Las Vegas Weekly

Have brainwave monitor, will travel

Michigan-based band NOMO makes music out of medical equipment

NOMO arigato.

Photo: Doug Coombe

Six musicians are heading to Las Vegas in a van, bringing with them homemade instruments, African kalimbas and a brainwave monitor. Michigan-based band NOMO delivers a show fueled by jazz, Afrobeat and a killer horn section, and this Saturday night, NOMO’s Elliot Bergman says they’re determined to turn the Aruba into a “sweaty dance party.”

A band from Michigan playing Afrobeat/jazz seems a bit unusual. How did the group first become interested in that sound and Nigerian composer Fela Kuti?

I worked in a record store in Ann Arbor that was called Encore Records and a lot of us went to the music school at the University of Michigan. Equal components of my education was working at this record store and being able to immerse yourself in all these different kinds of music from around the world and the stuff that was coming out of Nigeria in the ’70s and West Africa. I’ve just been really drawn to that sound. I love the rhythms and the layers and the guitars are amazing. … I’m always interested in combining things in unusual ways and fit[ting] sounds together that people wouldn’t necessarily think of as an obvious pairing. I think that that’s a part of what we’re trying to do – introduce new elements into something that’s essentially very old music.

Photo: Doug Coombe

NOMO

NOMO isn’t exactly a household name. How have your experiences in Las Vegas been thus far?

I hadn’t really spent too much time in Vegas, but it’s always been a sort of obligatory stop on a tour because it’s sort of the only place to stay between Denver and LA. We’re always surprised by how vibrant the scene is there. We’ve actually had some of the most fun nights of touring in Vegas. One night we were there for The Get Back dance party at Beauty Bar and that was great. I think people kind of think of Vegas as an isolated spot, and we’re always surprised to find so many people that are supportive of our band.

You have a ton of crazy instruments on your albums and at live shows. What’s most intriguing to people who aren’t familiar with NOMO?

That does get some attention and people will talk about all the crazy instruments and crazy sounds, but I think underneath all that there’s a real simple party and dance spirit to the band. I was talking with a fan and they were saying that it’s almost like we trick people into liking weirder music than they’re used to liking, because there is something that’s accessible at the core of the music that we’re doing that’s music to dance to. I think the layers of homemade instruments and all the woodwinds and all the experimental stuff sits on a foundation of danceable beats and funky riffs. I always try to shy away from getting too esoteric in the description of the band because it just ends up being a sweaty dance party.

What do you hope people will feel when they listen to NOMO’s music?

People feel a range of stuff, but I’m always amazed that people always say, “Your music is so joyous and uplifting.” In Vancouver the other night, a number of people came up to us at the end of the concert with tears in their eyes, and they were just so happy. They’d been dancing, and I love that. That feels really rewarding to have people connect with the music in that sort of way where they’re feeling maybe something that’s uplifting, it’s something that can even be healing.

Can you explain a bit more about the brainwave machine you use as an instrument?

The brainwave monitor is some sort of — I don’t know if it’s a real or fake medical device, but I found it in a thrift store. Apparently, you would plug in these diodes and attach them to your forehead, and then there’s an output for headphones so you could theoretically listen to your brainwaves. I haven’t actually rigged it up in that way, but I realized that it probably made some sort of sound, so I took it home and started messing around with it and plugging it in to different things that probably didn’t go together. It ended up making this wild shrieking sound that if you plugged a microphone into it, it not only can modulate the sound of the brainwave monitor, but it’s very sensitive and it ends up being a small part of this modular synthesizer I rigged together.

If someone comes to the NOMO show, how can they take a bit of the experience home with them?

We just finished a big batch of electric kalimbas that are up for sale on our label’s Web site that are cool to check out. There’s a little YouTube video that my girlfriend shot on her iPhone of me making some kalimbas, so those are kind of fun.