MonoNeon

MonoNeon is the alias of American bassist and experimental musician Dywane Thomas Jr. To come straight to the point: he was one of the last musicians to play with Prince (in 2015, as a twenty-five year old), Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers - a highly gifted bass player in his own right - once referred to him as "the greatest fucking electric bass player” whereas Marcus Miller - who is also on this year’s bill! - raved about his style of playing, calling him "one of the finest young bad cats on the scene”. He has worked with Mavis Staples, funk master George Clinton and rappers Mac Miller and NeYo. For his playing on Nas’s album 'King’s Disease’, he was even awarded a Grammy.

Enough name dropping, right? After all, this is about the music! MonoNeon is self-taught, taught himself to play bass from the age of four and became engrossed in funk without getting stuck in that style. The fact of the matter is that the music the extravagant musician creates encompasses a lot more than just funk. He has a huge fan base on YouTube and ranks as a true bassfluencer. His boundless creativity goes hand in hand with the unusual way he plays (left-handed on a right-handed bass guitar held upside down) and his songwriting chops. But he also has a reputation as an experimentalist and has even been compared to legendary avant-garde composer John Cage. His experimental compositions often revolve around microtonality - something for which he even has special bass guitars built. Pop meets experiment meets Grammys? This gig is a dead cert!

Line-up:

• Dywane Thomas Jr (MonoNeon) : bass - vox
• Devin Way : drums
• Peter Knudsen : guitar
• Xavier Lynn : guitar
• Charles Brown : keys