Spring Off My Back!

At the end of Sprung Monkey’s last visit to Australia, the verdict passed by the few thousand people who saw them play was pretty much unanimous: this band stinks. They really stink! As does everyone else in the room when Sprung Monkey play, because there is no room to stand still - purchasing a Sprungers ticket is an admission of a desire to thump your body against many others for a solid hour and a bit, sweating like all the other pigs who paid the price of admission, until the room, yourself, the band, all stink of a damn good time.

Lead singer Steve Summers admits that the band’s immense live energy "probably did cause a few bad smells", and asks me to offer his apologies to the people of Australia in advance for this tour. Softly spoken Summers was apparently charmed at every stop last visit, returning the customary assessment that "everyone is just really nice over there". With one notable exception, however - it seems the notoriously seedy westy lair, The Cambridge Hotel in Newcastle, did not appeal to the Sprung Monkey crew...

"Actually we nearly boxed up some fools at The Cambridge that night when we first pulled in. That was our first night in Australia, we stayed there. Anyway, we’ve got it all on video, this guy stole our little two dollar coin of the edge of the pool table! Man, we were ready for it," he recalls with a juvenile snigger. "It was funny, though, because some of the locals, they came and told us ‘Yeah, it was that guy right there who took it’. I guess they didn’t like him either. It’s funny that you said it was a ‘westy’ joint, though, because that’s what they called him." Now I cannot help but snigger - bloody westies! "We thought that’d be a good way to get it going, you know, get a feel for the country? If we get beat up, we know to watch ourselves from now on!"

The fact is that Sprung Monkey are not alone in keeping watch on their movements. Critics in the highest of places continue to laud their live and recorded performances, with similar responses seemingly inevitable for the soon to be released new album. They have been voted Most Popular Band in home town and punk rock capital, San Diego, for three years running. But therein lies one of the problems the Sprungers have run into more than once - the suggestion that they are another bunch of punk rock monkeys.

"That’s definitely been how it has happened, we often get grouped in with straight up punk acts," Summers explains, before adding: "But we’re far from a punk band." His tone is surprisingly stern for that one second, before reverting to his more customary shoulder shrugging manner. "I think it’s just the aggressive nature of our music draws the skaters and surfers in, so we can play at a lot of those sort of shows."

So they’re not punk, but what the hell are they? Their management, in a somewhat uncourageous attempt, describe their sound as "a mix of hard rock, funk, punk, and pop". The band themselves more creatively term it "aggro-melodic", but Summers willingly admits that even that is as useless as any other label. "The main problem is the talent of the guys in the band," he says. "They can play so many different styles, that it is hard for them to stick to just one. Keeps us from getting bored."

Perhaps one could gain a better perspective through the music the band listens to - Steve Summers rates among this year’s best albums releases by Faith No More, The Chemical Brothers, Beck and Atari 2000, a fairly diverse range without question. He confesses to a lingering preference for "the older guys" he listened to as a younger man, such as Stevie Ray Vaughn and Cat Stevens. (Summers’ admiration for Cat’s music doesn’t entirely flow over to Stevens’ decision to retire for religion, however. "I can respect any man who chases his religious or spiritual thing, but I don’t understand it [his retirement]. I don’t see how you would have to give up music to venture into wherever you’re going. Music seems to me to be one of the spiritual pinnacles.")

"It’s hard, but it’s not hard," is the succinct response one receives when questioning Summers as to the relative difficulty of coming from an area like San Diego, which is so well known for one particular style of music. "What I mean is that it’s no harder than it is anywhere else, really," he elaborates. "The whole Southern California punk sound has changed. It’s not really punk rock any more. There’s a lot of ska and stuff like that, and it’s coming out of everywhere. Like all over, there’s great bands all over. I know that a lot of focus is generated around that one area, but I don’t think it’s too accurate."

And he seems unconcerned that his opinion is opposed by the many, many others who regard what happened, and is happening still, in the Southern California punk scene as a phenomenon equal to early 90’s Seattle. "I could see that you could draw some comparisons to it, yeah. But none of those bands have gone as ultimately huge as the Seattle bands did," he argues, apparently regarding bands like The Offspring as less than huge. "A lot of them are now doing pretty mediocre for themselves."

While the band of course promise the same good times as before, this visit sees a slightly adjusted line up with new bass player Tony deLot aiming up. With most of Sprung Monkey being 27-28 years old, the 19 year old recruit has had a rigorous lifestyle adjustment since joining the band.

"He had to adjust to us more to us than us adjust to him. Luckily we have a pretty young lifestyle going on anyhow," Summers says coyly. "When he first joined the band, he was just this young kid - drinkin’, pukin’ - you know. He can hold his liquor now, though. He’s probably grown up a little faster than he should have, we’ll admit that much!

"He’ll do it tough again once we get him out on the town in Australia, though," he menaces, "Because he’s legal, but also those closing times - man! That night at The Cambridge, that was our first encounter with a bar that stays open all night. They close here at 2. That was kind of a bad way to start off the trip," he shakes his head. "Man, I’d hate to think of what it’d be like if you could drink all night at home - we get into so much trouble there as it is!"

SPRUNG MONKEY TOUR DATES:

Alexandra Headlands - Stewart’s - Jan 5th

Coffs Harbour - Hoey Moey - Jan 6th

Byron Bay - Great Northern - Jan 7th

Gold Coast - The Playroom - Jan 8th

Sydney - St Ives Youth Centre - Jan 9th (ALL AGES)

Sydney - Caringbah Bizzos - Jan 10th

Gosford - Froggy’s - Jan 11th (ALL AGES)

Gosford - Joe’s Garage - Jan 12th

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