Q&A: An invitation to Monét Ngo’s ‘After School Club’

 

☆BY GIGI KANG☆

 
 

SCHOOL TEACHER TURNED ROCKSTAR — Monét Ngo is a Vietnamese-American musician and elementary school teacher who has just released his debut EP, After School Club.

Filled with vocal distortion, electronic synthesis, and lyrics that look back on experiences of feeling like an underdog, After School Club is an indie-rock record featuring hyperpop ingredients. There is no single category to place the EP into. While vigorous “Real Ass Love Story” asserts a breaking point (“I don’t like you no more, I’m done”), “Scarebear” is a distorted ballad that rebounds: “I’ll always care for you, we’ll always make it through.” Ngo’s debut album is as heartening as it is rebellious.

Ngo describes After School Club as “a place to let it all out. All your emotions, good or bad it’s there. [It] could be anything you make it. It’s a lesson, a second home, and most of all it’s a place where we are not alone.”

Read below as Ngo talks After School Club, the influence of students on his art, and more about his debut music.

LUNA: I listened to this EP in a few different places: while I was cooking, while getting some work done, on the train. What I appreciate about it is that it’s malleable to the listener’s experience — I felt like I could listen to it if I wanted to be angry or if I wanted to be happy. I imagine, this being your debut EP, there must have been a lot of joy in the process. But was there any one emotion or several emotions you associate with the creation of After School Club?

NGO: I think defeat is a common emotion that I can associate with a lot of the songs in After School Club. A lot of times when I’ve felt like my back was against the wall or that I was ready to give up, I always turned to music and songwriting. I think these moments tend to be my most vulnerable moments, and I think that naturally I don’t have any other choice but to write. There were definitely low moments but also absolute highs when making the EP. There’s no better feeling than when I find the right words to express exactly how I feel and how I’ve always felt.

LUNA: How are you feeling now that it’s out?

NGO: I’m relieved. I’ve been sitting on this project for a while and I’m just happy it’s out in the world for people to enjoy because I’ve loved this project for so long.

LUNA: One theme in multiple songs is our connections to the perceptions of other people and how we are affected by those perceptions. For example, “I say too much, say not enough” and “Acting like I’m crazy (I don’t know, maybe I am).” How do you navigate who you are when there’s all this noise from other people that can be highly influential in how we see ourselves, even confusing?

NGO: I think everyone has a voice inside of them that tells them and signals to them what the right thing to do is. I try my best to just follow that voice and that gut feeling no matter what.

LUNA: After School Club is filled with references to your teaching career, from the title itself to school desks and toy horses in the music video for “Lonestar.” Kids have a big imagination and sometimes show us new perspectives. Have the kids you’ve worked with made an impact on how you approach music?

NGO: Kids inspire my approach to music in a multitude of ways. I think with creativity a lot of children have this natural inherent ability to be in the moment and to just express without worrying about anyone else’s perceptions. I think if you have that ability to channel the same creative energy, then you can create art that is truly fulfilling. That being said, I always try to approach music from a child’s lense. There’s this song “We’re Going to be Friends” by The White Stripes and I think that’s one of the best songs ever written. It’s written from a child’s perspective going to school for the first time, and I think that idea that we are all just kids expressing ourselves is a powerful idea that can level us.

LUNA: I saw the video of you singing The Beatles to your students. What are some other artists that have inspired your journey?

NGO: I’ve always been big into alternative and indie rock. I love The Strokes, Phoenix, Smashing Pumpkins. I take a lot of influence from artists coming out now too like Joji, Jean Dawson, Roy Blair.

LUNA: In “Summertime Wind” you say, “Waiting for my life to start, I might have to find it.” In that, there’s this idea of initiative, of doing rather than waiting. At what point during your teaching career did you decide that now is the time to work on your debut music?

NGO: There was never a time where I just decided that I needed to work on my debut music. I think it was just a natural process of me wanting to make music that speaks for who I am. I think the biggest jump for me was just deciding when I was going to drop music and figuring out how I’d do it in a way most authentic to myself.

LUNA: Following this release, what’s next?

NGO: I’m working on expanding my sound and making music that feels closer to my heart. I’ll be moving to LA this month and I’m going to be collaborating with a bunch of dope producers, so I’m excited to see how my next music will take shape.

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