A Norwegian and an Irish medical student founded a university band in Pécs, which developed on such a scale that now we can only meet them on the stages instead of the doctor’s offices.
In a few years, Mongooz and the Magnet has become successful not only in Hungary, but all over the world, so much so that this year they would have had an Asian and a Russian tour as well. Femcafe.hu interviewed the trio's guitarist-singer, Norwegian Magnus Maloy, about their unprecedented career path and their plans.
It turns out from the conversation that the duo of Magnus Maloy and Ian O'Sullivan was soon supplemented by a Hungarian drummer, Gergő Háló, and today the three of them are conquering the national and international stages. The eclecticism of the formation is well followed by their sounding as well. Just as they are not the same as children of three different nations, so their songs are also varied: they play blues, groove, pop, funk and electronic style notes, but the basis of it all is the pounding, original rock’n’roll. Due to their vibrant performance style, authentic lyrics and modern sounding, they have also been noticed internationally in the concert industry, they have had a lot of European performances, and have even been to Asia, at the DMZ Peace Train Festival organised on the border of North and South Korea.
“The band was formed when both Ian and I were still medical students. In the beginning, we did not have too big plans, it was more about loving to play together. Then over time, we wrote more and more songs together, which we recorded in the studio. Later, we released these on an EP. I think the decision that we wanted to be more than a university band came when we saw the positive feedback,” says Magnus Maloy.