An Interview With the Australian Indie-Electronic Duo NO MONO!

Photo Credit- Katrin Koenning)

No Mono is the indie-electronic duo out of Australia made up of artists Tom Snowdon and Tom Iansek (of Big Scary). They recently released their second single, “Violence Broken.“

“Violence Broken” is the second release from the duo, following their debut single “Butterflies,” which premiered on triple j in Australia and charted at #2 on Spotify Australia’s Viral Chart in September.

Recently, they released their video for “Butterflies,” which was directed by Australian director Shaun Garland and features a single-take shot of performance art from vocalist Snowdon.

Learn more about No Mono in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time for this All Access interview! Where does this interview find you today? Is there music playing in the background? What is it? What is one song that you are loving right now?

I’m at home in my house in North Melbourne. Anatole is playing in the background. I’ve been obsessed with Aldous Harding’s track “Imagining My Man” – amazing tune.

How did this group first come to be? Can you recall the moment when you all thought you could be in a band together?

Tom (Iansek) and I have been friends for a few years and in 2013 collaborated on some music together for Tom’s side project, #1 Dads. That collaboration was really special for us and we’ve since kept working together. No Mono is the new home for our ideas.

How do you think this band has been influenced by the city you are from? How did that particular music scene affect you all?

Tom and I have been playing music around Melbourne for years now. Tom is from Melbourne and I’m from Alice Springs but moved to Melbourne with my band to play music in 2009. We first met at a show where my band was supporting Tom’s band and have been good mates ever since – so I guess the Melbourne music scene brought us together.

What are you most excited about for 2018?

To release our first album!

Let’s talk about your latest track, “Violence Broken.” What was the inspiration for this song?

The track is about moving away from a violent state of living, which is no longer serving you. I found the words “Violence Broken” written on the opening page on my notebook one day in the studio. The song just grew from there – we found the moody electric piano sound you hear in the track and the vocal and other instrumentation you hear just followed really naturally.

What was it like making the music video for your song “Butterflies”? How creatively involved were you both with the whole process?

Making that clip was pretty crazy. The video we released wasn’t actually the one we set out to make – the clip we planned followed two alien-like dancers around the blacked-out space you see in the clip. That clip was ready-to-go, but just before we released it, Shaun Garland, the filmmaker, sent us an alternate clip – just a single shot of me performing the song he’d captured at the start of the day filming. We decided to use that single-shot clip. The clip you see was a great accident, really, but seemed fitting for the track, which is raw and intense.

When do you hope to release more new music and a full collection of new material?

We’re planning to release our first record in the first half of 2018.

Who are some of your favorite artists right now?

I’ve loved recent releases by Aldous Harding, The War On Drugs and Mount Kimbie.

Do you have any other touring plans to end the year with? Where can people see you perform live next?

We’re playing our first shows in Feb 2018. We’re heading to Melbourne, Sydney and back to my hometown, Alice Springs!

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

We make music in a pretty intuitive way – feeling always before thinking. Our music is really about making people feel, too. Feeling and escaping for a bit.