"In New York and L.A. you have to play by someone else's rules. In Miami, you make your own."
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Capitalizing on a long-suffered identity crisis –
We sat down with
New Times: How has your sound changed since you started in 2011?
Juan Ledesma: At the beginning, there
So what are some of your musical influences?
We're influenced as much by music as we are by ideas and objects. That sounds kind of esoteric, but we derive a lot of our inspiration from nonmusical things. A big influence for us has been the process of how we make the music. For example, while a lot of bands will have one specific songwriter, we never went that route. Everything starts in practice with all four of us. Sonic Monarch really came together because we started playing around with ideas and sounds that
How is the sound on the new album different from your last?
What was the turning point for you in terms of your recognition in the Miami music scene?
A couple of years back, we were playing constantly — almost two shows a week — and we think that's what helped us gain momentum, just straight-up playing all the time. The best way to do anything is just to do it and learn how to do it by doing it. And it wasn't deliberate. We weren’t thinking that specifically when we were doing it. We just realized it over time: It actually works when you just do it.
How do you really feel about that scene, though? Do you think it's somewhere you'll stay?
The obvious thing about Miami is that it's driven towards DJs, but a lot of interesting people in Miami are doing stuff to make that more exciting. We've clearly seen all these different efforts to make bands relevant in Miami. And while New York and L.A. are obvious options to go to and they seem very seductive as far as the networks, Miami is still being shaped. In New York and L.A., you have to play by someone else's rules. In Miami, you make your own.
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