[Mona Wagner]

Hi Kevin!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkPJCsqRW4Y

Thanks for that question! If you jump to minute 07:15 of this video you’ll hear us go on at length about our favourite acoustic guitars 🙂 It’s probably more entertaining to watch the video rather than me typing it out again but in short: Either my Epiphone j160e or one of the Custom Martin Acoustic guitars we are lucky enough to own!

[Mona Wagner]

Thanks for sharing your memories of Vienna with us and the Christmas wishes! We hope you enjoyed your holiday season and want to wish you a Happy New Year!

I’m not sure if we’ll ever get around to covering “Edelweis” but I appreciate the suggestion and it reminded me of a version by the von Trapp great grandkids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEjLS0OHWnQ

The whole album that their version was recorded on, “Dream a little Dream”, is awesome if you are into that kind of music 🙂

It’s still funny to us how Sound Of Music is pretty much unknown in Austria, hardly anyone has seen the movie and we also only got introduced to it once we travelled to the US and watched it for the first time after moving to the UK.

Stay groovy!

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Serge,
Thanks a lot, we are so happy to hear you are enjoying the new album! 🙂
We covered “That’s All Right, Mama” a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjQC6uaCcFs
We would love to try some more Elvis in the future and maybe one day we’ll get around to it! 

Have a great day!

 

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Michael!

We cut out some of the announcements and talking in between songs for the sake of making the album flow nicely. We talked a lot about this being our last residency Cavern show, thanking the audience and staff, etc. most of which wasn’t really suited for what we wanted to be a timeless CD. We also gave away some T-shirts at one point 🙂

Listening to that every time you put on the album would probably be quite distracting so we decided to take those parts out 🙂

 

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Bill,

We get this question quite a lot and we thank you for your interest. Sadly, DVDs are becoming a “dying medium” with fewer people owning a DVD player these days, and that makes it economically non-viable for us to release DVDs.

Also, the copyright and royalties issue is really complicated if you are selling covers in video form. Unlike selling audio covers, there is no general rule/fee when it comes to video and you’d have to make contracts with the individual publishers and copyright owners of every single song. In short it is super complicated and potentially very expensive.

Which is why we decided not to make a DVD but keep them as a MLT Club special and post a few of the clips to our public YouTube channel instead.

Thanks,
Mona

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Bill,

Yes, it’s me doing the lead vocals on that one ???? Lisa did all the lead guitar parts herself but you’re right, there was lots of harmonic overdubbing involved. I let her figure it out in the studio but if we were to do that song live, it would be so much fun doing it as sort of a guitar battle.

Also funny you mention that song … Keep your eyes peeled ????

[Mona Wagner]

Welcome to the Club, James and greetings to Phoenix, Arizona! Thanks for joining us and all the other folks who’ve already said hello 🙂
We’re glad you like ORANGE so much! We’re currently working on the next original album … fingers crossed you’ll like it just as much!
Enjoy your time here and always stay groovy!

[Mona Wagner]

Hi John!

When we first moved to the UK in the middle of the summer we had to practise in our conservatory, with the windows wide open due to the boiling heat. We had some really important shows coming up and unfortunately didn’t have the time to come up with any other plan.

Needless to say the neighbours weren’t thrilled about it ???? At one point we had neighbors from two different households gather in front of our door to complain at the same time. But we talked to them and explained the urgency and even invited them in to have a listen, and they were really friendly and understanding afterwards 🙂

But of course we soon tweaked the room, installed some air con so we could keep the windows shut, switched the acoustic drum kit to e-drums and were able to continue practising at a much quieter volume. Since then, no more complaints!

Back in Austria when we were living in a “farmhouse” type village with spaced out gardens we always got a different kind of complaint … our neighbours always wanted us to keep the studio doors open so they could listen in, haha!

Have a great day!

[Mona Wagner]

Hi John,
We’re very happy with what we have built up over the years and how we have “structured our business”. Being signed to a big label with a typical contract would most likely put us in a much worse position than we are at this point.

Many people around us including close friends as well as our own dad have had major label deals in the past (or do currently have) and it’s not the golden ticket that a lot of people still think is it. It can be quite the opposite if you don’t know what you’re doing, or pointless when you have other means to run and control your own career.

When people hear things like “Universal Music” and “Sony” they usually think of the few handfuls of mega superstars that are signed with them but there is a lot more to it. Most major labels have been in touch with us but there is a reason we are still running our own label and will for the foreseeable future. 🙂

So all that might explain why we didn’t react overly enthusiastic to that comment in the interview although it was of course a nice gesture. Besides, we don’t think a public interview would be the best place to talk business either 😉

We always appreciate people spreading the word and if something comes of it and if good collaborations fall into place, then that’s great but we are very happy with what we have going on right now!

I hope that answers your questions!
Have a groovy day,
Mona & Lisa

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Angelo and welcome back!

Taste can be such a fluid thing so we generally don’t really rank things in our minds too much, especially music, but I can tell you what vinyl I have framed up on my wall right now (they happen to be four).
Revolver by the Beatles, Odessey and Oracle by the Zombies, Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan and Universal Soldier by Donovan.

If you had to narrow it down to three individual people it would probably be John, Paul, Georgeandringo 😉

I hope you’ve been keeping well in these strange times! See you around!

[Mona Wagner]

Maybe! We have yet to plan next year’s Duo Sessions but we’d love to play some more original songs acoustically. Perhaps it will be new ones, maybe older ones, we’ll see 🙂

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Bill!

With the UK being in a second strict lockdown at the moment they don’t want people to go out or meet with anyone outside of your household. If that drags on till Christmas, it will be a very lonely Christmas for many in this country 🙁

Thankfully, our core family is sharing a household at the moment, so we will be able to celebrate together, like we would every “normal” year. We have a tradition of video chatting with our extended family back in Austria, so for Christmas Eve itself nothing much is going to change this year.

But we’ll really miss the Christmas markets and get-togethers with friends. Hopefully, the situation is going to relax by the end of the year but that might be wishful thinking.
We love the holidays!

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Rick,
Yes, that is the same bass – a limited-edition dark-red Höfner. We love the look and, more importantly, the sound of it, so we always offered bassists who play with us to use it for live performances. And they’ve always been thrilled to do so 🙂

[Mona Wagner]

There is something so solemn and calming about Celtic folk music. Thanks for sharing and for the song suggestions. We’ll add them to our long list of potential cover songs 🙂
At the moment we’re putting all our attention to our original music so we probably won’t be recording more covers for a while (we still have plenty of them prepared to share in the weeks and months ahead).

We have a soft spot for Donovan’s music so we might give another one of his songs one day. Speaking of the man, have you seen this episode of “What’s On The Table”?: https://test4.monalisa-twins.com/whats-on-the-table-sunshine-superman-donovan/

[Mona Wagner]

While Michaela deliberately isn’t actively involved in the songwriting or recording process, she is just as much a part of the “quality committee”, as any of us 🙂 You could say that she’s the final quality checkpoint in the MLT production line 😛

We always run lyrics and mixes by her and her input is invaluable.

Dad and our brains work quite similarly (genetics?) so it is great to have someone look at things from a slightly different angle and other perspective. She often picks up on things or points out flaws that we would have overlooked. It’s great teamwork 🙂