After touring our EP down the East Coast of Australia for the last two weeks we got home yesterday.  We’ll post about the tour a little later but this one’s all about the Brisbane launch.

To each one of the more than 450 people who made it along to The Zoo on March 5 we’d like to thank you for making our EP launch an amazing night for us.  Thanks to Timothy Carroll and Tin Can Radio for playing some incredible music on the night as well.

Here are some photos and a few videos from the show.  Andrew Tallon and Elleni Toumpas were great behind the lens as always.  Check out their work!

Last Friday we played our Sydney EP Launch show at The Gaelic Theatre in Surry Hills. First off, The Gaelic is a very very cool venue. Thanks to everyone who made it to the show. We had a great night. Music Feeds was there and this is what they had to say. Thanks for the kind words Shestyn.

I like Montpelier. I don’t know whether it’s their beautiful music or that they’re a bunch of good-looking, well-dressed young blokes. Either way, the fondness exists. Okay, so pretty faces aside…

Whether you’re a fan of sentimental indie pop (think Death Cab for Cutie) or passionate indie rock (Arcade Fire style), the Brisbane band caters for all with an individual sound that encapsulates both and then some. Their songs aren’t your standard clone pop numbers, yet are catchy enough to imagine on some top twenty music list. This charming quality carried across from their debut self-titled EP to its Sydney launch at The Gaelic Theatre Friday night.

Montpelier are an act worth seeing live. Vocalist Greg Chiapello has a powerful, stirring voice that is a great asset to the band, and their passion and talent carries across in their performance with heartfelt precision. They played songs from the EP such as the Celtic-flavoured ‘Take A Picture’ (reminiscent of The Pogues) and a selection of other songs, ranging from a bluesy number to the nostalgic ‘Last Boat’. I would have liked to have heard even more of the EP though – don’t hold back, fellas!

Preceded by rock band Sunroom, the contrast in atmosphere and audience with Montpelier was astonishing (exchange Tool t-shirts and mosh pit for composed kids wearing glasses and pretty dresses). Their lyrics are wistful and poetic, revealing that those of the male species can be as profound and romantic as the rest of us. Strong drums and guitar amplified the rock element, while melodious keyboard and persistent harmonies reinforced the sentimentality. The intimate Gaelic Theatre provided a fitting atmosphere for the emotional intensity that comes across with Montpelier.

Montpelier left the best until last with ‘The Rafters’, a catchy tune marked by a fantastic keyboard riff and the subtle vocals of Dave Butler. The song was welcomed with crowd-clapping and dancing and finished with a communal chorus singing “oh-oh-ohhh…”. I amusingly recalled singing along in the same passionate way listening to their EP in my bedroom. Montpelier are proficient at spirited, anthemic phrases which draw the crowd into their colourful world of “comets” and “fireworks”.

A talented bunch, Montpelier have great potential and are one to watch. The next step is getting their music heard, so let’s all sing along—in, and out, of our bedrooms. In their words: “let the music play, doesn’t matter where you are.”

You can read it online here: http://musicfeeds.com.au/gig/montpelier-ep-launch-the-gaelic-theatre-120310/

Online music publication Music Feeds had a chat with Greg recently about the upcoming record, touring and all that.  Read it online here: http://musicfeeds.com.au/features/montpelier/ and here’s a bite from it below.

Trying to get noticed as an indie band in Australia usually goes in hand in hand with more than a few compromises, some minor, some scarring for the rest of your life and not all of them artistic. Montpelier however are a band who defy this unfortunate trend, having not only garnered praise from press and industry alike, but hooked in big name American producer Kevin Augunas (Cold War Kids, Edward Sharpe & The Zeros) to record and produce their latest EP.

Listening to their music it all becomes clear. Sporting a diverse range of influences spanning from the uplifting pop rock of acts such as Elton John or Coldplay all the way through to the adventurous and introspective indie of bands like Death Cab For Cutie and Doves, Montpelier aren’t afraid of walking in the shoes of those who have come before them while always trying to tread new ground.

Eager to get to the bottom of this story and expecting to find a trail of lost innocence, integrity and anal virginity, I caught up with singer/bassist Greg Chiapello and instead uncovered a tale of chance encounters and unbridled enthusiasm. You can’t always get what you want I guess.

Time Off sat down recently and interviewed Dave about Montpelier’s launch on Friday.  Here’s the story.  Thanks Tyler.

In today’s issue of Scene Magazine Montpelier gets a full page feature.  See it below and read the article online here: http://scenemagazine.com.au/index.php/section-table/58-cover-stories/726-montpelier-interview

Today’s edition of Rave Magazine has a feature on Montpelier’s EP Launch on Friday 5 March. Here’s what they said:

DAVE BUTLER of local stadium-aspiring indie types MONTPELIER tells ERIK VELAND that they really love Australian producers after all.

On returning to Australia from recording, the boys from Montpelier (née The Quills) were met with some skepticism and jealousy from a few local pundits. Were they just trust fund kids with money to throw at big name producers at a whim? Worse: Were Australia and our producers just not good enough for them? Frontman Dave Butler explains:

“We didn’t get it a lot, but there were some who said ‘Aren’t Australians good enough for you?’, but that’s not what we had in mind at all. We were actually starting a record with a producer down in Sydney. There are some really talented people in Australia with some amazingly creative ideas. We just got presented with an opportunity to work with a great producer who has worked with some bands we really like and we took it – as you do. It was unexpected when it came up and I think we would have been stupid to say no.”

This all came about from sending Andrew, the band’s keyboardist and manager, over to SXSW, to get an idea of what was happening over in America. At a bar, he met an ex-Queenslander there working in music PR in New York. She connected him with producers who were interested in working with them.

“This was a massive shock from having no expectations at all. We decided to work with Kevin [Augunas; Cold War Kids, Magnetic Zeroes, Yves Klein Blue] and a few months later we packed our stuff together and flew to LA.”

The LA production was for their forthcoming EP. But what is coming out of the Sydney recordings?

“Not sure. We are doing pre-production on some tracks and demoing some other tracks. It might be an EP, it might turn into an LP. We are just going to get the songs ready, record them and then see what happens.”

If you have ever attended a Montpelier live show, you know they always sound like they are playing for 50,000 no matter how many are actually in attendance. Surely we’ll be seeing them playing a stadium in the near future?

“(laughs) I wouldn’t get ahead of ourselves too much. There is only a handful of bands in the world that have been able to pull that one off. I think when we play a show it doesn’t really matter where it is or who it is for, we really just try and have fun and play the best we can. Sometimes the coolest gig is when you are playing for 20 people who don’t know who you are, but by the end of the gig they are loving your songs. You can have a blast whether you are playing for 20 or a couple of hundred.”

MONTPELIER launch their self-titled debut EP on Friday Mar 5 at The Zoo, supported by Tin Can Radio and Timothy Caroll.

You can read the feature online here: http://www.ravemagazine.com.au/content/view/19437/30/ or check it out below (we’re sneakily on the front cover):

Leading up to our EP Launch this Friday, we’ve been popping up in a few places online.  Check out the links below for some recent coverage of our launch:

http://batsmagazine.blogspot.com/2010/02/montpelier-ep-launch-ticket-giveaway.html – BATS Magazine have a couple of double passes to give away!

http://subfusco.blogspot.com/2010/02/subfusco-dresses-montpelier-for-ep.html

http://www.accessallareas.net.au/fastfive/.php

We’re very excited to announce a run of shows down the East Coast of Australia in support of the launch of Montpelier’s debut EP.  Kicking off on March this tour is Montpelier’s biggest to date.  Details of all the shows are as follows:

Friday March 5, The Zoo, BRISBANE
w/ Tin Can Radio and Timothy Carrol
711 Ann St, Fortitude Valley, QLD
Tickets are $8 available from www.oztix.com.au or $10 at the door (If not sold out) Doors open at 8pm.

Wednesday March 10, Bar on the Hill, Newcastle University, NEWCASTLE
University of Newcastle, University Dr, Callaghan, NSW
FREE Lunch time performance – 12:30pm

Wednesday March 10, The Cambridge Hotel, NEWCASTLE
w/ The Bastilles and Paper Prophets
789 Hunter St, Newcastle West, NSW
Doors open at 8pm. FREE

Thursday March 11, The Bald Faced Stag, SYDNEY
w/ Frankie
345 Parramatta Rd, Leichhardt, NSW
Tickets are $10 at the door. Doors open at 8pm.

Friday March 12, The Bookship Café, SYDNEY
Oxford St, Surry Hills, NSW
FREE Lunchtime ACOUSTIC performance – 12:30pm

Friday March 12, The Gaelic Theatre, SYDNEY
Devonshire St, Surry Hills, NSW
Tickets are $10 and available directly from the band. See www.montpeliermusic.net for more information.

Saturday March 13, Pippi’s At the Point, NEWCASTLE
199 Main Rd, Speers Point, NSW
FREE ACOUSTIC performance – 9pm

Wednesday March 17, The Espy, MELBOURNE
11 The Esplanade, St Kilda, VIC
Doors open at 8pm.

For more information, visit the shows page.

In celebration of our upcoming EP launch we’d like to give away something for free.  We’ve still got a few copies of our limited edition “The Rafters” singles left and we want you to have one.  So here’s the thing, when you buy a pre-sale ticket to our EP launch show at The Zoo on March 5, you’ll get a free copy of the single at the door.  Buy your tickets here:

http://zoo.oztix.com.au/default.aspx?Event=14259