For Red Monkey Black King, a progressive art-rock quartet who are all from the Williams Lake area, progression through the Cariboo’s music scene is about finding the often scarce opportunities to express themselves.
“I think anyone who is trying to make it in Williams Lake has a little bit of a tough time starting out,” said Ilan Peimer, the 21-year-old vocalist and rhythm guitar player at the helm of RMBK after the band’s latest show at the Performances in the Park concert series on Aug. 16.
The group, who have been blending hypnotic melodies with inspired blues-rock chords for nearly four years, consists of 19-year-old lead-guitarist James Still, Clayton Charleyboy, the groups 21-year-old drummer, 19-year-old James Alexander who mans the bass guitar, and Peimer.
“Clayton, James (Still) and I all knew of each other in high school, and it was kind of just hearing about each other through mutual friends,” said Peimer in regards to how the group came together.
“It was a lot of so-and-so plays this instrument or so-and-so is a singer, so we eventually all came together, started jamming and after several months of that, we decided to call ourselves a band and it has been that way ever since.”
Currently based in Nelson, B.C. due to some of the members attending the Selkirk College Contemporary Music and Technology program, RMBK states that they are definitely enthusiastic about pursuing music as a career.
“We’re hoping for long term, definitely,” said Peimer.
“We’ve been doing it and taking it seriously, so at this point it’s one of those things that has been snowballing for a while now that we feel better and better about it each year, so we think we need to try and keep going with it.”
Still echoed the sentiment of his bandmate, and mentioned there is a tentative plan to record some form of extended play record later this year.
“We’re all constantly enthusiastic about going further with it,” said Still. “The short term plan is in the fall we’re recording an EP (extended play record) for a spring or summer release in 2019. More shows next year as well, because we want to continue to put our name out there and gain some more traction.”
Citing iconic rock and roll groups like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Arctic Monkeys as inspiration, the group says they’ve developed their own style after initially emulating some of their favourite groups in the early days.
“Mental health is a huge thing that we write and perform about,” said Still. “The ups and downs of relationships is another one.
“It’s kind of cool being friends with someone, especially when you’re in a band together, your life will almost echo theirs. You’ll have similar life experiences around the same time as them, so its easy to creatively come up with instrumentation behind some of the song topics, because generally we’re all experiencing similar things in our lives.”
With some of the members having up to a decades worth of musical experience, like Alexander, and others, like Peimer, who boasts a unique background of traditional opera singing, RMBK explains that the more they have developed a cohesive performing style, the more they have been recognized on the local arts scene.
“I definitely get a big rush from performing in front of people,” said Charleyboy.
“Especially, for people who have known me for a longtime, to come out and see me perform and see me doing well, it’s been great. It’s awesome when people recognize that we’re still playing together after almost four years, and that we’ve grown as a group as well.”
Making their way back to Nelson the day after their performance in the Gibraltar Room of the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex, the group says that they will continue to play and grow together, stating that the best way for them to grow is through expressing themselves on stage.
“The coolest thing about being a musician in B.C. is that if you are playing, there is a good chance that you will meet a lot of other local musicians in the communities,” said Still.
“It’s just a matter of getting out there, supporting each other and actually playing the gigs. That’s what we’re trying to do, and what we can hopefully continue to do in the future.”