has become a much more communal one. “The newer members are all songwriters of their own projects. They understand what we’re trying to get across as a band, which helps get a lot done. That’s why we put out such a giant album – Terraformer is probably the most balanced band-oriented record we’ve done.”
He picks out Life Of Vermin as an example of the new approach in action. He started work on the song during writing sessions for 2016’s Stranger Heads Prevail, but he couldn’t find the sound he was looking for, so it was canned.
We’re a bunch of nerds, essentially. Why posture and try to run from that?
“But I always liked the idea, so I brought it to the group without a bridge, and we wrote this wild bridge together that takes a pretty unique turn. I never would have come up with that without everybody throwing cool ideas out.
“Someone will come up with something really weird and we’ll just follow it. I’m lucky enough to have guys who are so quick that it’s easy for us to work out new ideas. When I bring something to the table it starts as one thing and always morphs into something different.”
Meanwhile, there’s an irrepressible sense of humour that underpins Thank You Scientist. It’s particularly evident in their music videos, but it pervades all their promotional activities – like describing their new album as ‘the Oops!... I Did It Again of progressive rock.’ Monda tags XTC’s Andy Partridge as a reference for the band’s sense of humour.
“He’s not afraid to show his personality and humour, and maybe his shortcoming and neuroses. We try not to take ourselves too seriously because it leaves a weird taste in my mouth when I see bands doing that. Why not just show what you’re about? I’m not a sullen, uber-serious guy. I’m pretty goofy, pretty sarcastic, and you’re sharing music that’s supposed to be you.
“Humour is a big part of the way we interact as a band and as friends. We want to get people into our world. If we took band photos looking downtrodden standing in the woods, it wouldn’t work. It’s just not us, coupled with the fact we’re a bunch of nerds, essentially. Why posture and try to run from that?”
The studio is stressful for me – I always feel like things are never totally done
Asked if he prefers recording or performing, Monda replies: “I’d rather be in front of an audience. I’m proud of our studio albums, but we’re meant to be seen live. The emphasis in music in the past couple of years has shifted; it used to be, ‘The album is the snapshot, the show is the main thing. You want to come to see the band and see what they do.’
“Nowadays it’s the opposite – a lot of music is programmed and sequenced, and maybe not something the band even thought about doing live. The album is the thing, the live performance is on the side. But we’re of an older mentality. For us the live performance is where it’s at. Check out the album to get an idea of what we do, but come see us.
“I love the opportunity of getting to improvise in front of people, making the songs slightly different. In the studio, if I don’t have a deadline, I can work on one thing for the rest of my life. If you didn’t tell me I had a deadline for the first song I wrote for the band, I’d still be working on one song.
“The studio is stressful for me – I always feel like things are never totally done. There’s a little bit of extra neuroses that comes out there; so I’m definitely more of a live guy.”
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