Monsterboy is a husband and wife indie pop duo based in Arkansas. Veronica plays bari-saxophone and Chris Long composes, plays guitar as well as handling vocal duties. Their first three songs are called the Nashville Sessions as they were inspired by the duo’s visits to Nashville.

It is a magical town in which anything can happen. The talent we met every night, places to play around every bend. We noticed that not just artists, but also audiences are hungry for original great work. It was inspiring to say the least, these three songs is about how Nashville changed us.”

In this interview spotlight, I chat with Monsterboy about their newest project, motivations, challenges and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

Chris: We are Little Rock based musicians who make indie pop. I hear bits of industrial, trap, rock, and blues throughout my work, as well. To be honest, I’m usually just playing the music that I hear on the radio station in my head! Sometimes Veronica plays a part I already hear, and sometimes she hears a part that will add depth to the song.

Veronica: For me it’s more than the music, it’s our life and our story. We have been madly in love with each other for 15 years, and it has been a crazy ride. The songs are our love story.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?

Chris: I started playing the violin at age 6, and have been playing music since. I always had a passion for performance, and found a love for composition as I kept working. I love finding new instruments and exploring the noises they can make, intentional or not.

Veronica: My mother said that she took me to a festival as a small child, she remembered that I was fascinated by a monstrous saxophone that was in jazz quartet. Fast forward almost a decade later, she took me to pick an instrument out for jr high school band, I heard a horn in the back and knew that was my horn. She was suprised to see it was the same type of sax, and that is how I ended up with a baritone sax; I think it was bigger than me at the time. After high school, it stayed stored in its case until about 7 months ago when we decided we wanted it in the project. I am learning and relearning things about my horn as we write new parts and explore all the ways it can be layered into the mix. Which is an insanely different style than how I was first classically taught, like we just found out that if we pitch shift an octave it down with a pedal, my bari can sound just like a cello.

Chris: I think for both of us, it’s part creation and part sharing it with the world. I am not sure what is better for me, writing something that feels so right in the song or seeing someone react the first time they hear it.

How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

Chris: This is the first release featuring Veronica on the saxophone! I feel this song has a great energy, and everyone who has heard it has been excited about this project.

Veronica: Monsterboy comes from a place where we didn’t worry about how the music was going to be performed live and without a concern of if the song styles fit together. I felt like that holds an artist back, having to stay in a lane. Having to write with a mindfulness on what equipment people have and their skill level. Any time we start to ask the questions that would limit or change the creation, we remember to just write the song as it needs to heard. We can figure out the rest when it is whole.

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?

Chris:It’s so hard to just get someone to hit the play button.

Veronica: Definitely the play button. People are so busy nowadays, that often times you get lost in the to-do list stack. People have great intentions, but there is just so much data for them to deal with. But if we can get that play button hit, most people have gone above and beyond to help us get heard. This new age of everyone being accessible has opened up who we can reach with our project from right here in Little Rock.

Chris: Even a decade ago, you had to be in one of the set music cities to be found, or to find people to work with. Now we are able to record this music in our living room, send it to our producer who we see in person maybe once a year. Send it to our mentors for feedback and guidance, send it to the other side of the world with a click of a button. It has also exposed me to new styles and helped me to discover new artists I never would have heard in the days before YouTube and Spotify, for sure.

What was the last song you listened to?

Chris: We listened to a Beck practice room live stream on Instagram. How cool is that?

Veronica: We definitely need to do something like that soon. The man is an inspiration.

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

Chris: Man, I’ve been in bands for the last 15 years. I’m just glad that I can hear the music! Haha, but really I don’t have a preference. I own plenty of music in all three mediums.

Veronica: I own a set of Dynakits, vintage audiophile stuff. And you know what, I also have cats. So that means those have lived in storage for over a decade. I used to DJ with vinyl and can appreciate the nuanced detail in it. But at the end of the day, buy music in the format that fits your life. Right now that is my iPhone.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

Chris: Spotify has really opened the door to unsigned artists recently, and it really is quite amazing what they have done. So much so that one of our mentors has helped us plan our music release schedule to work with Spotify’s new playlist placements.

Veronica: I think by focusing on individual single releases we will be able to get music out to our people as soon as it’s done. Holding onto finished songs for this last half year has been torture. They were written to be heard.

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

Veronica: We like to hear from our people, 501-626-4545 – you just got access to us. Send your name and where you’re from, and we will keep you in the loop on gigs and releases that are relevant to you. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are great places to see clips of things in the works. We usually just go with the social media that fits that moment best, so different things in different places.

Chris: Its a bit of a scavenger hunt!

Veronica: Also whatever streaming service you use is a great way to hear our most recent music. We have set up to release as globally as possible. Why not? Spotify is golden to us! Please add us to your playlists and follow us, so we are in your new music playlist automatically.

Anything else before we sign off?

Veronica: These first three songs are The Nashville Sessions, as it speaks to how spending time in Nashville shaped us as artists. It is a magical town to visit – the people are so warm, the musicians are insanely talented, and the opportunities are out of this world. It is when we started to believe we could do this thing. We find inspiration through experiences and this is how we plan on serving our music to y’all.