MONONEON *live

In the organizer's words:

Dywane Thomas, Jr, aka MonoNeon, is a bassist and experimental musician from Memphis, Tennessee. The self-taught bassist's musical background is heavily influenced by southern soul, blues and funk. His bass playing can be found on recordings by Mac Miller and Jacob Collier, his contribution to the 2020 Nas studio album "King's Disease" earned him a Grammy, he played with Ghost-Note - the funk-jazz spin off of Snarky Puppy - and was one of the last bass players for funk great Prince. Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers described him as "the greatest fucking electric bass player". MonoNeon is constantly releasing his own music, one song after another, one album after another, and everything he does is great.

Oriented towards the aesthetic modernism of the 20th century, influenced by the classical avant-garde of John Cage and the readymades of Marcel Duchamp, it is not only his music that is avant-garde. MonoNeon creates itself as a work of art. With extravagant clothing, crocheted masks, flashy glasses and a costumed instrument, he almost appears as a pop art comic figure. Fender now even has an exclusive MonoNeon collection, including the MonoNeon Jazz Bass V Signature.

Some artists freeze behind their alter egos, masks and stagings, others free themselves. MonoNeon, it is safe to say, has opted for freedom and has an excellent sense of humor, which is also expressed musically. If you don't know MonoNeon yet, you should check out his YouTube channel. Every video here is a manifesto, everything is funk.

"Write your own vision and read it". - MonoNeon

"Natural limitations don't seem to apply to MonoNeon, aka Dywane Thomas Jr." - NPR

"When FLEA refers to you as "the greatest fucking electric bass player," you know you've done something right." - Rolling Stone