Search - Monkeyjunk :: Tiger in Your Tank (Dig)

Good solid debut from this Canadian trio

G. E. Harrison | Cheltenham | 04/30/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Following Colin Linden, Paul Reddick, Colin James, Bharath Rajakumar and Harrison Kennedy, Monkeyjunk are yet another Canadian blues act, this time a trio from Ottawa. The name comes from a quote from Son House who apparently said "I'm talkin' 'bout the blues... I ain't talkin' 'bout monkey junk!" The band is Steve Marriner on harp and vocals, Tony Diteodoro on guitars and drummer Matt Sobb. We get off to a good start with Willie Dixon's "Tiger in your tank" with big-toned harmonica, swampy guitar and downhome drums, the overall sound being a lot like the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Marriner sings well throughout and plays great harp, Diteodoro varies things by adding slide guitar on some number and the band is augmented with nice Hammond organ on some tracks. However, some of their own songs do sound a bit ordinary and there are two instrumentals which are really just padding. I did like the souly "Give me time", the bluesy "Pay the cost" and my favourite track was probably "Leave the rest to you" which was a bit different and should point the way to how the band should develop in future. All in all this is a good solid debut which reminds me a bit of John Nemeth.



"