THE VENUE: I can honestly say if my friend wasn’t with me (who had been to the venue before), I wouldn’t have found it. There are no signs or indicators that would scream to the average passerby, “come on in!”. This idea of no signage and serving a ‘hole in the wall’ aesthetic brings forth a clear message that this bar 
and venue isn’t for everyone, and you won’t know it exists unless you hear by word of mouth, but by simply walking by, you wouldn’t know what it holds inside. The decor and ambiance also speaks to a very specific underground community. With decor oddities, candles, dim lighting, and eerie bathroom lighting, this venue speaks to a very dark underground community. It was quite refreshing and welcoming to not have security pacing around everywhere, to be able to stand and listen wherever you wanted in the space, and not having to go through an intense check-in process as most larger ‘main stream’ venues are required to have.
THE SHOW: Having first only seen videos of Monolord play and hearing them via music platforms, I was blown away hearing what their sound live. The power that came out of their instruments quite literally sent vibrations through my body. The “doom sludge” which they define themselves as is overwhelmingly heightened when hearing and seeing these guys perform live. There isn’t a whole lot of crazy chord progressions or surprise factors within their songs, yet the simplicity almost opens up space to give even more power and attention to what’s being played. Deep, dark, mysterious, and entrancing are the best words I can find to describe how intimate of a crowd was there, and how engaged everyone was in Monolord’s performance.
IN WHAT WAYS WAS THE EXPERIENCE UNDERGROUND?
The musicians that Saint Vitus books to perform, as well as the aesthetic of the venue spoken about previously, creates a space where fans can gather to enjoy one another and the music. On the venue’s site, they say they have “one of a kind intimate shows”, which is exactly the feeling I got when attending this show. They also mention, “The bar has also served as ground zero for NYC’s heavy music community“. Descriptive words such as “intimate” and “community” are quite impossible to add to the “About” page of above ground venues such as Irving Plaza and MSG.
Monolord is signed to RidingEasy Records which is an independent record label serving rock n roll inspired music for lovers of heavy psych, doom, metal, and rock. In my opinion, their underground quality lies within their genre. They are widely classified as metal, but can also be put into the category of lo-fi, doom sludge, fuzz, heavy, etc. Point being, they don’t live on the surface of any specific genre, their sound dives deeper than being classified as one genre, which in return develops a very specific fanbase, which allows them to play at smaller, intimate venues such as Saint Vitus.
Below I have attached a clip from their performance:
Next Post, I’ll dive more into Monolord’s presence as performers, online, on socials, and fan engagement in relation to the underground!
