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MySpace EditorA BIOGRAPHY IN THREE MOVEMENTS - Bohemian Salutation - The day before playing a party at a friend's apartment, the barely one month old band decided to call themselves "Mona", for now; until they could find a better name. Their inspiration, the only thing that was hanging (and still hangs) on their rehearsal room wall; a Mona Lisa wall clock given to the drummer as a cleaning house gift by a Hollywood "not so famous anymore" actress. Unfortunately, the band's stage debut was cut short after 4 songs into their set when the LAPD showed up for a visit after "Mona" unlawfully serenaded the friend's neighbors. Amidst the chaos, a few of the excited people enquired about the name of the band and probably due to temporary hearing loss caused by the absurdly loud music, had mistaken "Mona", for now; as "Mona for Now". ------ A fact is a fact -----Mona for Now consists of Shey-la on bass and vocals, Fabian Ruiz on guitar and Richard Pancani on drums. The music, slightly reminiscent of early Pantera and the German band - Guano Apes can be best described as a dark lullaby on speed. Shey-la's vocals have a masculine ring to it, subtle but enough to make us forget this is a 5' 3" girl. Fabian, also migrating from Puerto Rico to the US at an early age, is one of the few guitar players these days unafraid to add a guitar solo to a song. Rich's drumming shows what a drummer with imagination can do with a very small drum kit. His sound is almost tribal and definitely a site to see live. With songs like "Wake Up" which is about the monotony of the everyday grind of getting up for a dead end job, coming home physiologically spent, and then falling asleep only to start over again the next day; and "Is Anyone Here Alive" an anthem to all struggling musicians, the band, now going into their 5th year together, has gone beyond language and cultural barriers and is ready to take their "do it and fuck you if you don't like it" underground attitude aboveground. ----- A biography and its corporation ------ 2005 Billboard Song Contest honorable mention, Music Connection's 100 Hottest Unsigned Artists of 2005, second place in La Banda Elastica's "Battle of the Bands". The contest sponsored by La Banda Elastica (a Los Angeles based music magazine published in Spanish), West LA Music, Shure and others was hosted at the famous Key Club on the Sunset Strip and featured 20 local bands which were chosen by various contributing writers from hundreds of entries. Mona for Now was the only band to perform in English as well as the only English speaking band to win one of the top prizes in the 5 year run of the contest. The band has also opened up for Grammy Award Winner Molotov when the band stopped in Los Angeles on their North American tour. Local fanzine Rock City News awarded them with "Best New Band" a year prior. Fabian, an amazing guitarist, has gained various equipment endorsements; including Ear Candy Cabinets who custom made their "Buzz Bomb" series for him. The song "Sick in 5 Seconds" from their demo "Mouth" was featured in the Artisan Entertainment release "Soul Survivors". The Band continues to tour on their own, making their way all around their home state of California as well as Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Tennessee (where they performed at Nashville's Indie Music Week Conference), and Puerto Rico (opening up various shows for the renowned band Nino Planeta).
