INTERVIEWS
From the ‘60s to the New Millennium,
the Mania is Back and the MonaLisa Twins Serve it Up with Style and Grace! By Tara Low
T
he MonaLisa Twins is a ‘60s influenced band based in London, England fronted by twin sisters Mona and Lisa Wagner. When GGM first learned about the group in October last year, we poured through YouTube clips to see their work. We were immediately taken by their high positive energy, their talent as musicians with voices that harmonized and took every song to a different level, and their love of 1960s pop music demonstrated in high -quality music video tributes to The Beatles and other iconic ‘60s bands. While their YouTube channel was growing rapidly, they were writing and performing their own music to an expanding and loyal fan base. On September 29, 2017, the Twins released their second album ORANGE featuring 12 original tracks revealing their ‘60s inspiration while demonstrating their talent for creating their own sound blending pop, rock, and blues.
the exponential growth of their YouTube channel, the inspiration and development of their music, to their singing and songwriting style, collaboration, the special bond of twins, and a hint of new music on the horizon...can’t wait for that!
GGM had the pleasure of catching up with Mona and Lisa again to see how things have been going since the release of ORANGE and what lies ahead for them…and they have been very busy indeed! They have released music videos from ORANGE including most recently “Still a Friend of Mine.” I would highly recommend watching and listening to this (and see if you can guess who it’s about).
So nice to catch up with you two. When we last spoke, it was right after the release of Orange. How is the album doing? Lisa: Great to talk to you again. What a crazy last few months these have been. We’re still seeing everything through orange-tinted glasses, and things are looking all the more beautiful for it. We couldn’t be happier with the feedback we have received, and the interest in this album is growing and growing. Mona: And the album isn’t even on Spotify and YouTube yet, except the singles, and people are talking about it more than ever. It goes to show that you don’t have to do things the same way major labels do and can still have an impact.
Keeping their fans up-to-date via their many social media outlets, working in the studio, and so much more, we really appreciated the time they gave us filling us in on all that has been happening in their exciting lives. From their fantastic album ORANGE,
40 Guitar Girl Magazine
And now, a conversation with Mona and Lisa:
guitargirlmag.com
I see you recently released a music video for the closing track from the album, “Still A Friend of Mine,” which is beautifully done. Tell us about the filming and the musicians that accompanied you on the video. Mona: Thanks! This is a song from the album that stood out to a lot of people, and it became everybody’s instant favourite. Piano ballads often strike a chord with people, but we assume a lot of our listeners did not expect that from a guitar-heavy band like us. Maybe because it’s something we’ve never done before. A piano ballad, who would have thought? When our Dad, who we write our songs with, first approached us with the rough idea for this song, we knew this was going to turn into something special. The words mean a lot to us, and some people have already cracked the code who it is about, but we also view it as a general statement. About a certain type of person that the world could use a lot more of. The type of friend everyone should have. We wanted to keep the video simple, let the words and song do their thing. Not going to lie, I prefer having a guitar in my hands, but I like how different it turned out, showing a new side of us. Lisa: For the video we needed other musicians to play the parts that we recorded in the studio, so we contacted a few orchestras in our area with a certain image and idea in mind. The players that came forward and that we ended up choosing fitted that vision perfectly. Brigid Hemingway (Viola), Rachel Pugh (Cello 1) and Phil Turner
