The Monks (also known as Monks), were an American 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 rhythm over melody, augmented by a heavy use of distortion.

The band blended shrill vocals, anti-Vietnam war lyrics, guitar feedback, and a six-string banjo into a sound that music critics later recognized as prefiguring the punk rock movement. The band's appearance was considered as shocking as their music, mimicking the look of Catholic monks by wearing black habits, cinctures, and styling medieval tonsure haircuts. Local newspapers at the time labelled the band "the anti-Beatles". In March 1966, they released their sole studio album, Black Monk Time, via Polydor Records, with the help of a German management team, alongside their single "Complication" backed with "Oh, How to Do Now". However, the album and additional singles issued throughout 1966 and 1967 achieved limited success which led to the group disbanding.

During the 1990s to early 2000s, the band acquired a cult following as a result of newfound interest in Black Monk Time. They were subsequently featured on several compilation albums, most notably the 1998 expanded version of Nuggets. This resurgence was followed by all five of the original band members holding a reunion concert at the Cavestomp festival in New York City on November 5, 1999, which was followed by sporadic touring in the 2000s. They have been cited as an influence by notable artists such as Jello Biafra, Jay Reatard, Mark E. Smith, Lenny Kaye, Krist Novoselic, Ira Kaplan, Jack White, Jon Spencer, Iggy Pop, and the Beastie Boys. Their style was self-described as "Über-beat". In 2011, bassist Eddie Shaw underlined their musical process in an interview:

The Guardian cited the minimal drumming style of the album as a precursor to krautrock, noting an early form of the "motorik" beat in Roger Johnston's performance, which was described as "tightly wound playing".

History

Beginnings (1963–1964)

The nucleus of the Monks formed in late 1963, when American G.I.s Gary Burger (lead guitar, vocals), Larry Clark (organ), Eddie Shaw (bass guitar), and Dave Day (rhythm guitar), along with a West German civilian identified simply as Hans (drums) came together as a quintet known as the Torquays, a name inspired by Burger's admiration for the Fireballs' instrumental "Torquay". Burger and Day had previously spent time together informally performing as an on-duty musical duo called the Rhythm Rockers, which soon recruited Clark and Hans to bolster their sound. Soon after, Shaw auditioned for the band and was reluctantly accepted by Burger. The band first performed at military hangouts near their outpost in Gelnhausen, Hesse, playing a combination of American rock and roll standards from the 1950s and some original songs penned by Burger and Day to rowdy crowds and servicemen.

After seeing the band at the Maxim Club, talent manager Hans Reich convinced the Torquays to stay in Germany when their military careers came to a close with the promise of work. For a brief period, the band included vocalist Zack Zachariah and drummer Bob Rose; however, the two were forced to excuse themselves from the Torquays because their discharges were long after the other band members'. This single was later collected on the compilation album Five Upstart Americans.

In early 1965, the Torquays began a residency at the Rio Bar in Stuttgart, which they used to experiment with electronics and sound manipulation and expand their repertoire. It was during the rehearsals at the Rio Bar that the group's signature style, including abrasive feedback and high-volume distortion, began to emerge. Sensing potential to expand upon their sound, a German management team composed of Karl Remy, Walther Niemann, and Günther and Kiki Aulich signed the Torquays to promote an entirely new image and hone their ensemble playing. Shaw explained that the group's motivation was to possess "high rhythm and high energy".

In September 1965, the Monks recorded new, self-penned compositions to present to Polydor Records. However, Polydor was reluctant to sign the band to a recording contract until they performed at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg, where the Beatles had garnered attention three years earlier. Much was made at the time of the Monks' unconventional attire, with their tailored-made black robes strikingly at odds with the prevailing trends among contemporary beat groups. With all five members abandoning their Beatlesque hairdos for tonsures and plain rope serving ties, the band exuded a mysterious aura, while also looking menacingly non-conformist. The Monks' image was met with mixed attitudes from their audiences. Younger fans were playfully curious about the band's eccentric appearance, but conservative patrons were shocked and at times furious at what they considered blasphemy. The group's relative detachment from the crowd was compounded by a loud and dissonant "steamroller of sound" intended to challenge and not necessarily please audiences. The striking approach that the Monks had taken on rock music was a precursor to punk rock. Burger's bursts of disorienting feedback was played through a heavily modified Vox Super Beatle amplifier. The songs strayed far from the typical verse-chorus-bridge, but their emphasis on rhythm was nonetheless reminiscent of R&B music acts of the 1950s. Lyrically, Black Monk Time showcased blunt and paranoid commentary on the Vietnam War, social alienation, and love-hate relationships. Polydor did not release the album in the United States, considering it "too radical and non-commercial"; it was circulated on tape in the country in the 1980s and had developed a cult following by the early 1990s. Writer Mike Stax has noted that after the initial burst of publicity for "Cuckoo" subsided, the group had exhausted all outlets on the German music market and by late 1966 the Monks were looking to expand to other countries. While performing with the Jimi Hendrix Experience in May 1967, there was increasing tension among the members of the group. On October 31, 2000, tapes of the concert were released on the live album Let's Start a Beat – Live from Cavestomp.

The original Monks line-up performed together for the last time at the Rockaround event in Las Vegas, in 2004. Later in the year, Johnston died of lung cancer in November after a lengthy illness. A further set of reunions took place in England and Germany in 2006 and 2007 before the Monks officially disbanded. On January 10, 2008, Day died from a massive heart attack at the age of 66. Burger began a solo career thereafter, performing mostly with the Monks' repertoire until 2009. In 2014, Burger, who had been mayor of the tiny town of Turtle River, Minnesota since 2007, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 71.

In 2009, "Pretty Suzanne" was released as a single over 40 years after it was recorded, backed with "Monk Time". The song originated as a "time consumer" instrumental called "Paradox" composed by Eddie Shaw and Dave Day. The Monks' managers took notice and pushed them to take to a harder direction. "Pretty Suzanne" was first recorded in 1965 as a demo. This early 1967 recording was recorded at Tonstudio Pfanz near Hamburg. Martin Christoph of Red Lounge Records discovered a single sided acetate of the 1967 recording in 2007, and it later was released as a bonus track on the 2009 Light in the Attic Records reissue of Black Monk Time and as a single released by Red Lounge Records.

Legacy

In 1997, Henry Rollins, formerly of Black Flag, alongside Rick Rubin, released the first American reissue of Black Monk Time on their "Infinite Zero" record label.

In 2009, Light in the Attic released a reissue of Black Monk Time, which featured appraising quotes by several musicians. Artists such as Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys, Jay Reatard, Fred Cole of Dead Moon, Casey Wescott of Fleet Foxes, Jared Swilley of Black Lips, Mark E. Smith of the Fall, Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group, Krist Novoselic of Nirvana, Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo, Jack White of the White Stripes, Jon Spencer of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Ade Blackburn of Clinic, Jochen Immler of Faust, Iggy Pop of the Stooges, and the Beastie Boys, were featured in the liner notes as fans of the record.

In 1994, Eddie Shaw published the autobiography Black Monk Time with help from his ex-wife Anita Klemke. Black Monk Time has been reissued numerous times on CD since the 1990s, and bonus tracks were included on the Light in the Attic Records release in 2009. In 1998, Lenny Kaye featured "Complication" on the expanded reissue of the compilation album, Nuggets. Subsequently, the song "I Hate You" was included in the soundtrack to the 1998 Coen Brothers film The Big Lebowski.

A tribute album, titled Silver Monk Time, containing tracks by numerous bands, was released in October 2006 as the soundtrack to the award-winning documentary Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback, artists included the Raincoats, Mark E. Smith and the Fall, Simeon Coxe of Silver Apples, Faust, Jon Spencer and Alan Vega of Suicide.

Members

  • Gary Burger - lead guitar, lead vocals, tambourine (died 2014)
  • Larry Clark (born Lawrence Spangler) - organ, backing vocals, piano, tambourine
  • Eddie Shaw (born Thomas Edward Shaw) - bass guitar, backing vocals, trumpet, brass
  • Dave Day (born David Havlicek) - rhythm guitar, banjo guitar, tambourine, backing vocals (died 2008)
  • Roger Johnston - drums, backing vocals (died 2004)

Timeline

Discography

Studio album

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! Album details

|-

|1966

|Black Monk Time

  • Released: March 1966
  • Label: International Polydor Production
  • Formats: LP, CD

|}

EP

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! EP details

|-

|2017

|Hamburg Recordings 1967

  • Released: June 23, 2017
  • Label: Third Man Records
  • Formats: single-sided vinyl, CD

|}

Singles

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Release date

! A side

! B side

! Label

|-

| Late 1964

| "There She Walks"

|"Boys Are Boys"

| Tonstudio H. Scherer

|-

| March 1966

|"Complication"

|"Oh, How to Do Now"

| International Polydor Production

|-

|1966

| "Cuckoo"

|"I Can't Get Over You"

| International Polydor Production

|-

| April 10, 1967

| "Love Can Tame the Wild"

|"He Went Down to the Sea"

| Polydor

|-

| May 2009

| "Pretty Suzanne"

|"Monk Time"

| Red Lounge Records

|}

Compilation albums

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! Album details

|-

|1999

|Five Upstart Americans

  • Released: November 2, 1999
  • Label: Omplatten
  • Format: CD

|-

|2007

|Demo Tapes 1965

  • Released: August 8, 2007
  • Labels: Munster Records ; Play Loud! Productions
  • Formats: CD, LP

|-

|2009

| The Early Years 1964–1965

  • Released: April 14, 2009
  • Label: Light In The Attic
  • Formats: CD, LP

|}

Live album

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year

! Album details

|-

|2000

| Let's Start a Beat – Live from Cavestomp

  • Released: October 31, 2000
  • Labels: Cavestomp Records, Varèse Sarabande
  • Format:CD

|}

Tributes

  • The Fall covered "I Hate You" (re-titled "Black Monk Theme Part I") and "Oh, How To Do Now" (re-titled "Black Monk Theme Part II") on their 1990 album Extricate and "Shut Up" on their 1994 album Middle Class Revolt.
  • Silver Monk Time - A Tribute To The Monks (2006, Play Loud! Productions)
  • "Monk Time" b/w "Higgle-dy Piggle-dy" (2006, Play Loud! Productions) - a single from the above album
  • "Drunken Maria" b/w "Monk Chant" (2009, Play Loud! Productions) - a single from the above album
  • IDLES song and video "IDLES Chant" from their EP Meat (2015) - a tribute to "Monk Chant"

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • The Monks Official Website
  • Monks article on Cult Cargo
  • "American GIs, Shaved Heads and Cold War Music History" Spiegel-International, February 7, 2007
  • Back to Monk Time Retrieved May 2, 2011
  • Powerade ad (2000) featuring Monk Time