This is an interview with From Monument to Masses I recently did for for Left Turn magazine.
From Monument to Masses (FMTM) proves that creating politically engaged music doesn’t mean sacrificing artistic form. Their complicated, textured music in virtually lyric-less opting to sample political speeches and soundbites from the global intifada. Left Turn sat down with Sergio Robledo Moderazo and Matthew Solberg just after a US Summer tour to talk about the rock and roll and revolutions past and future.
LT: FMTM rips apart the basic formula of a protest song-lyrical, anthemic, and direct and replaces it with long, textured songs with samples of political speeches and rallies. How does this break with tradition help you get your message across?
SERGIO: Well, on an artistic level, it helps because it sort of sets us apart stylistically from much of what’s out there in terms of popular music, whether we’re talking about protest music or otherwise. This is always a good thing when you’re trying to get people’s attention.
From a political perspective, there’s something to be said about presenting the words and people’s movements, organizations, and activists using samples…actually letting people hear them in their original voices. There’s something immediate and “real” about that. Much of the perspectives and voices that we feature in our samples have been left out of mainstream politics in general and definitely out of popular culture. I like the idea of re-inserting them…featuring these unheard voices and perspectives when no one’s looking. It’s like we’re sharing the stage and the airwaves with people’s struggles all over the world.
