Monotronic On New Music, Band Influences, & More

Ha, great question! Well she pretty much likes to do whatever I’m doing, follows me everywhere! So when I got the electric board she took an immediate interest, first by running alongside me….and then I would see her standing on the board in my apartment just looking at me, like “hey let’s get on this thing!”. Eventually I started taking her on short rides with me…and at this point she’s a full-on adrenaline junkie like myself. She has a little basket she rides in for extra safety and I can bring her everywhere (she has a Service Dog “fake ID”, haha).

Kids of Summer is a feel good song that speaks to our generation. It’s about youth and vitality, the idea being that young energy gets things done. I didn’t realize how fitting the song would be to the times until the BLM demonstrations started. The single will be followed up with a BLM-inspired video, which should be out July 10th, same day as the single drops.

Too many to name! I listen to everything….these days listening to a lot EDM music to try to get some new ideas, last year I went through a Justice/Daft Punk phase. I’m pretty open when it comes to genre, my main focus these days is on the sonic characteristics of the music, I’m always looking for new sounds and ideas to draw from.

Monotronic is a hybrid of electronic and “electric” music, meaning we combine our instruments – guitar, bass, keys and drums – with electronic sounds that are triggered in Ableton Live. The goal is to create music that is cohesive in the sense that listeners often can’t discern which elements are being played and which are being triggered – that’s where the “mono” comes from, ie “one sound’. The “tronic” is basically the electronic element. So the name Monotronic is trying to capture the seamless integration of electronic sounds and performed live music.

The project started back in 2017 through a series of fun jams with local musicians Keven Bents (Spin Doctors, Dweezil Zappa), Doug Yowell (Joe Jackson, Suzanne Vega) and too many others to name! It has since grown into a broader collective, with lots of great NYC-based musicians coming and going. I’m generally the one that keeps the project going, I write all the songs, etc.

You can check out our website here. We are also on Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.