THE MONKS
The Monks, referred to by the name monks on record sleeves, were an American garage rock band formed in Gelnhausen, West Germany in 1964. Assembled by five American GIs stationed in the country, the group grew tired of the traditional format of rock, which motivated them to forge a highly experimental style characterized by an emphasis on hypnotic rhythms that minimized the role of melody, augmented by the use of sound manipulation techniques. The band’s unconventional blend of shrill vocals, feedback, and guitarist David Day’s six-string banjo baffled audiences, but music historians have since identified the Monks as a pioneering force in avant-garde music. Though the album and additional singles issued throughout 1966 and 1967 achieved limited success at the time, they have become highly regarded amongst music enthusiasts and commentators. (More from Wikipedia)
An overview of the Loons was published in the San Diego Reader in 2015 upon the release of Inside Out Your Mind; eight other articles about the band had been published previously by this alternative weekly. The article lists the “genre” for the Loons as noise/experimental and punk and describes the “full scope of their sound” as “Beatlesque vibes reincarnated in the form of post-punk fervency”. Influences are listed in the article as the Pretty Things, the Seeds, the Yardbirds, the Monks, the 13th Floor Elevators, MC5, the Misunderstood, and the Dutch band the Outsiders.
(June 2017)
