Hardcore band Monk brings us their new EP, Dark Side of the Mind, seven tracks equally influenced by classic hardcore bands and Buddhist spiritualists like Ram Dass and Thich Nhat Hanh. Monk’s songs melds hardcore with the principles of Zen Buddhism to create a unique approach to the genre.
Opening track “Material World” assaults you with its quickness and power. It’s short and succinct and is a fantastic start to the album. The title track, “Dark Side of the Mind,” features Brendan Murphy of Counterparts and perfectly encapsulates the band, while “Ride the Wave” almost has a Pixies feel. “Chains” and “Your Rules” are classic hardcore songs done right. “Your Rules” and “Shadow Self” are great songs about self-reflection, not even just hardcore songs.
Dark Side of the Mind is an exercise in how to keep hardcore relevant. It injects new life into the genre by taking all the work on emotions and feelings that Buddhism helps guide you through and harnessing it into proper channels—in this case, music. While the journey throughout is intense, the album ends with a guided meditation by the band. We caught up with lead singer Frank Bach to talk about the EP and how Buddhism and hardcore work together.
How did the band come together and how long have you been playing?
Monk came together during the pandemic. I had been writing lyrics and reflecting a lot, and hardcore always felt like the right outlet to explore those inner tensions. I called up some friends—Ian and Daniel Romano, and it all clicked instantly. There’s a shared language between us, both musically and philosophically.
The title track, Dark Side of the Mind, features Brendan Murphy of Counterparts, tell us about the song and how getting Brendan on the track came about.
That track is about confronting the parts of ourselves we hide from the world—the shame, the ego, the fear. Brendan’s voice has this raw honesty that cuts through everything, so we hit him up and sent him the track. He and I go way back to when I was a concert booker in Sudbury, ON. His part brought this whole new energy to the song—it pushed it from introspective to absolutely unrelenting. It felt like the perfect collision.
It feels like some of the lead parts kind of have a reverby Pixies or Dead Kennedys tone and feel to them especially on Ride the Wave, was that intentional?
Definitely. While we’re rooted in hardcore, we pull from a wide spectrum—everything from surf rock to noise to doom and sludge. Ride the Wave is a bit of a trip; it’s about surrendering to the flow, even when it’s turbulent. So yeah, that wiry, reverb-drenched tone was intentional. It’s a nod to those bands who weren’t afraid to be weird, and who carved out their own sonic space. I love hardcore, but I get bored of it easily.
Tell us about the other single on the album, Chains.
Chains is about self-limiting beliefs, the cycles we get stuck in—emotional, generational, systemic—and how difficult it is to break free, even when we know they’re toxic.
The end of the record is a guided meditation, do you practice meditation and Buddhism? If so, how did you get into it?
Yeah, I’ve been practicing for years. Meditation started as a way to deal with anxiety and burnout, but it became something deeper—more like a path than a tool. I found Ram Dass, Pema Chödrön, and of course, Thich Nhat Hanh. His simplicity and clarity hit me hard. That guided meditation at the end of the record felt like the right way to close the journey—after all the chaos, the distortion, there’s stillness. We wanted to leave listeners with that moment of breath.
One of the few books on Buddhism I’ve read is Anger by Thich Nhat Hanh, how do you incorporate those principles into a genre known for its aggressiveness?
That book is incredible. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that anger isn’t something to suppress—it’s something to understand. And hardcore is perfect for that. Instead of pretending we’re not angry, we scream it out. We transmute it. It’s not about violence, it’s about truth. That’s how I see it—hardcore isn’t the opposite of mindfulness, it’s a raw form of it.
Do you feel with the chaos sometimes brought in hardcore and the order meditation and Buddhism brings kind of balances each other out?
Absolutely. It’s like yin and yang. The chaos is necessary—it shakes you up, forces you to confront things. But the order, the stillness, gives it context. Without one, the other loses meaning. Monk is about embracing both. We rage, we reflect, we repeat.
Are you playing any upcoming shows?
Yeah—we’re wrapping up a tour in Mexico currently. Then we’re hitting SoCal for some record release shows towards the end of April. We’ll do a proper West Coast US run too. We’re also trying to get out to Europe and Japan. We’ll play anywhere.
You can find there tour schedule here. “Dark Side of the Mind” is available on Dine Alone Records April 25th and can be purchased from their website.
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