One of the most original bassists of today, MonoNeon, is coming to Musicology Sessions on March 12!

 

Recognizable for his distinctive sound and visual identity, MonoNeon’s colorful, unconventional aesthetic consciously rejects norms and follows his artistic message of freedom, individuality, and uncompromising self-expression.

An artist who erases genre boundaries, his music exists at the crossroads of funk, jazz, hip-hop, soul, and free improvisation. What truly makes it unique is a sense of total freedom, rhythmic, emotional, and expressive. His performances are not predefined sets, but living, open musical processes in which the moment itself becomes the composition.

MonoNeon, the last bassist to collaborate with Prince, has built a strong independent career and earned his status as one of the most influential bassists of the new generation. His reputation is rooted in technical virtuosity and a radically different perspective on the role of the bass guitar in contemporary music—guided above all by spontaneity and authenticity.

 

  1. Your musical journey started very early, you began playing bass at just four years old. How did that first encounter with music shape the style you’re known for today?

My dad (Dywane Thomas) gave me my first ‘guitar’ when I was 4 years old, I flipped that junt to the left, started thumping… mimicking my dad… and kept moving with it. I use to practice in my grandma’s living room in Orange Mound, playing with the radio (WDIA 1070-All Blues Saturday). I went to church… the baptist church every Sunday with my grandma and Rev. Leon Acey at True Liberty Baptist Church would let me play air guitar in the pulpit. Music showed up before I learned to talk. I wasn’t thinkin’ notes, I was thinkin’ shapes and feelings. When you start that early, music don’t feel like rules… it feels like gravity. I still fall the same way. Music was and still is like furniture. I climb on it, knock it over, listened to squeaks. I don’t separate life from sound.

 

  1. Your music blends jazz, funk, experimental elements, and microtonality. How would you describe your sound to someone hearing you for the first time?

I guess I would tell ‘em it’s a kind of funk that continues to question itself. I want a sound that lives in the cracks… between happy and uncomfortable, between right and almost right. Blues and southern-soul at the bottom… experimental shiet at the top.

 

  1. At what point did you realize you wanted to experiment with microtonal music, and what initially drew you to that direction?

When the space between notes started whispering louder than the notes themselves…. things I’ve learned being around David Fiuczynski. I noticed the space between notes had more emotion than the notes themselves. Microtones felt like truth without makeup… slightly uncomfortable and personal.

 

  1. You were one of the last bassists Prince played with. What is the most valuable lesson you learned from him?

Playing music with Prince put a fire in me that I will forever embrace and use until I’m gone from this place. I miss Prince so much!!! That mane gave me so much freedom during that with him. The thing I learn from Prince being around him was “trust yourself no matter what!”

 

  1. You’ve worked with artists such as Ne-Yo, Mavis Staples, Nas, and others. How does your approach to composing and improvisation change across different genres and collaborators?

I don’t force my sound or a sound… I let it sweat or freeze accordingly. Let the moment tell me what to do!

 

  1. You’re also known on YouTube for combining viral videos with bass lines. How do you choose what to “transform,” and what does that process give you creatively?

I listen for accidents that already melodic to me. Internet chaos got rhythm hid in it. When I add my bass to it… put some harmonies and a beat to it… it’s like giving the moment a memory.

 

  1. Your fashion sense and visual style are often almost as experimental as your music. How important is visual aesthetics to your overall musical narrative?

Clothing is just another instrument to me. Colors vibrate, high-visibility colors… quilted and crochet patterns got a thang on it. If the music loud, the visuals gotta argue back… that’s the shiet I want!

 

  1. In some interviews, you’ve mentioned conceptual art and Dadaism. How do these influences shape your approach to music and performance?

Dadaism showed me that logic is optional. Conceptual art taught me the idea can be louder than the sound. And mane sometimes confusion is the cleanest truth… I love being in that space!

 

  1. This is your first time in Serbia and your first time in Belgrade. What expectations do you have of our music scene and audience?

I don’t expect anything… but I probably expect a lil’ curiosity… when the ears and the brain keep leaning in and out.

 

  1. Many artists talk about a “spark of inspiration.” Where does inspiration most often come from for you when you create?

From glitches… from the mistakes! From silence talking back to me. From moments that don’t know the art yet.

 

  1. What advice would you give to young musicians who want to develop their own style and stay true to themselves in a world full of trends and rapid change?

Protect your weird.. forreal! Trends rush, but identity walks slow and trips over shiet…haha! If it feels honest, let that shiet be ugly first!

 

Tickets:

https://tickets.rs/event/mononeon_24303