BAND

Formed in 1997, The WILD quickly carved out a reputation on the Dutch live circuit with a sound that blended raw guitar energy and melodic ambition. Fronted by vocalist and guitarist Senff, alongside Haurissa on bass, Cpt. Meddle on guitar and keyboards, and Snorremans on drums, the band released their debut (and only) album Canadian Sun in 1999. The album quietly entered the lower reaches of the Dutch Album Top 100 and remained there for several weeks, an unusual achievement for a fully independent release with no major-label backing. According to the band’s distributor, sales figures were difficult to verify, as the album appeared to sell best in cities the band had never played.

While touring heavily throughout Europe, the record found a modest but notable audience in North America, where it became a cult favorite among college radio programmers, appearing on CMJ’s “Most Added” list more than once. Due to Snorremans’ criminal past, however, the band was unable to perform there. At least one U.S. college station reportedly kept Canadian Sun in regular rotation for years after the band had broken up, simply because no one at the station realized they had.

In the early 2000s, Snorremans’ continued problems with the law led to his firing, which pushed the band into new territory. With his replacement, John 4 (an Alesis SR-16 drum machine), the group embraced samples and loops, radically reshaping their sound. To reflect this evolution, the band re-emerged as MONARCHY, signaling a move toward darker, more electronic textures without abandoning their rock foundations.

MONARCHY’s highly anticipated debut album BIRTH arrived in 2002 and marked the band’s artistic peak. The record sold strongly in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal and Pakistan, with continued moderate success in North America. A standout moment came with the track The Bridge, featuring Vivian Campbell (Dio, Def Leppard) on guitar, which fueled particularly strong sales in Northern Ireland.

Despite industry buzz and a seemingly promising management deal, extensive touring plans ultimately failed to materialize, and momentum slowly faded — especially after Senff relocated to Canada in 2006. During this period, the band was still occasionally contacted by promoters attempting to book MONARCHY for festivals that had already taken place.

The years that followed were marked by silence, legal skirmishes over the MONARCHY name with a similarly named British/Australian electronic duo (as well as a lawsuit by Disney over the use of their Bombie the Zombie character), and, in 2021, the unfortunate passing of founding member Cpt. Meddle.

In 2023, while digging through the band’s old tapes and hard drives for unfinished demos, live recordings, and alternate versions (intended for a 22nd-anniversary reissue of their BIRTH album), Senff and Haurissa uncovered so much interesting material that it sparked the decision to turn it into new songs and ultimately reignite the band.

BIRTH (24th Anniversary Edition) is set to be released on August 13, 2026, while the band has taken first steps toward writing and recording a brand new album.

To avoid confusion with the (now defunct) British act Monarchy, the duo now moves forward under the banner The WILD/Monarchy; a name that honors both its origins and its evolution, and signals that the story is not yet finished.