Dear readers, in this article we have the pleasure to offer you an interview with a San Diego band that mixes Heavy Rock, Progressive, and Psychedelia with a new album out. We Welcome Sacri Monti.
Interview with Evan Wenskay (organ/Synth) and Brenden Dellar (guitar/vocals)
Hi, how are you? My first question for you is probably an easy one but can you elaborate on what the band name Sacri Monti means?
Evan: “Anthony was the brainchild to the band name the night before our 1st show. It translates to Sacred Mountains in. It was a nod to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Holy Mountain.“
Your style incorporates many elements of heavy rock, progressive, and psychedelia, where did your passion and understanding for these sounds come from?
Evan “All – five of us have a different range of music taste but we all meet together at our love for old hard rock, psychedelic, and prog bands. So that’s the kind of music that we all listen to hanging out together. We have all shown each other new bands we’ve discovered and grown from there.“
What are your main sources of inspiration? They don’t just have to be from the world of music. Film, art, literature, what inspires your process to write and record music?
Evan: “I don’t think I speak for myself when I say our love of gear and playing together are our main sources of inspiration. We are passionate about our amps and instruments and love getting to be loud and putting our stuff to work. Writing songs is essentially a byproduct of having so much fun jamming and playing with our music toys. We all are writers and we all have something we want to give.“
Brenden: “Yes like Evan said as far as the music goes it’s a lot of playing with each other and just our instruments themselves that inspire a lot of the sounds we make but I think we also pull a lot from our surroundings, that’s where it all really starts and at the end of the day. We are absolutely trying to paint some sort of picture that depicts something vivid from and for the imagination. The lyrics come from everywhere too but music always comes first. A word will pop in, or a theme with an Image in my head and I’ll try to keep that image going then bust out the pick axe and try to find all the words buried in there. It’s always a puzzle. The short answer is everything, always all the time.“
Your new album “Retrieval” will be released on July 26th via Tee Pee records. On a personal level, how does this new record compare to your previous releases?
Evan: “We are all very happy with how this one turned out. No stone left unturned when it came to the studio and some songs made it to the record that had been incubating for literally years. Our previous releases had the same effort but it’s hard to shorten the gap from thinking and doing. Trying to make what you hear in your head onto the track can go wrong for a million reasons. This one went really well and it sounds like how we want it to. We recorded it at Discount Mirrors in Los Angeles with Eric Bauer over 7 days and couldn’t be more stoked on how it came out!“
Brenden: “I feel like we had a much more cohesive idea and theme going with what we wanted to do. It’s tighter, less noodling and we worked together as a team a lot better while writing and at this point we just have a lot more experience and hours together and it showed when making this record.“
Both the music and vocals on Retrieval are very intense and sophisticated. For European audiences can you explain what the themes behind the lyrics of the new album deal with?
Brenden: “They are all over the place but I’d say the main points are dealing with conflict and turning them into art or anything good really. Being pushed to your whits end.The different paths you take on .ways to look for clarity and how often they dead end and you have to go back and try again.“
How would you describe your creative process behind writing and recording new music?
Evan: “We try to meet up and play together as much as possible. It’s not pulling teeth going to band practice, we look forward to it and we’re having a really good time. Thankfully our studio is great and we’re not limited by much there. We jam and mess around a lot, but what usually tends to make it onto the album is intentional, worked out, or a skeleton of a song or riff. We all shape the idea into something we agree on, or we don’t and shoot ‘em down! But for the most part we trust each individual’s ideas and efforts are going to better the song and it’s been that way for years.“
You have already shared the first single “Maelstrom” with the world. Why did you choose that single over others and how do you feel about releasing singles in general?
Evan: “It’s been a while since we’ve released new music so it’s exciting to put out a single before the record. To give a little taste and see how people react. This one in particular is extra special because it’s a 14 year old song from a band Brenden and Thomas had together in high school called Green House. We listened back to the old tracks recently and we’re like huh we kinda like that riff right there and just started re-learning it and workshopping it into something new and that’s how Maelstrom was made. Put the finishing touches on it the night before going into the studio. We recently published the live dates of your upcoming tour on our site.“
Brenden: “Seemed like an obvious choice to us. We don’t have many songs written like that. It was fun to put together a quick little banger style tune like that. I’d love to make some more 3-5 minute tunes.“
How exciting is it for you personally that you’re taking to the road this summer to tour across the world?
Evan: “New tour is looking good! Very hyped to be playing new festivals we haven’t been to before. Can’t wait to play the new songs live and see what people think. We love touring, it’s quite literally our favorite thing to do.“
The band was established in 2012. On a professional level as musicians/songwriters and a personal level as people, how different are you in 2024 to how you back then? What would you tell your younger self?
Evan: “I really honestly wouldn’t change much, maybe besides keep more busy with it. But we respect the space it takes not to rush anything important. We’re all still the same good friends as we were when we first started playing together. In that time we have all been in other bands that have come and gone. But we always came back to playing in Sacri Monti as our home base. We never tried to change it up and kept pretty true to ourselves musically. We’ve seen plenty of bands bottle rocket before, get a big audience really fast and then break up after a few years. Luckily we’ve all somewhat agreed to stay away from certain band decisions that we would otherwise find un-tasteful. We’re all really close friends and are in it for the long haul.“
In an ever-changing industry, just how difficult is it – if at all – for bands to succeed? What is your definition of success?
Evan: “Very thankful for our fans who buy the records, listen online, and come see us live. If we keep getting invited to go back to Europe to play these amazing festivals every year and if these records aren’t collecting dust in the $1 bin yet, then by all means it’s working out! Very appreciative of the niche community that keeps it alive. If you plan on making tons of money in the future, don’t start a band. We can hear you try. If you’re in a band, going to practice, playing gigs, having a good time with your buds, trust me you’ve already made it. You’d be surprised with how many big bands out there where that’s not the case. Looking forward to seeing what’s next cause we’re ready to go.”
What advice would you give to young artists approaching music with a heavy rock sound, similar to yours?
Evan: “I’d tell ’em to scram! Just kidding. But seriously if I had to give any advice it would be to go to shows. Don’t miss out when a band you like comes to town. You wanna keep your finger on the pulse and sitting at home waiting for something to happen doesn’t work. I’ve been that dude who gets his mind blown watching a band and I would just want to give that feeling back if I could The US has always been a country rich in emerging talent.“