Check out our interview with Monika Walker from The New Tarot!
Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez
upfrontNY: What can others expect from your Debut LP Book of Promises?
Monika Walker: A sci-fi-rock-opera about the rise and fall of a young man who summons what he believes to be an angel. He is granted powers of fame (everybody knows your name) and hypnotizing words. He is a man who ultimately believes his own deception, and that is his downfall. It’s also a groovy bunch of songs; however you want to listen to it.
Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez
upfrontNY: What has the process been like making Book of Promises?
Monika Walker: Really soul-searching. We put a lot of our own questions, our own insecurities about the world and our place in into the themes and the music of this album. We wanted to produce a holistic concept while freeing the songs to be appreciated independently of each other. The concept almost literally wrote itself, as I was approached by a dream avatar of John Dee to center the album on a modern take of his life, and his struggles.
upfrontNY: As sisters – what is it like to pursue this musical adventure together?
Monika Walker: It is both inspiring and humbling to work with my sister. We know each other, we’re there for each other. It is incredibly reassuring to know someone always has my back. Karen is a musical prodigy in my opinion; her effortless command of melody and structure is almost inhuman sometimes. We balance each other well because we grew up playing off each other’s strengths, accepting and knowing our weaknesses.
upfrontNY: The first single from your new album is “America.” Can you tell us about this song and the meaning behind it?
Monika Walker: America is the final song off the album, and it is sung by John after his great fall from grace. He had all the power of the free world and he lost it in one betrayal. He had lied to his country, and she had lied to him. But there was hope underneath john’s actions; and there is hope yet left for America, as long as we confront these truths.
upfrontNY: Are there parts of “America” you have not yet explored that you would like to?
Monika Walker: You mean physically? I have not yet been to Alaska, even though it’s the name of the song on the album. To me, the very word conjures images of remote beauty; of the haunting elements of nature. I would love to go up there at some point.
upfrontNY: Do you have a favorite song from the album or that you like to perform?
Monika Walker: I love performing “Run, Run, Run.” It’s an extremely satisfying song to sing for me, mostly cause I get to sit the first 3/4’s out, and then I get to wail it out at the end. Very fun. But “Angel” is still my personal favorite. Something about the melody itches at some burr latched in the back of my mind.
upfrontNY: What has been one of your favorite performance experiences?
Monika Walker: One time, through some crazy glitch or circumstance, Karen’s MIDI keyboard was playing every note three half-steps down, and she had to adjust and transpose every single song on the fly. It was remarkably flawless. I had been anxious to all hell but thrilled we got through the show in the end.
upfrontNY: Does the band have a dream venue, city, or country you want to perform in?
Monika Walker: In no particular order; San Fransisco! The UK! Tokyo!! The Moon!
upfrontNY: Do you want to know what the future holds or let it stay a mystery?
Monika Walker: If me or anybody else “knew” precisely what the future held, that would change the outcome, even if I don’t consciously act on that knowledge. Therefore by “knowing” the future am I am altering it?
NYC FAVORITES
Favorite NYC Music Venue: There are so many amazing places, Bowery Electric, Brooklyn Bowl and LPR, for instance, are all awesome.
Favorite NYC spot for inspiration: The old public phone booths in the basement of the New York Library at Bryant Park. The one with the lions.
Favorite NYC ice cream spot: Your Neighborhood Bodega
Favorite NYC spot for a night out with friends: Wherever SoFar Sounds is playing 🙂
Favorite thing about NYC: If an alien wanted to study virtually every different ethnicity in the world, but could only travel to one place, they would have to go to NYC; a bubbling, breathing test tube of all of earth’s nationalities packed into a series of subway tunnels. It’s a bold, beautiful thing, the alien would remark, for a species so bent on each other’s destruction to meet, eat, love and create in such a turbulent breathtaking dance of fervor.
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