A Band Is The Family You Choose

"We've done nine original albums and one CD live with the orchestra," Takaakira 'Taka' Goto confirms of Mono's output, "we're going to have our 20th anniversary in 2019, in two years. We have a plan to release the tenth album then, so it'll be ten albums in 20 years.

"We also do 150 shows a year, so between all the tours I have to write the songs."

That said, they were recently able to make some modifications to their tour bus, which has enabled him to spend some of the downtime on tour actually writing music. "We have made a small separate room in the bus, up the back, and I have been able to use that room as a studio," he says.

There are actually many quite astounding things about this band's career when you examine it closely. They are a Japanese band, creating instrumental music that is about as far from the mainstream as can be imagined, who are almost two decades and nine albums into a career with the same personnel as when they started. Taka is justifiably proud of his band's achievements when asked to reflect upon it all.

"Fortunately we are continuing the band with the same members. This is one of the most appreciated things for me because I formed the band, I met the guys and we started touring the States in a van. We couldn't speak English, we didn't know anything about America, a couple of members didn't even have a passport!" he laughs.

"It was a real adventure, we didn't have a tour manager, we didn't have a driver, it was just us all helping each other. We've all seen the same experiences and it just keeps making us and our relationships stronger and stronger."

So is that the secret to keeping it together for so long, and with the same line-up? "Yep, having the same experiences, and not having any secrets, just helping each other out as friends and as a family," Taka says, "I have to say, we are like a family, we spend 200 days per year together. We love it, it's awesome."

And as far as their 'other' families are concerned, the people in their lives who don't write songs and go out on the road with them, it helps enormously having very understanding people in their lives who fully support their endeavours. "They realised early that this is our life," he says, "we are very serious about making our art, and about travelling in the world and meeting people from different countries.

"They are always very curious when we get back, they want us to share the experiences we've had with other peoples."

Australia has been one of the most regular destinations for the band over the years, and early November sees them returning once again to astound local punters with their monumental instrumental explorations. "We are absolutely excited to visit again," he enthuses, "this will be seven times, I think! The crowds there are so intense, and we love to visit again, it's so exciting."

The band's last album, Requiem For Hell, came out late last year to almost universal praise. While they attempt to cover both new and old music in their live set, several factors make writing a Mono setlist rather problematic. "We try hard to combine both old and new, to make the live set one long trip, one movie," he states, "we have so many songs, sometimes it's hard to choose. And also, one song is usually pretty long.

"Some fans have very specific tastes, specific old memories, but you can't please everyone all the time. We do our best."

Eighteen years down the line, Taka still sees a very long and fruitful future ahead for the band and says that he wants to continue exploring the orchestral and symphonic stylings that the band has always brought to their music.

"Yes, we are still going strong," he states confidently, "I listen mostly to soundtrack music, and we want to bring that to the basic four-piece rock band, I always want to get that symphonic sound. I always want to combine the two and make the best original and intense music we can."

With some parting words for his Australian fans leading up to the tour, Taka states "I just want to say that life is hard, it is very hard to survive." He says, "We just want to bring some light to shine through the darkness."