Having a rock band in Brazil is no easy task, and the members of The Mönic know this all too well. Having a band composed mostly of women, specifically targeting that audience and seeking to bring more female faces to the scene – both on stage and in the audience – can make the journey even more arduous.
Working hard since 2017, when it was formed in São Paulo, The Mönic enters the circuit of major Brazilian festivals for the first time in 2024. The quartet, founded by Ale Labelle (guitar and vocals), Dani Buarque (guitar and vocals) and Joan Bedin (bass and vocals), will perform at Rock In Rio on September 15th and also at Knotfest Brasil on October 20th.
Getting here wasn't simple or quick. Emerging from the dissolution of the group BBGG , which included the three original members and was already making waves in the national scene, The Mönic positioned itself from the beginning as a band that wanted to be composed only of women. For Dani Buarque , starting from scratch was a matter of autonomy. “In the beginning, we had many ideas that people said weren't commercial. They'd say to us: 'Are you sure you're going to limit yourselves to playing only with women? Are you going to raise that flag?' I've heard mentors talking about us in mentorship sessions and saying it was a technique and that this technique was worn out,” she recounts in an interview with Wikimetal .
Alongside drummer Daniely Simões , The Mönic released their first studio album, Deus Picio , in 2019. The garage rock-oriented project features only 7 tracks, most of them in English, and ends at a mere 20 minutes, but it was enough to give the band the initial push they needed. Their second album came only in 2023, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and accompanied by significant news. The first of these was the arrival of Thiago Coiote , the group's first male member and current drummer. The previous year, the quartet signed with Deck – a record label and distributor whose catalog includes names like Pitty and Fernanda Takai – and had the opportunity to work with producer Rafael Ramos , who has produced Titãs , Dead Fish , and Pitty herself.
All of this led to the groundbreaking album Cuidado Você (2022) . Almost entirely in Portuguese (with the exception of “Walk All Over Me”), and 10 minutes longer than its predecessor, the project is an electric and laid-back work that burns like a fuse, showcasing a more punk and fun side of The Mönic and leaving a taste of “I want more”. The release undeniably boosted the quartet's career, bringing in more fans and more media visibility. In Dani's opinion, the secret to the “big turnaround of the album” lies in the inclusion of more songs in Portuguese. The electrified tracks with catchy choruses sung in their native language connected the band with new audiences and generated a loyal and engaged community of fans (The Möníacos ), complete with a WhatsApp group including the band members themselves.
The power of social media
The hard work of reaching new people and new spaces, however, was not done alone. Today, with just under 6,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and almost 5,000 subscribers on YouTube, The Mönic has eight times that number on Instagram, where most of its fanbase is concentrated: a total of 48,700 followers.
Looking at their posts, it's easy to see why: the band is well-versed in the formats that are most successful on the internet. They publish videos following current trends, responding to comments, and using the space to promote their tour schedule, releases, or any news that attracts attention. The video showing the members' reaction to finding out they would be playing at Knotfest Brazil has already garnered over 113,000 views. And it's all thanks to their own merit. "We created this audience, did the shows, and worked hard," Thiago to Wikimetal . "We also had resilience because it's that thing: you release an album and you have to make it happen. Releasing it is just the beginning of the work."
Despite having a team to help with more bureaucratic matters, music video production, and a booking agency, the most intensive work of promoting and marketing The Mönic is done organically by the band members themselves, who face the challenge of balancing band work with side jobs and family life. Still held hostage by the instability of the concert schedule – which is where they get the most financial return – all four maintain careers away from the stage, even if, in some way, connected to the artistic world.
Thiago, who has a home studio, does music production work and teaches drums. Dani, who is head of social media, also uses her knowledge on the band's social media (which, little by little, has been yielding great results). In addition to the time and effort dedicated to massive content creation and promotion, they also organize the pre-production of each of their tours. All this amidst a routine of shows touring all over Brazil. "It's a lot of work, it's very hard," Dani laments. "There are times when we think we're going to go crazy because it really is maddening."
For them, a consistent presence on social media, however exhausting, is an essential part of how the music market works today and a key element for the growth of new artists. On the one hand, if the power to dictate which bands will be heard is no longer concentrated in the hands of record labels and big businessmen, on the other hand, those who do a good job but don't know how to use social media to their advantage end up at a disadvantage. "You have to face the fact that this happens nowadays," comments Thiago. "In any area, not just music. If you're not on social media today, with any business, you'll fall behind those who are."
Knotfest Brazil and Rock in Rio
The combination of digital strategy with hard work offline finally led The Mönic to the line-up of two festivals that are the dream of any national band trying to make it happen: Knotfest Brasil and Rock In Rio.
At Knotfest Brasil, which takes place at Allianz Parque in São Paulo, the group will perform on Sunday, October 20th. In a poll organized by Wikimetal , The Mönic emerged as the most anticipated act of the festival by our readers, accumulating 46% of the votes. At Rock in Rio, they will open the Supernova Stage on September 15th, also a Sunday, right before three big names from the national scene: Black Pantera , Crypta , and Dead Fish .
Those who arrive early to see them at both festivals can expect a show "with blood in their eyes," as Thiago promises. "We're going to play the heaviest songs, throw the energy way up high. We want to create a mosh pit, make Allianz Parque rock, if possible. And Rock in Rio is a super special stage, only with the people we love. We know it's going to be hectic, that we have a short time, but it's going to be totally [with the energy] way up high," he says.
Despite the strong emotion of being accepted after several attempts and all the work that brought them this far, The Mönic remains aware that post-festival results won't bring stratospheric numbers right away. “We're very grounded in the understanding that it's not something that will change our lives the next day after playing and [suddenly] we'll be living off music and our audience will double,” assures Dani. “We really want to take advantage of this opportunity, even beforehand, for people to know we're going to play there, to want to hear our sound. Whether we like it or not, for those who don't know us, it increases the curiosity to know who we are, so we want to use this opportunity to the fullest.”
And they also want to extend this opportunity to another name in the scene. In both performances, The Mönic invited Eskröta to share the stage time, albeit briefly. The trio from the interior of the country, a thrash metal band, was also formed in 2017 and is known for its resistance lyrics focused mainly on feminism and antifascism. The friendship between the two bands and the alignment of causes defended by both, as well as Eskröta's presence within the metal scene, led The Mönic to invite them to participate in the Knotfest performance. Subsequently, the invitation was also extended to the show at Rock in Rio.
“We’ll have very little stage time, but I think that when you consider the scene, the opportunity, and the magnitude of being at a festival like this, the difference between playing for 15 minutes or 25, having another band with us… For us, it will be 10 minutes less to have another band that’s been around for as long as we have. I think it’s much more about the scene, about being together, and about our own message,” explains Dani.
"There's No Band With Girls" – for more women in the scene
Highlighting another all-female band is neither new nor an isolated case in The Mönic's trajectory. In March 2023, they launched the event "Não Tem Banda Com Mina" – a party curated by the band members themselves that tours Brazil, inviting local all-female bands to share the stage with them. The next edition takes place on September 20th in São Paulo, at Picles.
In just over a year, there have already been 14 editions and "more than 80 women on stage," according to Dani. The intention is to energize the scene with a greater female presence, both on stage and in the audience, offering more opportunities and building an environment where they feel comfortable.
The idea for the party, as well as its mocking name, arose from The Mönic's discomfort at always hearing the same response when questioning producers about the absence of women in event lineups: "ah, but there aren't any bands with women." For Dani Buarque, hearing those words in 2024 is unacceptable. "The only justification for having a festival with 10% female participation, or none at all, is that you have a lazy producer who doesn't know how to do research, doesn't know how to do their homework, and isn't interested in creating more equality in the scene," she says. And they make a point of holding those responsible for events with scarce female representation accountable. "We have a playlist that we send to these producers. It's a playlist of active bands from our scene."
One of the goals of Não Tem Banda Com Mina is also to bring more sonic diversity and unity between different audiences and musical genres. In this space, rock, metal, and punk bands are just as welcome as artists from styles like rap and trap.
“We usually say that the idea behind Não Tem Banda Com Mina is even bigger than The Mönic,” Dani comments. “Because we don’t know if in ten, twenty, thirty years we’ll still be interested in playing. But I have no doubt that we’ll be interested in seeing a scene with more equality, in seeing more women, in looking back and saying: ‘Wow, we contributed, you know? We did our part, even if it was just a little, in bringing women together.’”
Embracing this cause so intentionally, with such a strong presence and action to bring this message to the forefront and make things happen, has caused and continues to cause discomfort. Now that The Mönic is reaching new spaces and gaining more visibility, however, changing its stance to please certain audiences and ceasing to raise these issues is not an option.
“I think that, even while having one foot in the midstream, aiming for the mainstream, we managed to maintain the same beliefs we had, the same struggles, the same ideals, and not succumb to the industry,” reflects Dani. “Of course, we want to make music that connects with everyone, we want to be mainstream, we never denied that. But we don't want to lose the things we believe in, our ideas, and the things we fought for. Because I think that if, when we didn't have many people listening to us, we were so bothered by certain things, it doesn't make sense now, when we have more attention, for us not to talk about these things and not use, in a way, this privilege that we have gained. With a lot of struggle, yes, but it's still a privilege.”
All that effort in the name of what they believe in has not been in vain. At both shows and parties, The Mönic has seen its audience shift from predominantly male to entirely female, demonstrating women's desire to occupy space in the national rock scene. A place that, often and for numerous reasons, can be intimidating and uncomfortable, not only for this audience but for minorities in general. The same happened with the members of Black Pantera , who reported to Wikimetal the gradual increase in Black people in the audience at their shows and fans who returned to consuming rock music because they felt represented both by the trio's message and their presence in prominent spaces.
“I strongly believe in change,” argues Dani Buarque. “[I believe] that as we talk and discuss this issue more, people will recognize that there really is this gap in the scene. There's no arguing with numbers. And that one day, in an interview we give, in a space we have on TV, on the internet, and on the radio, we won't need to spend it talking about this. That it will be a scene with equity, with Black people, with Indigenous people, with Asian people, with lesbians, with bisexuals. That it will be more inclusive, not just have one type of people, and that we can talk about other topics more frequently.”
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