With the formation of the Monoliers, Nigel Cross and Dylan Smith, sophomores, want to redo their last May Day performance with their former band Midsommar. Their new band, the Monoliers, has been together for nearly a year now and they believe that with the new additions of Luci LaViolette, freshman, and Preston Weller, sophomore, this May Day can be more successful than the last. Dylan Smith, sophomore, is the Monoliers’ main guitarist.

“[May Day is] good exposure,” Smith said. “And we [Midsommar] did it last year, and it was a complete mess. So we wanted to redeem ourselves.”

Weller writes some of the songs along with collaborating with the other band members. LaViolette does backup vocals and plays both bass and guitar.

“I think for the band I’ve written a total of maybe three or four songs, and then the band all together I think we have around 10,” LaViolette said.

Because of the authenticity of their music, they plan on releasing music in the near future on SoundCloud, with talks of something even being released on May Day. The Monoliers play and write predominantly rock music. Cross’s main goal for the band is to find a consistent sound for them.

“Garage rock, shoegaze, indie, [alternative]. There are a lot of buzzwords,” Nigel Cross said.

The Monoliers write and perform exclusively their own music.

“It’s nice to collaborate with people and it’s a lot easier to write music when you’re with other people,” Cross said.

The band plays mostly at the Youth Music Project’s Open Mic Nights which are held on the first Friday of every month. This program gives young musicians a place to perform and express themselves, and gives their friends and family an opportunity to support them.

“Just mainly our friends and parents [support us],” Smith said. “They support us a lot and we appreciate that very much.”

LaViolette finds inspiration in Lizzy McAlpine, a musician who went viral in June of 2020.

“I would say, McAlpine is the peak, that is my goal,” LaViolette said. “She actually recently went viral with the song ‘Ceilings,’ and I think because of how she originally got big through social media, it’s really eye opening and I could do that too.”

As the newest member, LaViolette sees the Monoliers as a mix of both fun and the ability to reach her goals.

“I think we definitely plan on releasing an album eventually,” LaViolette said. “We’re mainly just kind of doing it for fun. And we don’t have a huge goal like making money off of it. I definitely hope that people like our music and willingly listen to it.”