Mona
Jun 13, 2011
Nashville 4-piece Mona made quite a mark on the UK when they travelled across the pond and released their first-ever single "Listen to Your Love" on their label, Zion Noiz, which sold at Rough Trade. A few short weeks later the band snagged a US record deal on Mercury Records and have just announced that their debut full-length will be released on September 6, 2011. The 11-song collection is a high octane, guitar-driven, melodic adventure which will feature two exclusive tracks and star Nick Brown, the band's resplendent front man and chief songwriter. The album was produced by Brown and mixed by Rich Costey (Muse, Interpol, Audioslave).
In the winter of 2011, the band came stateside to perform their new material for the first time and were greeted with an outpouring of praise from the likes of The New York Times, Spin and Rolling Stone. The buzz surrounding Mona in the US quickly solidified into utter fact. In March, they performed electrifying sets at SXSW and made their US television debut on Last Call with Carson Daly with only one single to their name. "Listen To Your Love" was released on February 15th on iTunes.
Named after the lead singer's grandmother, Mona's music is best understood when you take a look at their upbringing. Nick (lead vocals, guitar) is the visionary behind Mona and is all heart, personality and brawn. He and Vince Gard (drums) learned how to play their instruments and got their first taste of the stage at a Pentecostal church in Dayton, OH where non religious music was banned. The pair set out to Nashville to find musicians to complete their band. They met Bowling Green, KY native Zach Lindsey (bass) on the local scene, who soon introduced them to Jordan Young (guitar), another Kentucky native. The group shacked up together and wrote and recorded their music in the basement of their Nashville home. Mona's style is a nod to the 50's classics; with Elvis Presley swagger, Johnny Cash grit, and James Dean suave, it is impossible to deny their unbridled talent and supreme ability to write stadium bound rock songs. From their breakout single "Listen to Your Love" to the raw intensity of Nick's vocals on early Springsteen-esque "Lines in the Sand" about the bands perseverance, and the fist pumping anthem "Teenager," Mona's fearless approach to their music is wildly apparent.
As Brown puts it, "We're rock revivalists, in the sense that we like the golden age of the United States, the James Dean, Marilyn Monroe type stuff." "This iconography and idealism, he says, informed the writing of "Listen To Your Love" and the reasons why it became their first single". "At the end of the day, we're just four dudes making some noise in a garage and just having fun."
North American Tour Dates:
*Supporting The Airborne Toxic Event
- June 13 Chandler, AZ @ Showroom Theatre *
- June 14 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
- July 13 New York, NY @ Webster Studio at Webster Hall
- July 14 Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory
- September 18 Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
