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Scott Alisoglu :: How did you come up with the name?
Alex Ward :: My brother [band member Austin] was flipping through
channels on the TV and came across the History Channel and it was
talking about lumberjacks back in the day who would balance on the
logs - ride them down the river - and would call themselves pond monkeys.
We thought it was a good name at the time - 7th grade, a bunch of
kids - and we were always going to change it, but it just kind of
stuck.
Are you familiar with Frog Pond?
Yeah, it's funny that you mention it. We printed off an article on
the Internet a couple months ago where all the fans of Frog Pond were
called Pond Monkeys or something.
How old were you guys when you formed the band?
When we formed the band it was Austin, myself, and then Derek Wright.
This was in 1997. I would have been 12. They were 10. We just started
playing together, playing little pop songs. About a year later, we
started appearing at talent shows and the middle school, and then
middle school dances, and then benefits around here. Last year we
added Daniel Brasuell and since then we've been playing all over the
place.
Where did you get the motivation and the support to put together
this band? I can't imagine that Fort Scott is a hotbed of musical
inspiration.
Southeast Kansas in general is really cool about music, especially
Pittsburg and Parsons. There's just local bands popping up everywhere.
Fort Scott is terrible about music, but my dad has actually always
been in bands since he was a teenager. So it was just kind of natural
that we came into that. We were kind of lucky that he had always been
involved in music.
What style of music was your dad playing?
They were more of a classic rock kind of a thing. They opened up for
Quiet Riot and some big bands back in the 80s, I guess.
What was the name of his band?
They were Triple Threat. They were just a local thing…Triple Threat
or Rock Sanctuary. They were always switching names.
It's quite unique to be a teenager in a band with 3 albums. How
have your classmates reacted to the band over the years?
Really, there's a few that think it's really cool. Most people just
don't understand. Here in Fort Scott everybody just focuses on, I
hate to say it, the high school football team. It's just more athletics.
There's really no place for music here. There's a few friends who
have really seen how unique it is, but really the cool thing is we've
been playing in Parson and Pittsburg a lot lately and they're really
good about music. They think it's pretty awesome. So, we've really
got more of a fan base in those towns than here in Fort Scott where
it's just kind of dead, as far as the music scene goes.
Your CD packaging and the production on the album are very professional
looking. What's your secret?
We recorded it in Woodland Studios. It's only a half hour…down in
Pittsburg. He's a distant relative of ours…Phil Ward. He did the engineering,
the production, the recording and everything about it. He does a really
nice job. It's cool that in Pittsburg, only 20 minutes from here,
we have someone that does such a nice job professionally. I mean anybody
could really go down there and make a good sounding recording. Then
we found a company that we had always heard about that does a nice
job - Disc Makers. Pretty much, we designed everything about it and
then sent it to them and they gave us a few suggestions and fixed
a few things and then they put it together for you.
What's the writing and recording process like for you guys? I assume
that you spend a tremendous amount of time on your craft, given the
amount of recorded output.
My brother and I do a lot of writing together here at the house. We're
just always playing guitars. We're always coming up with the lyrics.
They're not like extremely deep lyrics or anything. They're more just
fun. That's what we're going for. Then this new guy, Daniel Brasuell…we
didn't put as many of his songs on the last album, Start the Reactor,
but he's more of the artsy guy. He wants to go in the heavier music
direction. He writes some pretty deep lyrics really, but we just kind
of bring whatever we have at band practice and then we work on it
together. We just bring individually a few ideas and then the band
gives their input.
How would you describe your music? I heard a combination of 90s
Seattle sound and 70s Bowie glam. I was wondering how that happened…is
that your dad's influence?
That's the big part of it. We grew up listening to your classic rock,
but then once my brother and I started going off on our own and getting
our own music, like whatever we listen to…Fugazi. We just kind of
naturally combined the sounds of older rock with the newer stuff to
try to come up with something that's more of our own.
Your voice reminds me of David Bowie and Geddy Lee at times. Am
I far off with the Bowie and Seattle sound thing? Who are your influences?
Oh no! We love David Bowie! Dishwalla is just awesome. I love Dishwalla's
music. That was the first time that I heard a singer that was really…I
don't know…he just focused on more of a melodic thing. That's what
I was kind of going for. Not just a bunch of screaming, but a focus
on more of the melody of it, the vocal part. I can combine that with
just things I've heard before…David Bowie and those people, not necessarily
Geddy Lee. I've never been a big Rush fan.
I understand that you played a cancer benefit last night.
We did it last year (with) the full band. Last night, since Daniel
was out of town, it was more just like acoustic guitars. That's how
we got our start really. Here in Fort Scott, there was a cancer benefit
for a man named Billy Sampson. That's where we started off - not getting
paid or anything, but just playing to get some exposure. And then
we did that in Pittsburg last April - there was a burn victim that
we played for. In between there, we've done several different charity
concerts and cancer benefits. It's an easy way for us to get exposure
for a good cause.
Where will you be playing in the next few months?
August 24th, we'll be playing down in Joplin, Missouri and then September
1st we have a two-hour long show in Pittsburg, Kansas. Then after
that there is another battle of the bands in Pittsburg. Then there
is an all-day festival in Pittsburg, so we're going to be playing
a lot in Pittsburg.
What can we expect from Pond Monkeys once you guys are all out
of High School?
Oh man, I really don't know. I hope that we have enough success before
I have to leave and go off to college that we can just keep on doing
this for a while and not have to worry too much about the whole school
thing and getting real lives. I don't know. Other than that, Daniel,
since he graduated, he's going to stay around here - either at our
community college or go down to Pittsburg - so he can be closer to
the band. We'll have to wait and see what happens, but I really hope
we can keep doing this.
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Alex Ward of 
