Roadside Monument was an American

math rock Math rock is a style of progressive and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush as well as 20th-century minimal music composers such as Steve Reich. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures (including ...

band from

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, who were active from 1994–1998 and then again from 2002–2003.

History

Before Roadside Monument began, singer Doug Lorig was involved in other bands. During junior high, high school, and college, he performed in the bands Cow Shrapnel, Waterfront, and Sixth Hour, all of which also featured another future Roadside Monument member, bassist Todd Florence. Roadside Monument signed with

Tooth & Nail Records Tooth & Nail Records is a Christian rock record label founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle, Washington where it is situated today. It is home to many well-known musical acts, including Undero ...

about four months after they formed in 1994. They released their Tooth & Nail debut, a

7-inch In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separat ...

vinyl EP called '' My Life Is Green'', in 1995. Their full-length album '' Beside This Brief Hexagonal'' was also released in 1996. After the rest of the band left, Matt Johnson (of

Blenderhead Blenderhead was an American punk rock band signed to Tooth & Nail Records. They released three albums from 1992 to 2001. The band reunited for guitarist Tyler Vander Ploeg's 40th birthday in March 2016. Band members ;Current * Billy Power - vo ...

) (drums) and Johnathan Ford (bass) joined the band. Lorig, Ford and Johnson became the band's sole members on all future releases. In 1997, '' Eight Hours Away from Being a Man'' was released, along with a pair of split EPs (with Puller and

Frodus Frodus (a.k.a. Frodus Conglomerate International, Frodus Sound Laboratories, FCI, Frodus Escape Plan, Frodus Deposit Insurance Corporation) was an American post-hardcore band formed in 1993 in Washington, D.C. by vocalist/guitarist Shelby Cinca ...

). '' Eight Hours Away from Being a Man'' became a prominent album in the indie rock, emo and Christian underground music scenes. Roadside Monument broke up after the

Cornerstone Festival Cornerstone Festival was a Christian music festival put on by Jesus People USA and held annually around July 4 near Bushnell, Illinois, drawing some 20,000 attendees each year. In a given year, many artists that played at Cornerstone also pl ...

in 1998, when Ford moved to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. They had already written and recorded another album, called ''

I Am the Day of Current Taste ''I Am the Day of Current Taste'' is the final album from math rock band Roadside Monument. Track listing # "I Am The Day Of Current Taste" – 7:01 # "OJ Simpson House Auction" – 6:29 # "Taxiriding As An Artform" – 3:50 # "Cops Are My Bes ...

'', which was released several months after their breakup. In 2002, Ford returned to Seattle, and Roadside Monument reunited. The band played local shows and toured with

Pedro the Lion Pedro the Lion is an American indie rock band from Seattle, Washington, United States. David Bazan formed the band in 1995 and represented its main creative force, backed by a varying rotation of collaborating musicians. In 2006 Pedro the Lion ...

before breaking up again in 2003.

Side projects

Since their breakup, Roadside Monument's members have participated in a variety of bands: * Suffering and the Hideous Thieves is an experimental band founded by Jeff "Suffering" Bettger of another former Tooth & Nail band,

Ninety Pound Wuss Ninety Pound Wuss (sometimes styled as 90 Lb. Wuss) was an American punk rock band formed in Port Angeles, Washington, in 1994. They signed to Tooth & Nail Records in 1995 and released three studio albums over the next five years which would b ...

. Bettger writes most of the songs, but Ford and Johnson have also played in the band. * Lorig was in the final lineup for Raft of Dead Monkeys, another band that Bettger fronted after Ninety Pound Wuss. Ford and Johnson also played in Raft of Dead Monkeys, a controversial band that broke up in 2001. * Lorig has since played in the

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drumming ...

ban
Black Eagle
and currently fronts the grunge ban
Patrol
* Ford was a founding member of the "

doom hardcore Sludge metal (also known as sludge or sludge doom) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that originated through combining elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. It is typically harsh and abrasive, often featuring shouted vocals, heavily ...

" band

Warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...

and filled in on bass for them during live shows. He left Warlord before they recorded their lone full-length album, ''Rock the Foe Hammer'', which came out in 1999

through

Solid State Records Solid State Records is a Christian metalcore record label, an imprint of Tooth & Nail Records. Unlike Tooth & Nail, Solid State signs hardcore punk and heavy metal bands. Like Tooth & Nail, Solid State is primarily a Christian label. However, ...

. * Ford filled in on bass for

from time to time after Roadside Monument's first breaku

* Ford is the core member of

Unwed Sailor Unwed Sailor is an American, mostly instrumental band, formed in 1998 by Johnathon Ford, with recordings that range from instrumental rock to ambient drones. The band's touring and recording lineups have largely been in rotation over the years, ...

. * Johnson is the drummer for

The Out Circuit The Out_Circuit is an indie rock/post-hardcore band/project by former Frodus co-frontman Nathan Burke currently signed to Lujo Records. The Out Circuit was originally based in Washington, DC but now resides in Seattle, Washington. History I ...

Critical response

Throughout their history, Roadside Monument has had several clashes with some Christian bookstore chains, who cited their songs as being "controversial". Examples of such songs included "Sperm Ridden Burden" (which Lorig said Ford wrote about seeing a child on a bus who was being raised by a single mother) and "

O. J. Simpson Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947), nicknamed "Juice", is an American former football running back, actor, and broadcaster who played for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. Once a popular figur ...

House Auction" (the news on television when Lorig was looking for the title to the song he was working on). The band members did not mind that their music was not being sold in Christian bookstores, because they preferred to think of themselves as a "band" rather than as a "Christian band". In a
interview with HM Magazine
soon after their breakup, drummer Matt Johnson said, "... I think the problem comes in when you start using the word 'Christian' as an adjective. And when I start hearing talk like that, my first inclination is to run totally in the opposite direction.... It's just a debate that I've been over and over with people so much, that I'm not even sure what to say anymore. It's like, I'm a Christian and I play music, and if that means my band is a 'Christian band', then whatever." Many fans of Roadside Monument like the band because of their creative sound. They are credited as being key contributors to the original emo sub-culture and sound of indie rock which existed in the mid to late nineties. Their songs featured unique structure that was a blatant rejection of the verse/chorus structure followed by many popular songs. In addition, their unusual guitar parts, abnormal rhythms, and abrupt tempo changes, topped off by Lorig's emotional vocals, gained them acclaim and made the band's style almost unable to be labeled. Indeed, reviewers of the band would describe them as

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

, or just regular

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

Current members

* Doug Lorig:

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

* Matt Johnson:

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

* Johnathon Ford:

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

Founding members

* Todd Florence -

* Mike Dente -

* Joel Metzger -

* Doug Lorig -

Discography

* ''My Life is Green'' (

, 1996,

) * '' Beside This Brief Hexagonal'' (1996,

) * '' Roadside Monument/Puller Split EP (1997, Tooth & Nail Records) * '' Eight Hours Away from Being a Man'' (1997, Tooth & Nail Records) * ''

Roadside Monument / Frodus Split EP Roadside may refer to: *Road verge A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is trans ...

'' (1997, Tooth & Nail Records) * ''

'' (1998, Tooth & Nail Records)

External links

Official homepage

- gives details about the band members' current musical projects

{{Authority control Christian rock groups from Washington (state) Tooth & Nail Records artists Musical groups from Seattle Musical groups established in 1994