[Mona Wagner]

Hi John,

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

You’re probably right that the “performer” these days gets much more credit and attention in popular music than the writers. In fact, I feel like music itself has almost become a secondary thing altogether and it’s much more about everything else surrounding many of today’s “stars” rather than the music itself. Maybe I’m being cynical but I think you’re very right when you said that the craft of songwriting was much more appreciated and focused on a few decades ago.

But to get to your question – personally, I think that the “talent” that has come in most handy for me throughout the years has been the willingness (ability?) to learn new things, adapt and grow with different challenges. Much of the “talent” part you see in videos and on record is grinding work and came over time and through determination, but the initial interest has always come very natural to me which I think would classify as a natural talent.

I guess creativity comes along with that naturally. We’ve found a way to channel our enthusiastic scatterbrains into a coherent project called MonaLisa Twins, not without the help of an incredibly supportive, hardworking and equally “talented” family 🙂

I hope that answers the question in a somewhat satisfactory way!

Have a great week!
Mona

[Mona Wagner]

Haha, thank you so much! We promise we’ll take your advice to heart, except maybe the sabbatical part … that next album won’t finish itself 😉

Honestly, we appreciate it and send all the best back across the pond!

[Mona Wagner]

Thanks, Doug and sorry that we didn’t reply sooner. We had a delightful birthday 🙂

[Mona Wagner]

Have you ever put on a hat, looked at yourself in the mirror and thought something was missing? Well, another hat was missing! I always leave the house with at least a couple ever since that video! 😉

But you’re right, we are all responsible for several different aspects of our creative endeavour which is what’s kept it so interesting over the years!

Thanks, we are glad you are enjoying Janitor Joe! It felt good putting out something original again and we can’t wait to share more soon!

Groovy greetings across the pond!

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Tim,

Sorry that it took us so long to reply to this! Thank you for saying “hi” and being here!

We love the photo, you look great, and so does the clock in the background!

We send you lots of groovy wishes and a big thank you,

Mona & Lisa

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Melchior!

A big “hello/servus” from both of us, thanks for joining the MLT Club, fellow Austrian!

We love that the band Fanny brought you to our music! They did some great stuff and are still an inspiration to many.

You are right, we are enjoying what we are doing, on and off stage! 🙂 So we are extremely thankful for this community here who is making it possible for us to keep doing more of it.

Alles Liebe nach Oberösterreich and always stay groovy,

Mona & Lisa

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Jung!

We’ve always loved the Who, Led Zep, Hendrix etc. so I wouldn’t say it’s a recent interest. Yes, we’re usually more drawn to melodic songwriting when it comes to our own music but we’re trying a lot of new things with this current album and there will be a mix of everything, including some heavier tracks.

Warm wishes right back at you!

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Rick,

Yes, you’re right. It was Jake who played with us in the UK for the first few months and who we first talked to after seeing him busk in Liverpool.

We played with about a dozen different drummers over the years so it’s hard to keep up ????
The weather has been absolute rubbish here recently but it’s looking like we might finally catch a break from all the rain – fingers crossed!

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Jeffery!

I just had to watch back that part of the video to try and jog my memory. There definitely weren’t any ladders involved but I think Lisa was crouching back there serving as a human stepping stone ????

It was just us and Dad when we were shooting that particular scene and we didn’t bring any equipment other than the camera so we improvised. My upper body strength back then was that of boiled spaghetti so I couldn’t have done it without Lisa ????

[Mona Wagner]

It was bittersweet and definitely a mix of emotions!

We knew that we would leave behind the familiar stage that in a way had become our musical home for two years. But we did so of our own choosing and were ready for new experiences and the change-up of routine.

There weren’t any tears but definitely a little knot in the stomach. Of course, there were things and people that we were going to miss, but I think the excitement of the future was greater than any of that. 🙂
I tried to “take in” as much as I could of that last performance, including the final bow so that will always be a fond memory. It was a chapter we wouldn’t wanna miss but the story continues!

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Bill,

For us it’s too early to think about that as we’re still neck deep in other projects. Also, we can’t see ourselves hitting the road anytime soon as we don’t want to play venues with any restrictions still in place.

Because everything is so hard to predict right now we haven’t done any planning ahead for live show projects, and we will just keep focusing on songwriting, new videos and the MLT Club for now.

That might be disappointing for some but the current climate simply takes all the fun out of it and makes it almost impossible to plan performances on a bigger scale. We’d rather focus on other things we can do and create on our own terms 🙂

Hope you’re having a groovy day!

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Bill!
We used to work and exist pretty much exclusively at night but for a few years now we have been making an effort to adapt to a somewhat human-like sleeping schedule (she says, as she’s writing this at 2am … but at least I’m planning to go to bed soon!).

There is no scheduled recording time in our household so we usually just do it whenever it suits the workflow. For louder recordings, like drums, we try to make sure that everyone in the house is awake and we avoid it after 11pm for our neighbour’s sake. But everything else (vocals, guitars, …) happens at all hours of the day/night.

Thanks for the question!

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Richard!
We’ve thought about it before but haven’t come up with the right song/arrangement yet! When it’s time to consider the next set of “Duo Sessions” we might think about it again and see if there is anything that would fit, but we can’t promise anything!

Currently all we’re thinking about is finishing our next original album 🙂

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Diana!

We are so overdue for a proper summer vacation that my first instinct would be to say somewhere hot and on the coast like Florida, Texas, California or Hawaii!

But once that need for sun and light is satisfied (trust me, the UK weather gets to you after a few years!) I would love to explore some of the beautiful National Parks and bigger cities like Austin, New York, New Orleans, Nashville, … The ones with lots of musical history!

Lisa and I have also been daydreaming about hiking (parts of) the PTC (Pacific Crest Trail) one day that goes from the Mexican border to the Canadian one but we doubt we’ll ever actually do it. But it would be fun to explore the country in that way one day!

That’s all if we’re strictly talking vacation-ing though. My favorite way to explore your country would be by playing many different places and shooting videos along the way! A US tour would be great but we can’t see it happening anytime soon, especially with the current developments.

[Mona Wagner]

Hi Rick,

The restaurant didn’t exist yet when we played there weekly, it only opened in 2018.

In our break between sets we would usually go to a Mexican place close by or one of the well known fast food chains. We’ve got to say, it wasn’t the healthiest of diets but we’ve cleaned up our act since. 😉

Our go-to for a long time were burritos with shredded beef or a flatbread subway with steak and cheese! How we managed to not gain any weight in those years (we had fast food multiple times a week) I’m not sure but I guess we burned it off and more during the shows!