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Welcome All New Aussie Club Members
A warm welcome to all those Australians who were successful in the free one month Club membership giveaway. I hope you decide to stay. You won’t be disappointed.
We are fortunate to have been one of the places our intrepid twins visited when they were still young teenage school children. In 2009 Mona and Lisa spent about six months in Adelaide on a school exchange. Following are some responses from them in the Forum section, “Ask The MonaLisa Twins”.
How you decided on the school exchange you did?
The initial idea came about after we started working on our own songs in our early teens and very soon reached our lyric-writing limits. Our high school English lessons only went so far so we decided to pick the most exotic and friendly of all places to become more fluent ?
Besides, going on a student exchange at that age is a once in a lifetime opportunity for so many reasons (you learn about new cultures, people, places, being independent …) and we’re still so grateful that our parents let us do that.Which schools were involved in the exchange?
At first Lisa was at Aberfoyle Park High School and I was at Charles Campbell College but after 3 months Lisa changed to my school.What your favourite subjects were (apart from music of course)?
Drama, dance (though we weren’t any good!) and computer scienceWhere you stayed while there?
We stayed with two seperate host families and I’m still in touch with mine, they were great!What you did on your week-ends (not music related)
Besides busking? We explored the city of Adelaide and did things like going to the beach or see concerts or go to the cinema. Weirdly, we went ice skating with friends quite a lot too – not something you’d guess when you think of the driest city in the driest state in the driest continent on the world ?Did you have time for any sport?
Does carrying a guitar from and to school each day count?How you got to Uluru?
Our parents flew over to visit us between school terms and took us on a wonderful trip through the outback and to Uluru.All in all the 6 months there were an unbelievable experience that taught us a lot. We’ve made amazing friends, had great teachers and we hope to go back one day for a visit.
And,
That 12-string guitar has been on quite the journey, halfway around the world.
You might have read that back in 2009, at the age of 14/15, we had spent half a year in Australia for student exchange. Even before we left for the trip we knew we wanted to buy two acoustic guitars there and bring them back home with us afterward. While roaming the music stores of Adelaide we found this 12-string as well as the other 6-string Maton we own and immediately fell in love with them. We didn’t plan on getting a 12-string but it sounded so great and once we picked it up we couldn’t put it down anymore.
They became our “working horses” for the six months we spent in Australia. We took them busking, carried them to school and back most days and played them a LOT.
We brought both Matons home with us, and it was the only 12-string we owned for quite a few years after. I love the tone of it, it’s full and warm and extremely well balanced even when plugged in.
The action on it is not the best. If we don’t stay on top of it and adjust the neck every few months it gets out of shape, and the chunky neck isn’t helping with the playability. Compared to the other 12-strings we have played and owned since, it might not be the most “finger-friendly” one but the tone, as well as the story, make up for it, and I do tend to gravitate towards it for performances! ? For noodling around at home, I would probably choose a different one though.
Also yes, it does have the Queensland Walnut back and sides which is gorgeous and so different from what you usually see. The model number is EM425C/12 by the way.
We all hope you’re well, thanks for the question and all the best from both of us!
Mona
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10 Replies
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Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi
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Attached is a video of the German song Mona and Lisa initially played at a school international concert while in Adelaide, and then recorded on video back at home.
Cover Wise Guys “Jetzt ist Sommer” by MonaLisa Twins live!
MLT Adelaide Visit Downunder 2009
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Eight Days a Week – MonaLisa Twins (The Beatles Cover). Uluru, Australia 2009.
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Hi Howard,
Thank you for not only welcoming all new Aussies to the club but also putting that compilation together.
I really enjoyed reading those answers that you had extracted from different Q&A topics.
Well done, Howard.
Kind Regards
John Brennan
Perth, Australia.
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Wasn’t too difficult John. The first four questions were mine. They were all included in the first ‘Ask the MonaLisa Twins’ question from me, all combined into the one request. The 12 string guitar question may have been mine too.
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Good Work all the same.
Kind Regards
John Brennan
Perth, Australia.
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Mona and Lisa spent time busking in Rundle Mall. It was here they realised they could make money from their passion for music.
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A question about surfing from Ask The MonaLisa Twins:
Well, we did try surfing once. It was such a cold day that even the instructor (Mona’s host mother’s brother) refused to go in the water haha. So he roughly told us what to do and then pushed us out into the waves. To no surprise we returned to shore soon after, having spent more time underneath the board than on top.
I felt a few glimpses of the board catching a wave so I could imagine it being fun once you’re good at it but we spent the majority of our time paddling out, trying to get on and off the board and yelling at each other about how cold we were ;-). So it’s definitely not something we were able to cross off our bucket list with a lot of confidence. We’d love to give it a go another time! Maybe next time we visit Australia (fingers crossed!)?
Mona particularly looking like a bleached blond Surfier chick!
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Over the last few months we have had a considerable number of new members introduce themselves to the MLT Club. Many from the United States, but also from Europe, Canada and Australia.
This was a welcome I posted early in the year that I think all new members may be interested in.
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Mona, I guess you know that Matons are an Australian guitar. Like Ford and Akubra hats, one of those success stories that started in a backyard shed!
Lovely to hear some more of the Australian chapter of your Origin Story too 🙂
Thanks for the thread Howard!
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