If you’ve watched MonoNeon videos, you’ll have seen some manifestos at the end. Here they are in all their creative glory.
We’re assuming you know who MonoNeon is but if not, we’ll be diligent and explain. Dwayne ‘MonoNeon’ Thomas Jr is a musician having played with the likes of Prince and Ne-Yo. After some time at Berklee College of Music, he went on to play with fellow guitarist David Fiuczynski. But in a wider sense, MonoNeon is more well known for his bass accompaniments to viral videos. Everyone from Cardi B to Will Smith has got the “Mono” treatment and after the videos, he puts up his art manifesto, a 10 point statement of his creative intentions.
Stream one of his videos below and take a read of the manifestos when you’re done (there’s actually two so fill your boots).
MonoNeon & Cardi B - "Quiet Bi*ches Are Evil Bi*ches"
Transcripts
- Write your own vision and read it daily.
- Have the southern soul/blues & and funk at the bottom and the experimental/avant-garde at the top…(YOUR SOUND!)
- Make your life audible daily with the mistakes… the flaws… er’thang.
- Understand and accept that some people are going to like what you do and some are going to dislike it… when you understand and accept that dichotomy… move on!
- Embrace bizarre juxtapositions (sound, imagery, etc)
- Conceptual art. Minimalism.
- Polychromatic color schemes. High-visibility clothing.
- DIY!
- Childlike
- Reject the worldly idea of becoming a great musician… JUST LIVE MUSIC!
- It’s not about being different anymore, it’s about doing what I want.
- The simple act of choosing an ordinary object is ART enough, just dignify it. (ex. MonoNeon’s readymade bass)
- Microtonal-Southern Soul (Julian Carrillo and Z.Z. Hill, Ivan Wyschnegradsky and Denise LaSalle, Alois Haba and Little Milton, etc.)
- I wanna’ play the way I live, and the way I live ain’t perfect…. it ain’t flawless.
- Minimalism sculptures by Anne Truitt, Sol LeWitt, and Richard Serra will help you play, so find the inspiration in it.
- There is no time for insecurity….
- At the end of the day, we all just wanna’ be heard.