Without a doubt one of the most exciting acts to break out from 2013, Monark are changing the face of
pop music in South Africa. Mixing Eugene Coetzer’s uniquely characterful vocal delivery - polished with his
distinctive falsetto - and Ewald Jansen van Rensberg’s unmatched, global production style, Monark craft
songs rich in meaning and soul stirring hooks.
Performing as a 4-piece band, Monark deliver something completely fresh and unique, and are setting
trends sonically and stirring up tastes in the South African music landscape. Having dominated the South
African airwaves with their first 2 singles, Smiling (5FM Top 3) and Build It Up (5FM Top 5, and #1 on
Jacaranda FM, Highveld/KFM, Algoa FM, OFM), they also released their 3rd single, Something in the build
up to the launch of their debut album NEGATIVES. The album, which was released worldwide on 14 July
2014, peaked at No. 1 on the iTunes Album Chart on the day of its release.
MORE ABOUT MONARK
Home to some of South Africa’s most renowned legendary bands, Potchefstroom delivered their latest
offering to the South African music scene - Monark - in May 2013 when the four piece pop rock band
emerged with their first single, Smiling.
The band was formed when producer Ewald Jansen van Rensburg teamed up with friend and vocalist,
Eugene Coetzer. For a couple of years they patiently developed and worked towards finding the specific
sound they were after. Once they had discovered it, they gathered together the musicians that were
needed to grow and perform the music, with Deon de Klerk joining the band on bass guitar and Graeme
Wuth on drums. The band officially formed in August 2012, intent on making popular, yet tastefully
engineered music with a cinematic feel.
With Eugene’s unmistakably unique voice and soaring falsetto, Smiling immediately gained mainstream
attention and popularity on major radio stations throughout South Africa. It peaked at No. 3 on 5FM Top
40 Chart and was a Top 20 hit on Highveld and KFM. The video also reached No. 1 on MK’s Top 10 Chart.
December 2013 saw the release of Monark’s second single and music video, entitled Build It Up. The single
soon followed in the footsteps of Smiling’s success and charted on radio nationwide. It reached the Top 5
on 5FM’s Top 40 Chart, No. 2 on East Coast Radio and became the band’s first No. 1 single, topping the
Jacaranda FM Top 20 Chart, KFM and Highveld’s Kia Take 40 SA Chart as well as reaching No. 1 on Algoa
FM. The band’s follow up songs – Something and You Make also did well through the end of 2014 into
2015, with a new single called Hush being released half way through last year to massive success across all
radio stations, achieving Top 5 status in charts across the country and becoming a firm favorite at the live
shows.
Monark achieved industry recognition winning the MK 2014 Award for Best Newcomer, along with being
chosen as one of the selections in iTunes’ exclusive ‘New Artist in 2014’ campaign. At the 2015 SAMA’s
(South African Music Awards), the band were nominated for Best Pop Album, as well as Record of the
Year, along with a nomination for Ewald Jansen van Rensburg for Best Producer for the NEGATIVES album.
In 2016, the band released a deluxe edition of their debut album which includes their latest singles Hush
and the songs currently charting on SA airwaves, Falling and Soldier, as well as a couple of other new
tracks and remixes.
Their energetic and polished live performances have been incredibly well received by their fans, with
Monark performing on some of the top stages in the country – including Rocking The Daisies, Durban Day,
Kirstenbosch Gardens, Parklife, 94.7 Joburg Day, KFM 94.5’s KDAY, Splashy Fen, KKNK, Durban Botanical
Gardens, to name but a few, as well as live performances on top rated TV shows The Voice, Strictly Come
Dancing, and at the 2016 South African Music Awards.
Recent projects include a collaboration on the world-renowned Coke Studios TV show with Rap icon Riky
Rick, and upcoming vocal star Lisa Good. The single that was created was called ‘Spare a Little Love’, and
was released in September 2016 to great acclaim. The band debuted the first single of their new self-titled
album at the end of March 2017, and will be releasing a brand new album end of May 2017 through their
label Universal Music, and are hoping to spread their wings further afield to Europe before the end of the
year.