Following in the wake of such Manchester bands as the Stone Roses and Oasis, the Space Monkeys first made a name for themselves not on radio or by local word-of-mouth, but in London dance clubs as DJs and performers.
Now the band's debut, "The Daddy of Them All," is garnering the U.K. group attention in the states, particularly for the track "Sugar Cane," which features the Monkeys' hybridization of live instruments and loops. But the band says that its use of samples on the record -- which sources such rap acts as the Wu-Tang Clan and Public Enemy -- was actually more spontaneous than it at first might seem.
"It was just what we were listening to at the time," keyboardist Tony Pipes told the MTV Radio Network recently during a band interview. "We were jamming around on a song, and I just picked it out of my record collection and started cutting it up ... it wasn't like, 'Oh let's put the Wu-Tang in there 'cause they're coming up.' But it was just natural to us 'cause it fit it. It fit the song. The same with the Public Enemy sample. When it came, there were no, like, preconceptions about it. We just put it in 'cause it fit it." [300k Audio]
After finishing up a tour of the U.S. in early April, the Space Monkeys will release another single, "Acid House Killed Rock and Roll," which lead singer Richard McNevin feels represents a different side of the band.
"We're putting it out to show the opposite side of the mirror," McNevin says. "Cause it's harder, and it's punkier and it's kind of more techno." [150k Audio]
The Space Monkeys will play the European festivals this summer and will then headline its own U.K. tour, after which the band plans to head back into the studio.
