Photo Credit: Erich Saide
Canadian metal powerhouse Imonolith have made their mark with their debut album State Of Being. Featuring ex-members of Devin Townsend Project, Threat Signal and more, the quintet have brought their wealth of talent together to produce an engaging and hard-hitting debut (check out our review HERE). We caught up with drummer Ryan ‘RVP’ Van Poederooyen to chat about the band’s formation, what they want to achieve and more.
Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself and your band.
I’m Ryan Van Poederooyen. I’m a drummer. I played and toured with Devin Townsend in the Devin Townsend Band and Devin Townsend Project for over fifteen years. Imonolith, the new band I helped create, features Brian Waddell – guitar, myself – drums, Jon Howard (Threat Signal) – vocals, Kai Huppunen (Noise Therapy, Methods of Mayhem) – guitar, and Scott Whalen (Econoline Crush) – bass and background vocals.
How did the band form and how long have you been together?
After the DTP broke up in 2018, Brian Waddell (DTP bassist) and I decided to form a new band, which became Imonolith. We had been writing music together since 2015. Once the DTP ended we jumped at the opportunity to create a new band based off of the music we wrote together. We formed the band in March 2018 and started demoing material for what would become our debut album, State of Being. As for how we chose the other members…we basically searched for players we had great chemistry with and who enjoyed the demos we recorded, which became the base sound for the band. Jon, Kai and Scotty were the perfect fits to round out Imonolith in the end.
Can you remember the first time you realised you wanted to make music?
I was ten years old and started drumming because my father was a musician in a cover band. I’d always jump up on stage after his soundchecks and mess around on the drums. I’d get a rush from watching my father perform live. Then I started watching MTV music videos and live performance videos. That was all the inspiration I needed. I knew I wanted to do music for a living from those days forward.
Who and what are the band’s main influences?
We all have varied influences. I’d say a band like Pantera has influenced every member of the band but outside of that it’s all over the map! Haha. I love everything from Rush to The Beatles to Slipknot, Meshuggah right up to Bob Marley! Brian listens to stuff like Mastodon, Judas Priest and Van Halen, Jon likes bands from Alice in Chains to Post Malone to Fear Factory. Kai loves Nine Inch Nails and obscure sounding stuff and Scott loves Primus up to bands like The Police and other genres of music. All the bands mentioned, we pretty much all dig, it’s just our favourite bands definitely vary.
What do you aim to achieve as a band?
Our goal is to write the best songs we can that people will be stoked on at home, in their car and especially live! We want to do this for as long as we can while touring anywhere and everywhere around the globe. Longevity on a bigger scale in the music industry is what we’re aiming to achieve. It seems like a typical answer BUT, it’s the truth…it’s the goal.
For those who are yet to see you live, what can they expect from an Imonolith show?
A ton of energy and an entertaining performance. We’re professional and experienced musicians. We’ve all had a ton collective experience between us all with the various pro bands we played with in the past. This experience will be put on display during our live shows. We want people to be impressed and wanting more when walking away from an Imonolith show. That will be our intention every single time!
What’s next for Imonolith?
To support our debut release as much as we can over 2020 and 2021. This COVID-19 pandemic has slowed things down dramatically for us, along with everyone else on the planet, but we’ll find ways to stay connected to our supporters and engage with them as much as possible, any way we can in the meantime. They can stay up to date on Imonolith news, rescheduled tours and links to all of our social media by going to our website HERE. They can also purchase the CD, limited special edition vinyl and merchandise there too. We’re going to get creative with staying in touch with everyone over the next few months during the COVID- 19 pandemic, but we’ll also be planning our touring future and much more. Stay posted!
Imonolith‘s debut album State Of Being is out now via Imonolith Music, available to stream or purchase HERE.
