After several delayed attempts to get off the ground, Monolith Festival is set to make its debut at Brisbane’s Eatons Hill Hotel on August 13.
Featuring two of Australia’s heavyweight progressive rock outfits in Karnivool and COG – who have not toured together for 17 years – Monolith is a celebration of not just music in this country, but also the broad spread of bands within the rock genre.
Joining Karnivool and COG will be Ocean Grove, Plini, sleepmakeswaves, Reliqa and Yomi Ship for a travelling festival that stops at Melbourne, Sydney and Perth across one month of Saturdays to maximise reach.
After an enforced prolonged absence due to world conditions, COG are preparing to reignite their assault on the hearts and ears of their loyal fans, with drummer Lucius Borich sitting down for a chat with HEAVY about the run of shows.
We start by asking, after the postponements of recent times, when it will actually feel real that the band will be once more stepping on stage.
"It's always a matter of when that foot hits the stage, and the foots on the bass drum pedal and then you know that it's actually happening,” he smiled. “That's the way I approach it, try not to get too excited - considering what's gone on the last two and a half years with stop/starts and disappointments and whatever else - it's kind of like you learn to sit in that holding pattern of when it happens it happens. Like I said, if my foots on the bass drum pedal, I'll have a smile on my face."
One distinguishing feature of Monolith is the decision to operate from just one stage with all seven bands, avoiding the potential pitfalls associated with band clashes.
"It's a good idea to have it like that,” Borich nodded. “All the bands have a shorter set as well, same with Cog. You get to see that amount of bands in a short stint of time. If we were all doing our longer sets it would probably be too much, but to have shorter sets you can pack it all in, and there's variety and all the rest of it from all the different bands I think that's a great idea. People can be more concentrated on being more attentive to the bands and the music that are playing."
In the full interview, Lucius talks more about Monolith, performing with Karnivool again, the importance of having emerging bands play with more established artists, providing guidance for younger bands, new music from COG and more.