3.10.2005

My Night With Mono

Tonight I saw one of the best live shows I've ever seen by a band. (Sorry Lift the Mask, but it's true.) I was fortunate enough to see Mono from Japan. I've been listening to their music for a few months now and Benn's told me they have an awesome live show. He was very right.
They played at this dive called Fat Cat's, or Mary Jane's, I'm not quite sure. These guys should be playing in sold out arenas. Of course that would mean that a guy like myself could never have gotten right up next to the stage and destroy my hearing from the monitors I happened to be standing next to. I think Mono is one of the most unassuming bands that exists in the world. They just have so much energy in their performance that at first glance I didn't expect would come from a group like this. This goes especially for the bassist. She would just stand there when she wasn't playing, or walk off toward a monitor to add some feedback to the music, but when she started it was like someone had just brought her to life. Everyone in the band seemed to do that. If they weren't playing they'd be motionless. I saw many times the drummer would actually lay over his kit until the song was over, or he began playing again. And the energy they delivered was incredible.
Each one of them are amazing musicians. Both guitarists had a suitcase full of pedals and effects. If I'd been smart enough to remember a camera I'd show you, but that didn't happen. But even when they weren't using the effects they were making sounds that I'd only heard one other guitarist make (Tim Reynolds), and that guy is like a fucking guitar god.
I picked up one of their albums, "New York Soundtracks," which I also got signed by the band. I've only got one actual copy of their three other albums, but I picked this one up because I've only seen it elsewhere as an LP. (Yes, Overkamp, they had the LP available but I don't have a turntable.) Most of it is in Japanese so I don't know what the fuck it says, and as one of the guitarists was signing I think he might have been surprised that a pale-ass white guy in the deep south had bought it because he pointed it out to me. While I was getting each member to sign it I must have looked like a complete fool, because I was half deaf from my proximity to the monitor and I was babbling like a damn idiot from being in awe of what I had just witnessed.
I strongly urge all of you to check out Mono if you get the chance. I'm sure Benn agrees with me on that since I've heard him talk about their shows for a while now. The only thing I regret from this night is not having a camera.

1 comment:

Kosmo said...

sorry i didn't call man. my connection has been out all weekend so i didn't read this 'til 9pm and i called but no one answered.
keeg still has his and no, me-o have-o no cellphone-o. (that's spanish)