Thursday 8 October 2009

Muso’s Guide Introduces… The Moi Non Plus

Muso's Guide are running a feature on and penned by Leon and Bas MNP - don't forget to pre-order the album from us to get a free Remix album and book set.

And here we present to you The Moi Non Plus, a most excellent band that we’ve talked into writing a little piece about themselves. It’s the latest in our simply awesome series which has so far brough you Anya Marina, Camera Club, Youthless, Sugar and Gold, There Will Be Fireworks and so very many more. It’s the kind of A&R that money can’t buy. And here are our latest favourites for you, with a sample mp3 at the bottom…

We are The Moi Non Plus, we are a drum guitar & sample duo from Amsterdam. Besides playing in the band we run Subbacultcha!; an aternative music platform from Amsterdam. We promote shows, run a label a website and a magazine. We also organise showcases for Dutch bands abroad and we do occasional art projects.

October and November are crazy months for both the bands as well as the platform. The Moi Non Plus’ record is coming out in the UK on October 12th and as a result we’re doing shows in London and Manchester. We’re also organising a Subbacultcha! showcase at the CMJ festival in New York featuring Dutch bands as well as international acts. Then in November we celebrate Subbacultcha!’s 5th year anniversary with a whole bunch of great shows as well as a festival, an exposition and a film marathon. Then we’re publishing a 100 page art book featuring some of our favourite Dutch artists. (photographers, designers, visual artists) which is coming out on November 14th. And in between all that, we put together our monthly magazine.

Safe to say we are insanely busy. But we do what we like, so that’s a good thing. We started doing this cause we felt the alternative music scene in the netherlands was pretty much non existent. There were loads of good bands, but no places for them to play, no music magazines or radio stations picking them up and as a result, no audience hearing them. This obviously affected us as musicians, as well as human beings, And so we decided to start Subbacultcha! This is now five years ago, and looking back we are excited about the way things are going. We have a dedicated community behind us. Lots of people coming to the shows, reading the magazine, checking the website and also contributing and helping out as volunteers.

The band as well as the platform are obviously closely related. Putting up shows for bands like HEALTH, These Are Powers, High Places, Marnie Stern and Women has really inspired us as musicians. In promoting the shows and making the magazine, we constantly hear new music and meet like minded people. This has a huge effect on the music that we play.

Also doing the art projects is great. Last year we asked 20 cutting edge visual artists to take The Moi Non Plus logo and to use it as the starting point for an image (foto’s paintings, illustrations, etc) The result was compiled in a book and we had a very succesfull exposition in Amsterdam where all the works were on display. This really opened up a new audience for Subbacultcha! and The Moi Non Plus and also brought Dutch musicians and artists together .

We want to keep this up. We are always in search of creative energy and exciting art & music. Therefore we surround ourselves with people that inspire us. We use this inpiration for our music, our magazine and everything else that we are involved in.

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