Montecristo is a rock band based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Their debut album was released earlier this year and it is a good neo-prog album which should gain them many friends around the globe. I got in touch with them for their story. 

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Your biography has been covered in your ProgArchives profile so let's bypass the biography details. But why did you choose that name?

First of all, we appreciate and thank you for the interview. The band was formed in 2007, but when the more serious thought of recording for an album appeared in early 2008, every one of us proposed a cool name. Then Eric came up with the name Montecristo from his favorite cigar brand, and we all concurred. You are from Indonesia.

How is the prog rock and the music scene in your country? How is life in Indonesia in general? Does the government put any restrictions on your activities like they do on visiting foreign bands?

Prog rock here is very much like blues or jazz, they get much less audience, but rock & metal in general is very much alive in this country. Our government never puts restrictions on our activities. Again, a lot of rock & metal bands from overseas get to perform in Indonesia.

Please give us your long or brief thoughts on your only album to this date Celebration of Birth from this year. How would you describe the music?

“Celebration of Birth” is the blend of the band’s member artistic senses that we poured in the form of music. Our songs are the vehicle to carry our mission to deliver our messages through the lyrics. Our music is hard rock with progressive and symphonic touch, but we think “progressive symphonic” best describes the genre of this album.

How is your writing and creative processes?

The song “About Us” was resulted from a jam session in a studio, while “In Touch with You” and “Clean” were taken from Fadhil’s demo album. All other songs were written by individual member or collaboration of 2 members of the band namely “Ancestral Land”, “A Romance of Serendipity”, “Garden of Hope”, “Celebration of birth”, “Crash” and “Forbidden Song”.

I gather Montecristo is a full band. How is your gigs and tours situation in Indonesia and your part of Asia?Any plans to tour outside this area?

Our very first performance was Sunday, 10 October 2010, at the annual 3-day rock festival Java Rocking Land by the beach in Jakarta. It was great because we got to play with other local and international rock acts. We don’t have any plans to tour outside Jakarta yet. Any chance we get to perform in Europe?

Is music your main occupation or do any of you have daytime jobs outside the music scene?

Music is not our main occupation. Most of us have daytime jobs.

What is the latest updates and the plans for this and next year?

Our http://www.montecristoband.com -  is running smoothly, a few weeks ago we just posted our video clip for “Ancestral Land” to YouTube (see video above - PA). It seems the debut album is selling quite well locally, we are in process of printing the next batch of 2,000 copies.  

To wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this interview?

Our mission is to present good music and valuable message through our lyrics. This is in line with what Eric wrote in “About Us”: “And now we are separating the noise from the sound… spraying your body, mind and soul”. We believe that a good song can change our perspective of life.  

Thank you to Montecristo for this interview

Their PA profile is http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=5770 - and their homepage http://www.montecristoband.com -