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Greg Hitchcock, Andy Kelly, Brad & Murray Shepherd - The Monarchs

Sydney rockers The Monarchs were a welcome dose of pure and unadulterated rock and roll in Australian music when they arrived in 2000, assaulting the scene with power-packed guitar chord pandemonium, screaming hot licks, pounding drumbeats, and just generally loud, raucous, driving rock and roll played as rock and roll SHOULD be. In a nutshell, these four battle-hardened rock and roll soldiers were all about bringing rock back to the masses hard, fast, and loud. Although The Monarchs' reign turned out to be relatively short in Australia's live music scene, it was certainly a memorable one.

Australian band the Hoodoo Gurus had called it a day after 16 years together and selling a quarter of a million albums worldwide in 1998, and Brad Shepherd, lead guitarist for the Gurus for the majority of those 16 years - as well as having put in noteworthy time with the Hitmen, Super K, the Fun Things, and the 31st before his lengthy career with the Gurus began - found himself without a regular job for the first time in about two decades. By late 1999, the bug to play and create was nagging at him again, and Shepherd sought to do something about it. The Gurus, while rocking plenty enough, had always somewhat been the kings of Australian powerpop with a rock and roll flair, something that worked splendidly for the Gurus.

Yet Shepherd's reputation as Being Sooooooo Rock & Roll within the band was known far and wide - Shepherd covers at Gurus concerts had included rockers by AC/DC and Foghat over the years, among much other hard-rocking fare. He was always sort of the Rock & Roll Animal soul at the heart of the Gurus.

With The Monarchs, he sought out bandmates with whom to create a tremendous but tuneful musical racket, with loud guitars and walloping drums. The plan was to basically launch a musical assault on the senses of the masses for whom techno had become a neurotoxin (to borrow a Shepherd phrase).

Not too long before putting The Monarchs together, Shepherd (along with brothers Murray and Jason) had contributed the track Alex Chilton for the Antfarm Records tribute to American band The Replacements, I'm in Love - With That Song, featuring many established as well as newer Australian artists. The track was very well received and arguably one of the standout tracks on the album.

The next step was to put together the band that would become The Monarchs. Shepherd found his fellow rock soldiers in Greg Hitchcock, guitarist and Perth native who had played in the Hitmen and with The Verys; Andy Kelly, bass player from Glide; and, once again, Murray Shepherd, former Screaming Tribesmen drummer who had also played with brother Brad in the Fun Things some twenty years before.

The balls-out-rock single 2001, featuring an equally powerful flip side, This Is All I Can Do, was released in August 2000, and hit big on Australian radio. With the single's release and a number of powerful live performances behind them all over Australia, the band went into the studio to record what would be their one and only album, Make Yer Own Fun, spawning the singles Loud and '69 Monaro. Early buzz on the album included reviews that it "sounded akin to an atomic bomb exploding in yer loungeroom" or - even more descriptive - "suspiciously like the MC5 having a fist fight with Badfinger behind the bike sheds after school". If one was searching for the heart and soul of rock and roll among some of the pablum that was passing for modern music at the time - The Monarchs, baby, were IT.

Undeniably the band's greatest strength was in some legendary live performances. Positive and glowing reports were coming in from the indie music front from all over Australia, statements like:

"There is just no comparison to the band live. Blew me away, indeed."

"Caught the show this weekend... you wouldn't believe how much the boys rock! Consider me one of the Monarchs converted."

"Brad kicks serious butt."

The Monarchs had an excellent run for most of 2001, then things began to change. Brad had begun playing again around Sydney with two of the other Gurus in a new psychedelic-60's punk-flavored outfit called The Moops (later to rename themselves the Persian Rugs), and Andy Kelly was growing busier and busier as manager of The Vines, then just recently exploded on the newly rejuvenated modern garage-rock scene worldwide along with The Hives, The White Stripes and The Strokes. (These days Andy also manages Australian band Jet.)

The Monarchs quietly began to fade away. In late April 2002, Brad announced that The Monarchs had, indeed, ceased to exist.

The next six months were relatively silent. Then, in September 2002, an enthusiastic announcement made its way out of The Monarchs' camp:

Stand by, Brothers & Sisters...
ARE you ready? Are YOU ready? Are you READY to get down & get with it?
Get it on & get it ALL TOGETHER?!!!
Are you ready to make your feet MOVE and your head SPIN?
Are you ready for your FUTURE now?
Behold the miracle!
After a period in the wilderness,
They have found their way back to the path of righteousness.
They have rediscovered their faith. They are raised from the dead.
THE MONARCHS are reborn.
Brothers & Sisters!!
Your invitation to a special operation in defence of the Sonic Nation!
A declaration of EMANCIPATION!! Your only hope of SALVATION!
FLAME ON!!
THE MONARCHS will WASTE the ANNANDALE HOTEL ROCKTOBER 4 2002
With special guests JET and the CITY LIGHTS.
GIVE IT UP FOR THE BAND.

The Monarchs bounced back, regrouped and rejuvenated, to kick some major rock and roll butt in Sydney that evening in October, with a few more equally amazing gigs following. However, after this last short run and a quick jaunt thru London and Spain in 2003, The Monarchs disappeared into Australian musical history once again - going out with a big, loud bang just like when they'd come in.

The Monarchs - gone (???) but not forgotten... until NOW! The Monarchs are planning to get together for at least one big show in 2008 to make up for the date they were forced to cancel in November 2007. Stay tuned!

ROCK ON, SOLDIERS!

* photos & video on this profile courtesy Brad Shepherd, Murray Shepherd, or The Miss Jen - used with permission *

NOTE: This is the Official MySpace profile for The Monarchs and is managed by a longtime fan on behalf of The Monarchs - however, feel free to leave comments and memories as some of the guys read them on a regular basis! Thanks for the continued support and for sharing in the good memories of one of the greatest rock and roll bands ever - The Monarchs!


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