Who are you and what do you do?
Most people know us as a music duo, prone to wild performances using animalistic vocals, electric guitar, traditional Andean flutes and effects pedals...

Who’s the Bitch and who’s the Monk?
Debatable. Depends on the day, but just to suit conventions Heidi's the self-proclaimed Bitch and Mauricio is the Monk.

How/where/when did you both meet?
We met in a yurt at a festival back in 2011, starting making music pretty much instantly, and found each other perplexing and amusing. Then we went back to our respective international dwellings and didn't reunite for another year or so when the real collaborations began.

Who is the bigger diva out of the pair of you?
Mauricio is a deceptive diva, and Heidi is more of an overt one. But to be honest we are such control freaks we do everything ourselves, from gourmet cups of coffee to intricate flier concepts. So we'd need more of an entourage for our true diva qualities to shine...

Who are your musical influences?
If we stick to the strict terms of your question our CD rack includes John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Led Zeppelin, Thomas Mapfumo, Oumou Sangare, Cathy Berberian, Mauritanian Sacred Music and good old Bach...but increasingly our greatest influences are non-musical. Mauricio likes to listen to animals (tiger calls are the latest obsession) and Heidi likes to eavesdrop on other people, and imitate public Tannoy announcements and advert voices.

What do you sound like?
We're glad you said 'what' and not 'who'. In that case we sound like a lyre bird and a chest-beating gorilla, on a day trip to the church after a night out at a warehouse rave.

Where are you both based?
We are London gypsies.

You’ve been flyering with sandwich boxes. Why? Are you bribing people to listen to your music?
They are advertising our short album launch at Vortex on July 18th and apart from the fact that a free food sample is automatically more appealing than a flier, the name of our album is 'Fulafalonga' - which is a playful criticism of both the food and music industries. But also music people don't know is better described as good food than in pseudo-artistic terms. And we are actually giving out organic sandwiches at the gig, made with incredible ingredients that are grown and produced without pretence, but with a lot of care. So the analogy suits us well as musicians.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

What’s the filling like? Who chose what and why?
Well this is not just any sandwich...
Beneath the spelt bread the filling will have ingredients from our friends from the farmers markets, including award-winning salad leaf and purple lettuce, marinated baby courgettes, fresh basil pesto and baby plum tomatoes from Wild Country Organics, 'Wyfe of Bath' cheese by the Bath Soft Cheese company and of course Bitch 'n' Monk spiced mayonnaise made with organic duck eggs.
Heidi chose the cheese because of the exceptional taste, and the Chaucer reference seems relevant. Mauricio makes the spiced mayonnaise, which he claims has a hint of his Latin American roots.

Where can we get one of these sandwiches?
We have been distributing the sandwich boxes and vouchers around Central London and will be taking them to East London. You can get one at Vortex Jazz Club in Gillett Square and at other locations which we will put on our website (http://www.bitchnmonk.com)

On your website it says: "Yoko Ono: I love this!" Was she talking about the sandwich, which one did she get?
We submitted our song 'Did He?' to Yoko Ono's Soundcloud last year when she was curating Meltdown, so she was expressing her appreciation for the music. But if she would like a sandwich we are more than happy to package one up and send it express to New York...

Jazz: music for aficionados, or a load of old noise?
We're not entirely convinced it exists. But certainly the ground-breaking masters who were at the core of its invention didn't want to call it jazz. We welcome that tension.

Where do you make your music?
Anywhere and everywhere. Heidi is known to sing and make noises on tube platforms, in living rooms...and Mauricio is a compulsive tapper. But the music we have composed so far is a collection from our travels. Some were written in Paris, one in rural France, one in a carpenter's workshop on the Lea Valley Canal called Building Bloqs, one in a field in the South West. Mostly we rearrange compositions and practise at our studio.

When were you last starstruck?
When Emma Thompson came bouncing along in dungarees, laughed at our name and took one of our sandwich box fliers on Saturday!

What’s on your rider?
We largely play in London. Rider? You joking? No but seriously when we play outside of the UK no booze for the Monk and a whiskey for the lady...

And finally, where can we hear you?
On Friday, July 18 we'll be at Dalston's Vortex with support from the glorious Laura Moody and the famous sandwiches in the interval. We'll also be on BBC radio on Saturday. Otherwise you'll have to make do with the Vimeo clips on our website. Dunno how you'll get your duck eggs for free, though.

Bitch 'n' Monk will be at Vortex in Dalston on July 18 and Rich Mix, Bethnal Green Road, E1 on August 11. 

Details: bitchnmonk.com