Perhaps you’ve heard their story. A bunch of GIs find themselves stationed in Germany in the mid-’60s. They decide to form a band, which they call the 5 Torquays. The Torquays are really nothing special, playing covers of Chuck Berry songs and other popular music of the day in rowdy German clubs.
After they are discharged from the Army, they stay in Germany, hook up with a couple of wacky guys from the West German avant-garde movement, and the Monks are born. The two West German managers, Walther Neimann and Karl Remy, set out to position the Monks as the “anti-Beatles,” as they are not fans of the British band’s lightweight pop sensibilities. They dress the Monks in black, with long capes, and ropes around their necks serving as ties. Musically, a crucial change is made when guitarist Dave Day moves to electric banjo, in search of a more percussive sound. One day, on a lark, drummer Roger Johnston and Day get their heads shaved into monk’s tonsures. The other members follow suit, and the look is complete.
That’s the basic outline, but little of it is what’s really important. What’s important, this being a CD review, is the music that the Monks made. Along with a few other bands, like the Sonics, the Monk’s pretty much invented what we now call garage rock. They were punks years before we used the term to describe a genre of music. (more…)
