The Junk Monkeys started originally as the Mystery Girls in the mid-1980's, in Detroit, Michigan. That band had a New York Dolls look, and a hard-edge Detroit sound. The Mystery Girls, as well as the early Junk Monkeys, were David Bierman (Guitar, Lead Vocals), Dave Boutette (Lead Guitar, Vocals), Kevin Perri (Bass, Vocals) and Dan Allen (Drums, Vocals). The Mystery Girls recorded one EP, "Bagged" in 1985, which was released in 1986 by SOS Records in Detroit. In 1985 a couple of their songs appeared on Len Puch's first compilation LP, "It Came From The Garage," on his Wang Head label. Their EP contained 7 tracks, 5 of them were recorded live at Paychecks Lounge, in Hamtramck, a city inside Detroit, on September 8, 1985. Shortly after the releases of the EP and compilation albums, the band changed its name to the Junk Monkeys. The Junk Monkeys were videotaped for BanDin Detroit, on July 16, 1988 at Paychecks Lounge in Hamtramck, a small city inside Detroit. Episode #10 with the Junk Monkeys played many times on Detroit-area cable-TV systems, in September, 1988 across Wayne and Oakland Counties. Like most episodes, it was recorded in Binaural Stereo: for live, 3-D sound, listen to it through earbuds or headphones. The Junk Monkeys' sound might be described as Iggy & The Stooges Meets Punk Metal. In 1988 they were signed to Metal Blade Records from Los Angeles, a side-label of Warner Brothers. In 1989 a compilation of their previous 2 albums came out with the name "Soul Cakes." Two of the ten tracks were previously unreleased, "Trade" and "Time Ain´t On My Side". It was followed in 1990 by a full-length album with new material, called "Five Star Fling". It contained a cover version of a Pete Townsend composition, "A Quick One, While He´s Away," originally recorded in 1966 by The Who. They also re-recorded "Everything Remains The Same" from their own debut album, "Firehouse." After that release, original drummer Dan Allen left the band and was replaced by Glynn Scanlan. For their final recording "Bliss" from 1992 they added a Organ/Piano Player Todd McKinney for some Tracks. The rumor goes that there was a live recording planned to release in 1995 with the title "Follies Review". But the band broke up, for the time being. The Junk Monkeys reunited in 2001 for the final night of Detroit´s Gold Dollar Bar, where Jack & Meg White, and their band, The White Stripes, made their first impact. On October 10th, 2009 the Junk Monkeys reunited for one concert at PJ's Lager House in Detroit. In 1999, David Bierman and Glynn Scanlan started a band with the name Swig. They released two albums "Furia" (1999) and "True Grit" (2006) on Cabbage Head Records, and continue to play and record together. In 2014 another new band, David Bierman Overdrive released an album, which has the Junk Monkeys' Kevin Perri on bass, as well as Dave Feeny (current Tempermill Studios' honcho, and previous member of the Hysteric Narcotics band, as well as his Orange Roughies band) on guitar. Starting In 2014 Kevin Perri is playing bass in The Dives, a blues-rock-punk hybrid around Detroit, including the Old Miami bar (see the Mutants playing there, on this YouTube channel). Guitarist Dave Boutette started a solo carreer and released his first recording, "Memos, Demos And Hard To Reach Places," in 1999 on Thursday Records. It was followed by "The Old Dog Songbook" on the same Label. Later he released "Confetti" (2004) and "The Piccolo Heart" (2007), both on Embassy Hotel Records to be followed by "Boomtown & Candidate" (2009) and "Mending Time" (2011) both self released. His newest release came out May, 2015: "1st Rate Companion," and he continues to play live around Michigan. Check them all out. Text was adapted from Free Press, Discogs-dot-com and band member's websites. This factual work is available on YouTube for educational purposes. I was involved in its production.

• published: 03 Jun 2015
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