EP10 - James Monteith (TesseracT)

Wonder Junkie Podcast - Pete Bailey

Welcome to episode 10 of the Wonder Junkie Podcast featuring James Monteith of TesseracT.

I managed to catch up with James just before he set off to the US for the Gojira tour he’s now on with Tesseract and we had the unusual fortune of good weather! So you’ll hear the lovely ambiance of London in the summertime.

The first time I met James was around 2010 and at that time I was just a massive Tesseract fan, but as the years have passed by I’ve had the pleasure of chatting to James quite a few times and have been fortunate to create a friendship over those years. Aside from Tesseract, James also works for Hold tight PR and Basick Records, who do a tremendous job of breaking some of the most exciting new bands on the scene today.

So there was a lot to catch up on and for those of you who don’t know, James also used to be in a nu metal band before Tesseract called 209, so I couldn’t resist having a natter about the recently announced Korn / Limp Bizkit tour and the effect nu metal had on the rock & metal scene. We also spoke about the importance of Gojira in today’s metal scene both musically and how their lyrics about climate change and saving the planet are a breath of fresh air for metal music. Whilst Tesseract has never veered into this area lyrically we did go into the inspiration of their lyrics around science and space travel.

We agreed that after playing a gig on an igloo in Finland for the Jägermeister Ice Cold Gig, the next challenge should be for them to be the first band to play on the moon... One small riff for man, one giant riff for mankind, sorry, not sorry.

It would be an understatement to say that Tesseract has encountered a few bumps in the road along their career but upon release of their new EP “Errai”, the band has never been in a stronger position. I think this goes to show the value of persevering in the metal world, let's face it being in a successful metal band in 2016 is a hard fucking slog and even if you are successful it doesn’t mean you're making much coin either.

I think James is a great example for metal musicians in 2016 that if you diversify your skill set, work really hard, keep at it and have an understanding wife! You can achieve success that will be long lasting and build up a very loyal fan base.

I’m sure me and James will speak again down the line, make sure to check out their new EP below and I’ll see you at the Devin Townsend shows in March.

http://petebailey.net/podcast