Brennan Strawn, also known as Monarch, answers questions about the inspiration, writing and release of his second album, Lowly, which released on iTunes and from select retailers last October. Be sure to check out our review of the record, and visit Monarch’s MySpace page to sample tracks.

Patrol: Since most everyone out there is still getting to know you, why don’t we start with your musical background. What do you play on record and how does that translate into the live shows?

Brennan Strawn: Musical background! Here we go ! well, I learned guitar at a very young age; I basically stayed in my bedroom and learned how to play every Beatles song. Songwriting was the most important thing to me over anything. I loved writing songs. I play a number of instruments that you can hear on the record, including piano, mandolin, bass, etc. They translate differently in whatever is going on live ! I like to change it up a lot and make each performance special.

I wasn’t exposed to very much music that I liked other than the Beatles until I was in high school, when a few records really changed my perspective on the direction I wanted to go. They were The Man Who by Travis, Isola by Kent, Amnesiac by Radiohead, Mezzanine by Massive Attack, Asleep in the Back by Wlbow, and Denali by Denali. These albums really inspired me and still do; they’re my major influences as a writer, producer, and arranger.

Patrol: To the extent that Monarch is a “band,” what’s the “getting together” story?

Strawn: Well, it’s a bit crazy how things started and eventually ended up. In 2001, Brett Zoric was playing in a group in Pittsburgh that was doing pretty well locally, and I was making demos in my basement. We started working on some songs together and really liked how they sounded. Some old cuts of “Just perfect” and “Plug In Listen” [from The Grandeur That Was Rome] were first thought up just fooling about on a keyboard. Eventually we sent the demo to Northern Records in California, and they signed us to do a record that summer. We toured Grandeur all the way to South by Southwest, where we got in a car accident, breaking my foot and sending me in and out of hospitals for a year. We eventually couldn’t get past what happened and went our separate ways. I ended up moving to New York and started writing Lowly.

Patrol: Couldn’t get past what happened? Meaning your injury?

Strawn: Well, truthfully, I couldn’t forgive one of the band members. My best friend was the one who accidentally fell asleep at the wheel, and I didn’t forgive him at the time. He never meant to hurt me, and I wish things were different between us, but I was young and stubborn. I should have forgiven him and, band or no band and let it go. Anytime we performed after the accident, it was too hard for me to play, so I found an excuse and moved on.

Patrol: Why did you pick New York?

Strawn: I moved to New York because my manager advised me to do so. There was a lot of buzz over a remix of the song “Wasteful,” and a few labels including Columbia, Epic, and RCA wanted to have some showcases. I was pretty excited to be in the swing of things, but none of the majors made an offer. I got very discouraged, and wondered if my music could ever be marketable at that level. Still do, actually ! I’ve played quite a few of showcases for those guys over the years and nothing ever came of it. I have always been happy with Northern, though. I know they’ve always been wanting Monarch to be a breakthrough thing at a larger scale, but we’re proud of the records, and that’s a start I guess.

Patrol: What would you say is different about Lowly? Did you go into it with anything specific you wanted to do differently or expand upon from the first record?

Strawn: The Grandeur album was written during a time when I was up and coming— I was unsure of myself, and unsure of what I wanted to say to the world. Basically, that whole album was a cry out for God to notice me. A need to be forgiven and to be wanted. When I wrote Lowly, I had just been rejected by everyone I thought would get me where I needed to be in the music business. I was alone in a tiny apartment in Queens, barely making enough money to eat, while feeling so disconnected from God that I fell into a deep depression. The lyrics, “Will I die in this room alone? Will I vanish behind my door?” and “So I will hide, count to ten, if I’m gone, I’m sure you will win” were all written while I was barely able to find a reason to go on with my life. It was [written] out of total desperation and solitude. I wasn’t even sure it would ever get made, so I arranged the songs the way I heard them in my head. Andy Prickett pushed me to say everything I was going through in New York— the sleeping around, and my up and down relationship with God. The record was made by the two of us over a few months in between touring, and my brother played all the drums.

[On Lowly] I wanted to go deeper into the struggles of women ! the first record was very vague about those things, and felt that I had to get specific about how I used Christianity as an escape tactic, and how I used my virginity as a way to get away with more. I never really knew these things about myself until I wrote about them; I had to expose it in order to deal with it.

Patrol: Not trying to pry, but what especially do you mean by “using Christianity as an escape tactic,” and “using your virginity to get away with more?”

Strawn: Let me explain a little further. The first record hinted at how much I was sleeping around, and how secretive I was about it. In the song “Now You See It,” the lyric “As I finish my thought, wait outside for now / As always I will get some, I will get some.” In my mind, I would push God out so that I wouldn’t feel guilty while going to bed with a girl.

When I said I used Christianity as an escape tactic, here’s what I mean. My mother is a very gentle person, and growing up around her gave me a real understanding of a woman’s heart. While other guys I knew were having sex on tour, I wasn’t early on, I wanted to save myself for marriage, or so I thought until I truly figured out who I really was. Being a virgin at the time, and a Christian while living in New York gave me tremendous opportunities to go as far as I wanted without going all the way. Because I never gave myself fully to any of these girls, I found that some of them were left wanting more, and therefore I had control. When I wanted someone new, I would explain that I had to leave because of my moral convictions.

It’s pretty hard to admit some of these things, but that’s what Lowly is all about .. the “lowly” man. To use Christ as away of getting sex— how awful can a person get? That was me, and once knowing this, how could I ever find favor again? That’s why the last line on the record is “I don’t want to show the disease and I don’t want to die with this lowly feeling.” I didn’t want the world— my wife, my friends, my family— to know who I really was.

The song “If You Dance” is about my relationship with a girl in New York who repeatedly said that I wasn’t a man because I wouldn’t have sex with her. The lines “I can love you with my hand” and “but I’ve already come” are very literal in the fact that I was okay with doing everything else, but what’s the difference if I’ve already come. I know it sounds graphic, but these are things that were going on everyday with me and people my age, especially in New York which can be very dark at times. Men and women that I grew up with that slowly broke down their sexual standard were having the same kind of despair. So I knew I had to write about it.

Patrol: Even when you’re writing about gritty emotions like these, you obviously think on an epic scale, ie, The Grandeur That Was Rome, and lots of your other lyrics that refer to kings, mighty men, God, etc. I assume some of those themes and motifs are probably inspired by Scripture. Is that so, or do you just like that sort of imagery?

Strawn: I guess I would say I’m inspired by lots of things. Scriptures inspire me to know God better, while my pain usually inspires me to write. That’s just how its been in the past. “Mighty men have no fear,” and “at last I am king” is a metaphor to how I saw my life as David’s life. The “Philistine” that I have been trying to destroy on my own is already destroyed through the blood of Christ; I have already won. I have always been fighting sin on my own, as if I’m not worthy of His grace. I really needed to write “Closer Arrows.” It freed me no only to write it, but believe it.

Patrol: You’ve talked about God quite openly here, and pretty explicitly in some of your lyrics. How do you see Monarch in relation to what Christian music is and has been, especially now that most serious artists who are believers tend to avoid the characterization?

Strawn: I know that a lot of bands are shying away from those things these days. I think it might be because some people think that Christian music is not necessarily “cool” or relevant in the general market. I don’t know ! to be honest, I never really cared about that stuff. I want my music to speak for itself. I’ve been in the center of both Christian music and mainstream music, and they’re both flawed in their own ways, and they both have great things to offer. I’ve just always hoped that Monarch was something that people could relate to and inspire them. I really want Monarch to be heard no matter what— to play wherever I can. As long as I expose myself and stay as honest as I can, the Christian themes will always be there. When I wrote Lowly, I wasn’t trying to get into some sort of club or be apart of what’s hip. I wrote that record about my need for God and how lonely I was. If I had been going through a divorce, I probably would’ve written about that. So I’ve never tried to target a specific audience or to exclude anyone. It really doesn’t matter to me.

Patrol: So has the completion and release of Lowly been as cathartic as you hoped? What are you up to now?

Strawn: Yes it has. Especially because there’s hope on this record, though I don’t listen to it much because it makes me sad. I played a show at Time Square Theater in October, and I cried during “Save Your,” just thinking about how lonely I was brought back some very sad memories. A lot of times it reminds me of who I really am: a very confused young man. I think a top 40-sounding pop record might be my next project. Maybe something about lip gloss poppin’ ! that seems to get the kids dancin’ these days.

Patrol: Speaking of those, are you planning to take Lowly on the road and introduce it to them?

Strawn: I would love to tour this album. I’m planning on doing a few intimate shows this summer in the Seattle area to try out new songs, but I haven’t had a tour planned yet. But I’d love to, of course. I miss it.

Click here to read Patrol’s past interviews with the likes of The Bell, Derek Webb, Dave Debiak, Andy Zipf, and more.

David Sessions is the editor of Patrol.