Interview with Purification Himself, Singer and Bass player with Monumental and Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
Purification Himself: Our artistic project is about developing listeners in different ways. The central perspective of our work is to create a universe and move yourself and your personal character into another space, where you can either cut and omit any unnecessary dilemmas if you wish, or add and develop any problematic topic and dig deeper into it.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
Purification Himself: All six of our participants are from Ukraine, but you grow up differently in a big country, you are brought up differently, and as a result of combining our ideas into one, we decided to create a majestic project to implement our visions.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
Purification Himself: I think everyone is familiar with the situation where there is an incredible desire for something in life. Be it a better life, a nice car or tanks for Ukraine.
But just wanting is not enough here. Me and the guys get together all the time and after many years of our friendship, we still go back to writing new songs, new stories for videos.
I would like to say that ideas come only from within, from our own flight of fancy, but no. Behind our creativity is a tireless constant work on ourselves and on the other members of the band.
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
Purification Himself: There is no limit to aspirations. The one peak I can see for us so far is the Royal Albert Hall in the UK, but when we reach it, we’ll surely come up with something new. We can’t stop there, can we?
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
Purification Himself: I am inspired and happy to see that every month, every year, I and all the band members get better in terms of music. I grow as they grow, it can be in terms of ability, the speed of playing an instrument, the ability to bring complex ideas to life, and when you finish working on a certain thing, say a music video for a song, you are not so much proud of the music video itself, but of the unity of thought and mutual support of each other. What I am most proud of is having the privilege of working with such thought-provoking people.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms
in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
Purification Himself: A concrete kick in the arse or a mental nudge helps in this regard. The six of us all have hands, brains and an incredible desire to conquer the stages of the world. I have to run after the guys sometimes and beg them for new content, for which they can sometimes be ‘hard up the arse’, but I won’t get tired of doing it and I believe in us.
Promoting yourself as a musician and an individual is a really difficult thing, but as said, everyone’s savvy develops and new ideas for successful publicity come every day.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
Purification Himself: Since 2020, all our attempts to organise speeches have been cut short by the coronavirus. And yet now our country is at war. I’m a man of conscription age and as such I’m forbidden by the state to travel abroad. Also being under the threat of nuclear war you have more time to write about and tell your audience, than to be involved in tour planning. Right now our focus is on creating new material, and once Ukraine wins we will surely let everyone know about the upcoming shows.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
Purification Himself: If the tracks are downloaded from pirate sites, if my songs are absolutely illegally re-released on CDs and resold – I will consider it an incredible success. What’s wrong with people listening to your music? Streaming platforms are developing very fast and I’m happy about that. It makes my life a lot simpler as a musician, because it 
makes it easier to reach my fans.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
Purification Himself: Since we are each in different parts of the world right now, it’s hard to “work on something” on our own. But still, when we didn’t care about that factor, we got such a sweet thing as our new single “Enter The Gate”. I think this is the format we will continue to work in until the war is over, so expect good music!
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
Purification Himself: Our online activity is most intense on our instagram profile @monumental.official , where you’ll find out the most about our work. But of course there are also other platforms where you can always be the first to know about our new plans. The most important links are here:
https://www.youtube.com/@monumentaluk
https://www.facebook.com/monumental.orchestra
https://www.instagram.com/monumental.official/
https://m0numental.bandcamp.com/
https://www.tiktok.com/@monumental.official
https://music.apple.com/ru/artist/monumental/1642684994
https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/284240
https://www.qobuz.com/ie-en/interpreter/monumental/1073293
https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/monumental-1
https://www.last.fm/ru/music/Monumental
Monumental links:
Band/Artist location – Ukraine
Facebook – You Tube – Soundcloud – Bandcamp – Merch –
Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Amazon – Deezer – Streamlink – TikTok –
Check our page for Monumental
