Modest John LaMonica – The One Man Show
“What’s up ya’ll?” John LaMonica asked a Toronto crowd at Lee’s Palace last night. He had just strolled onto the dimly lit stage in the direction of his turntable/mixer and grey Toshiba laptop, wearing a simple white tee shirt and black jeans.
Then just as soon as he appeared on stage, LaMonica jumped right into things and began playing his signature ambient and trance like music. The beats immediately washed over the restless and growing crowd, captivating everyone who could hear.
At first, LaMonica was simply grooving back and forth to his home made beats.Occasionally he would turn a knob on the mixer and press a button on his laptop. But after a couple minutes of setting everyone up, he put on his headphones and the real John LaMonica kicked into gear.
He started whaling away on the microphone, in a similar manner to that of Thom Yorke,while at the same time meticulously and wildly turning mixer knobs, adding to the already hypnotic atmosphere. The bass grew heavier and heavier, rattling ribs, until it was the only noise left and suddenly it stopped.
LaMonica then modestly shrugged his shoulders, indicating the song was over, and cheers rose from the crowd.
“I like it up here,” LaMonica said. He also mentioned his new record and he even encouraged stalking him on Facebook. Then he laughed and explained, “But I don’tcheck it much.”
At this, LaMonica started things back up, dropping more groovy bass lines and trailing vocals. Occasionally he would sip from his bottle of beer or take a gigantic swig from his water bottle as he was becoming soaked in sweat.
And as the show went on, LaMonica got more and more into the music. At one point he was so concentrated it appeared as if he was about to engage in a full fledged, one on one battle with his table of mixers and laptop. It was truly a site to see – LaMonica is quite the one man show.
After the almost fight with his gear, LaMonica simply went nuts, musically that is. The bass was brought to a completely new level, the drum machine beats were violently echoing and the howling vocals were washing over the now almost packed venue of swaying fans.
Then at the absolute height of intensity, LaMonica stopped everything and calmly said, “You guys are really nice. Your city is beautiful.” The crowed erupted and LaMonica smiled and meandered off the dimly lit blue stage.
Photos by Dean Park
