Pascal Mono doesn’t cheat; he stays true to himself wherever he is. “His stage presence is comparable to that of the great artists. He gives his all, and we receive a lot from him. Thank you,” remarks an admirer.
This is what he demonstrated once again last Monday and Tuesday when he came to present his debut album “Intact” live to the people of the Côte d’Azur. But for those who missed these two events, rest assured, Pascal will return to set the stages of the French Riviera on fire during his next tour.
In the meantime, Flora and Stéphanie, our two special correspondents, gathered impressions for Nice-Première from a Niçois rocker just off stage: Exclusive indiscretions and confidences!
Stéphanie and Flora: How did the concert in Monaco go?
Pascal Mono: It went well, it lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes, I did some a cappella pieces due to a small technical issue, but that’s good because you can always take advantage of a tricky situation.
It gave me the opportunity to get people singing, to sing Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz” a cappella, it’s my ace in the hole… (Laughs)
Stéphanie and Flora: How did you feel the audience was?
Pascal Mono: Very receptive! Even without knowing the songs yet! And there were fans, so it was a great concert atmosphere.
Stéphanie and Flora: Was it in line with what you expected for some songs?
Pascal Mono: Again, I never really have expectations regarding what will happen, because going on stage is a bit like going on an adventure, you never know what might happen, that’s why I love it, and why I continue…
For example, I did not expect a song like “Avec Des Mots” to be received so well.
Stéphanie and Flora: Your family was there, your friends too, including Christophe Pinna, is it reassuring to know they are in the audience or does it put a bit more pressure on you?
Pascal Mono: You shouldn’t think about it. Sometimes you think about it, C. Pinna is someone I admire a lot, if I know he’s there, maybe I’ll pay more attention, yes.
I always try to give my maximum, leaving some margin not to be always at full capacity, it’s true that it crossed my mind indeed, but when you are on stage you don’t think about it at that moment, you think about it before, you think about it after, but not during.
Stéphanie and Flora: What was your best moment last night?
Pascal Mono: Precisely when I no longer had guitar sound, I sang “Mercedes Benz”, that was a great moment, as well as the encore of “Mon Epoque”, people really sang along, when the audience sings your songs, it’s awesome.
Stéphanie and Flora: Do you have a special story with this cover of Janis Joplin?
Pascal Mono: I’ve been singing it for a very long time. It’s kind of a lucky charm because, when you’re on the road, you don’t need anything with that song, it’s an a cappella, it always works, every time I sing this song it has gone well, and I’ve been singing it for 20 years.
I even performed it to fill time in front of a million people at the WYD 97.
Stéphanie and Flora: Do you have a favorite instrument?
Pascal Mono: I’m not particularly superstitious but I’m quite serious about my Fender Telecaster and my Gibson Custom. Favorite instruments, yes.
Stéphanie and Flora: You have several guitars? Which ones?
Pascal Mono: Yes. 3 electro-acoustic guitars: a Guild, an Ibanez, a Gibson.
A 50s Hawaiian guitar, a Gibson Les Paul Custom, a Fender Telecaster, a Fender Stratocaster Anniversary, a double-neck Jacobacci (it sounds even better than the Gibson), and also a custom-made guitar that I had made a while ago, which my brother designed the case paintwork for (strato type).
Stéphanie and Flora: Did you start on an acoustic?
Pascal Mono: Yes, of course, a classical… a beat-up one (laughs) that I took down from the wall at my uncle’s house while he was looking after me when I was little, and I completely reassembled it myself, glued the bridge back on, put strings on, the first classical guitar I played my first chords on for a year.
Stéphanie and Flora: Self-taught?
Pascal Mono: Self-taught, then with a friend who taught me my first blues scale at school.
Stéphanie and Flora: Influenced by other guitarists?
Pascal Mono: Hendrix, Van Hallen, and mainly groups.
In the very beginning, I rarely admit it, but my cousin had the double live of Simon & Garfunkel. At that time, I was listening to the bolero, with a friend in the yard we played a few pieces like that, then the Beatles… Well, we were 15…
Then came Dylan, and very quickly the electric, so Van Hallen, Deep Purple, David Gilmour of the Pink Floyds (that’s old already, it hasn’t really stuck with me today), but the breakthrough came with these groups.
1st shock: “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits!
But today my idols would be Neil Young (the music from Dead Man) it’s just guitar, it’s huge.
I also really like a guitarist singer named Jeff Buckley. But the era of guitar heroes is a bit over, even though I like Steeve Vaï.
Stéphanie and Flora: During the soundcheck, you started one of your compositions “Au Bord De La Mer”, still unknown to the public, will it be on your next album, or will it be part of the unreleased songs of your tour?
Pascal Mono: It will be on the second album, and live all the time now.
Stéphanie and Flora: Does the Mediterranean influence your lyrics?
Pascal Mono: It influenced “Au Bord De La Mer” that I wrote in 5 minutes in a bar in Paris.
A bit like “Mon Epoque” or “Grand A”, in half an hour you have your whole song.
Stéphanie and Flora: By the way, what does the alligator feed on, “in sum”?
Pascal Mono: Ah… Repetition of “ah okay” in this title, it needed a little modification at the end, and “the alligator does not only feed on beautiful ideas” means there is a monster at the bottom of each of us. The alligator is the unconscious, the dark side.
Stéphanie and Flora: “INTACT” was released last June 19th, you are already working on your second album. Don’t you have a little scoop to give to Nice Première about it?
Pascal Mono: There will be quite a few titles that I couldn’t put on “INTACT” unfortunately, and which will be on the next one, like “Au Bord De La Mer”, and “Amour” that you could hear me play at the castle.
Stéphanie and Flora: Do you think you will write songs in English?
Pascal Mono: I did it in the past when I was with Moulin Rouge (drummer of scorpion) and then it passed.
I’m addressing a French audience, then there are very beautiful titles in English that already exist and that one can happily cover without adding one’s own, I have one there, but I may not put it on the album, we’ll see.
Stéphanie and Flora: You do a lot of concerts, is it a driving force for you?
Pascal Mono: That’s what built me initially. At 17 it seems possible to do that, and to make it your profession, it was an immediate trigger, I continued my studies up to the license (philosophy, modern letters, upper letters at Masséna) to fulfill my contract with my parents, who saw my rock’n’roll adventure in a bad light, which can be understood, but yes, that’s what built me and today I can’t conceive of going more than two weeks without doing a concert…
Stéphanie and Flora: At what age did you start writing?
Pascal Mono: I started writing before playing the guitar.
I was exposed to it because my father is a writer, my mother a French teacher, so I was born in the love of language, of words. I started writing very early, it became a discipline in its own right. When I started making music, vaguely I wanted to be a musician, a guitarist!
It turns out that the necessities made me become a guitarist-singer, then since I was writing, it led me to become a singer-songwriter.
Stéphanie and Flora: What was the first song you wrote and how?
Pascal Mono: (He laughs) It was called “Thorns at the bottom of me.”
Stéphanie and Flora: Do you remember it?
Pascal Mono: Yes, everything I’ve written I remember.
I’m so committed when I do it that afterwards it’s etched.
Stéphanie and Flora: Do you need a particular atmosphere to write and compose?
Pascal Mono: It depends. I did a lot of that as a discipline, that is, every day, when I was in Paris at Sony, but it’s not the right method. You have to let inspiration come, and when it doesn’t come, you shouldn’t force it, don’t scare the muses, let them come, don’t chase after them…
Stéphanie and Flora: How was your guitar playing forged?
Pascal Mono: At the time I made a padded studio in my apartment (cigarette paper HLM) I really started working rock, ACDC, The Stones, RHCP…
Hendrix, I find it more interesting to listen and leave it intact than to touch it. It’s a sound. Van Hallen too, but it’s a lot of techniques, I arrived after, I started music in the 80s, Hendrix was already a bit past. But I love it, it’s the guitarist I don’t touch.
Stéphanie and Flora: In your opinion, what can itinerancy bring?
Pascal Mono: Have things to tell your grandchildren later.
Stéphanie and Flora: Do you like to move or is it the stage that makes you move?
Pascal Mono: It’s particular because I’m quite sedentary, I like to be peaceful, it’s quite paradoxical because the goal is still to go play on stage. If I could do this job within a 10 km² perimeter I would do it, but it’s not possible. But it’s true that when you go for example to play in foreign countries it’s great too. Meeting different people, different accents, different audiences, I now have a taste for that, but it came out of necessity.
Stéphanie and Flora: Is it planned for you to defend your album abroad?
Pascal Mono: In French-speaking countries yes. Belgium and Switzerland. Canada took the initiative to spontaneously broadcast “my era.”
Stéphanie and Flora: Your solo tour really starts only next winter, do the dates you give before allow you to test what impact your music can have on the public?
Pascal Mono: “In Sum” on stage pleased me well. But that you feel when you write it. “Grand A” I felt right away that it was going to work well on stage.
Stéphanie and Flora: Do you like being in the studio?
Pascal Mono: A lot yes. The stage and the studio are two different professions.
In the studio we seek perfection, on stage good energy.
I’m happy with this album because I know it can work on stage.
Stéphanie and Flora: Are there any titles that already stand out more than others in terms of public receptivity?
Pascal Mono: “Mon Epoque” is the most obvious and melodic title.
I see that titles like “With Words” that really set an atmosphere, people listen, it hovers, the silence reigns, that’s great.
“If I Should” or “All My Excuses” give this heavy rock side.
I realized that people really listened, were curious, wanted to see what it was like.
Stéphanie and Flora: Do you already have an idea of the trend of your tour? Will it have specific features, a particular color?
Pascal Mono: I am putting together a team of musicians, sound engineers, lighting… The group is forming.
I will also be part of the musicians. We will think about a staging basis but we do not do theater, everyone will do as they feel, if it gets between us on stage it will also be transmitted to the audience.
Stéphanie and Flora: What is your most beautiful memory as Pascal Mono, the artist?
Pascal Mono: I have plenty… It’s true that singing a cappella “Mercedes Benz” in front of a million people is crazy. Now it’s also a beautiful memory this prime with Johnny, Santana, Paul Anka…
Stéphanie and Flora: Pascal Maunoury, the man?
Pascal Mono: The birth of my son.
Thank you Pascal.
Official website: www.pascal-mono.com/
Fan Site: https://pascal.mono.free.fr
Photographer’s website: https://www.julienmichel.com/
