Tracker Pixel for Entry

​MNDR to DJ at the Aquarium

Music | May 9th, 2013

Amanda Warner grew up in near Hillsboro, N.D. and went to high school in Fargo. Today, she is a New York pop singer/DJ/songwriter and goes by the stage name MNDR.

This Saturday, Warner will be performing a solo set at the Aquarium for the finish line of the Zombie Pub Crawl. It will be her first performance back in Fargo in five years – though expect this to be just the first of two MNDR shows in Fargo, Warner said. Saturday’s show will be an all-DJ set and her second one later this year (which HPR will be covering in advance) will be a full production with a full band.

“I’m really looking forward to being in Fargo (this Saturday). I’m playing with my best friends, The Seawhores,” she said. “I’ve been best friends with these guys since we were in high school and they are still my best friends. Honestly, all my Fargo friends are still my closest friends.”

Just how big of a pop artist has this North Dakota-bred musician become?

Well, she co-wrote and is featured on Mark Ronson’s hit record “Bang Bang Bang” with Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. This song peaked at no. 6 on the UK album charts.

Her latest record, “Feed Me Diamonds,” just dropped last year and Spin Magazine named it the eighth “Best Pop Album of 2012,” edging out artists like Norah Jones, No Doubt, Pink and Lana Del Ray. Pitchfork and Rolling Stone also gave the album great reviews.

The MTV O Music Awards also named MNDR the Most Innovative Solo Performer of 2012.

Oh yeah, she’s also toured The Tings Tings and Duran Duran. She’s opened for The Flaming Lips. And in her previous band, Triangle, Warner regularly toured with The Shins.

This, of course, didn’t happen overnight. Warner has been musically active since grade school. She took piano lessons starting at the age of five; she was involved in Oak Grove’s music department, as well as Fargo South High’s jazz program.

She even has some great memories from Ralph’s Corner in Moorhead: “When I was a kid, Ralph’s was the only venue to play if you needed to make some more money between Minneapolis and Seattle, so it got a lot of great bands, like really iconic bands now. So it’s really amazing to be apart of that.”

Warner has lived in cities all over the country, including Portland, Ore., Minneapolis, Oakland, Calif. and New York.

“Fargo and Oakland were probably my most creative formative years, experimenting with music and different styles,” she said.

She said much of her success is a result of her deep involvement in the music scenes of every community she has ever lived in. In Oakland, for example, she played in about three different bands and lived in a “punk space” called Grandma’s House.

“Warehouse living and collective living was really big in a lot of communicates and I was really involved in that scene,” Warner said. “It was like a free space; it was like a punk anarchy space, so it was a lot of noise music, experimental music, electronic music, punk music to like indie pop music.”

It wasn’t until Warner got an offer to be a songwriter for hire in New York that she had a desire to focus on more structured songwriting.

“All of the music was about repelling people, noise and experimental music, and it was more about being inside yourself,” she said. “But pop music is sort of about connecting with everyone.”

She moved to New York in 2008, and because of her relationship with producer/ collaborator/MNDR band mate Peter Wade, in 2009 she went from working as a behind-the-scenes songwriter to performing as leading lady for MNDR.

So far MNDR have released two EPs, “E.P.E.” and “Caligula,” and one full-length album, “Feed Me Diamonds.”

Warner said they plan to put out new features every 6-7 weeks, including new singles, videos and merchandise. Fans can sign up for her mailing list at mndr.com to get the latest updates.

IF YOU GO:

WHAT: MNDR (DJ Set), Seawhores and Gay Witch Abortion

WHERE: The Aquarium, 226 Broadway

WHEN: Sat, May 11, 10 p.m., doors @ 9:15 p.m.

HOW MUCH: $8; $6 for zombies; tickets available atwww.ticketweb.com

INFO: 21+ only

Recently in:

By Laura Simmonslaurasimmons2025@u.northwestern.edu Dr. Stephen McDonough researched why North Dakota had the highest COVID death rate and cases in the fall of 2020. His investigation accumulated into a 1,000-plus page book titled…

By Michael M. Miller michael.miller@ndsu.eduOne of the most important books published about the Germans from Russia in North Dakota is “Along the Trails of Yesterday: A Story of McIntosh County” by Nina Farley Wishek, published…

photo credit: Jessica GavinSeptemberOktoberfest: Now-October 3Wurst Bier HallStein-holding competition, happy hour Mon-Fri from 4-6, wear your dirndl or lederhosen, German music.https://wurstfargo.com/Papa’s Pumpkin…

By John Strandjas@hpr1.comOur Opinion: Thank you, Reader readers, for 29 fulfilling yearsChugging along, The Little Newspaper That Could commences its 30th volume and year with this issue. Simply getting here speaks volumes. Just…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comEighty Million Eligible Voters Did Not Vote in the DSA in 2020. Why Not?In the first week of February, 2023, Deborah Daub, 59, shot and killed her husband James Daub, 62, Morgan Daub, their…

We are looking for 55-gallon plastic food grade barrels, do you have ideas or connections?We use these barrels to teach our resilient yard workshop series including Make Your Own Rain Barrel and Make Your Own Compost Tumbler. If…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.comMy new venture as a master’s degree student has got me thinking…again about food. Although I’m in an online program with the University of North Dakota, I thought it would be handy to list and…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comThe Melvins formed in 1983 Montesano, Washington, founded by singer/guitar player Buzz Osborne. The group is known for its heavy sound mixed with a dose of punk, forming its own subgenre.…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.comFilmmaker Jacqueline Castel’s “My Animal” premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in January, but its vibes are better suited to the rising blood moon of autumn’s spooky season. Now…

By HPR Staffsubmit@hpr1.comThe Fargo Moorhead Visual Artists’ much-lauded neighbor lovin’ Studio Crawl is just around the corner – October 7 and 8, noon to 6pm. During the free event, the people who add culture and vibrancy…

By Eric Dallmanericd@hpr1.comWe recently watched “The PROM” at Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, and it was an experience that left a lasting impact on us. The story, a heartwarming yet familiar one, follows a group of Broadway stars…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By John Showalter  john.d.showalter@gmail.comThey sell fentanyl test strips and kits to harm-reduction organizations and…

JANUARY 19, 1967– MARCH 8, 2023 Brittney Leigh Goodman, 56, of Fargo, N.D., passed away unexpectedly at her home on March 8, 2023. Brittney was born January 19, 1967, to Ruth Wilson Pollock and Donald Ray Goodman, in Hardinsburg,…

By Faye Seidlerfayeseidler@gmail.com On the first day of the month I ask people to thank a journalist they know or someone who contributes to papers in some meaningful way. When I grew up, my best friend's father was a journalist…