The monks

Initially, the musicians called themselves The 5 Torquays and performed the standard material for amateur rock ensembles (cover versions of famous rock and roll and beat songs, sustained in the same style of their own composition), but over time they changed their name and image and began to engage in much more radical and original music - in our time, their recordings are often called among the earliest proto-punk models.

At the end of their military service, they settled in Hamburg and soon began giving regular concerts at clubs like Star Club or Top Ten (where The Beatles started their careers a few years earlier) as The Monks ; at the suggestion of their acquaintances Walter Niemann, a student at the Essen School of Art, and Karl Remy, who studied at the university in design courses, they brought their appearance into line with the new name - they shaved their monastic heads, put on black, put on loops on their necks.

The musical material they performed was just as non-standard as their appearance - “Monks” created deliberately “primitive”, minimalistic compositions, in which the main place was occupied not by melody , but by rhythm ; solo guitarist Gary Burger experimented with feedback , absolutely original sound was given to music by homemade banjo Dave Day and organ passages Larry Clark.

The public reaction to their performances was mixed; unpleasant incidents took place - so, once one of the audience almost strangled Gary Burger "for blasphemy." Nevertheless, for some time, the musicians managed to attract the attention of critics and even recorded an album called “Black Monk Time” ; soon, however, the collective ceased to exist, and the musical heritage of The Monks was forgotten for a long time.

Re-opened them only in the 80s - 90s ; now critics have compared them to The Velvet Underground and The Fugs , a famous musician and author of books and articles on rock music, Julian Cope called Black Monk Time “the forgotten masterpiece” ( “the lost classic” ) and announced that no one before them recorded so crazy things ( "no-one ever came up with a whole album of such dementia" ). Among the fans of the band called themselves John Spencer ( Pussy Galore , John Spenser Blues Explosion ), Mark E. Smith ( The Fall ), who recorded several covers of their songs, Jello Biafra ( Dead Kennedys ), Jack White of White Stripes .

In 2006, the Monks tribute album Silver Monk Time was released, which became the soundtrack for the documentary about Monks entitled Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback; Faust , The Raincoats , Mouse on Mars , The Gossip , Silver Apples , John Spencer, Alan Vega from Suicide participated in the recording, and also Gary Burger himself, who had several concerts with the reunited The Monks a few years before and recorded live album with them.

• Gary Burger (d. 2014 ) ^[1] - guitar , vocals
• Larry Clark - organ , vocals
• Dave Day (d. 2008 ) - banjo , vocals
• Eddie Shaw - bass , vocals
• Roger Johnston (d. 2004 ) - drums , vocals

Albums

Studio

• Black Monk Time ( 1966 )

Demo Collections

• Five Upstart Americans ( 1999 )
• Demo Tapes 1965 ( 2007 )
• The Early Years 1964-1965 ( 2009 )

Concert

• Let's Start a Beat - Live From Cavestomp ( 2000 )

Singles

• “There She Walks” b / w “Boys are Boys” (as The 5 Torquays) ( 1964 , self published; reissued in 2006, Munster Records)
• Complication b / w Oh, How To Do Now ( 1966 , Polydor; reissued 2009 , Play Loud! Productions)
• “I Can't Get Over You” b / w “Cuckoo” ( 1966 , Polydor)
• “Love Can Tame The Wild” b / w “He Went Down To The Sea” ( 1967 , Polydor)
• Pretty Suzanne b / w Monk Time ( 2009 , Red Lounge Records)

Tribute Albums

• Silver Monk Time - a tribute to the monks ( 2006 )

• One of the band’s songs, “Boys Are Boys And Girls Are Choice,” was used in Apple’s Sticker Battlefront commercial.

• Official site
• Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback documentary official page on Play Loud! Productions
• The Monks on All Music Guide
• Russian-language biographical article on the rock encyclopedia site rockfaces.ru
• “The Monks: The Black Monk's Tantrum” (article about The Monks on zvuki.ru)