Byron Coley Movies

During the mid-'60s, a time when musicians were pushing rock & roll into a number of new directions, the Monks were one of the most radical groups of their day. Comprised of Gary Burger, Larry Clark, Dave Day, Roger Johnston, and Eddie Shaw, five American GI's stationed in Hamburg, Germany, during the height of the Cold War, the Monks started out as a cover band called the Torquays, playing the hits of the day to blow off steam while they waited out their commitments to the Army. However, the band members had some more ambitious ideas, and when they met Karl-H. Remy and Walther Nieman, a pair of Germans with an interest in music and contemporary art interested in managing a rock band, they reinvented themselves as the Monks. Wearing all-black clothing, bits of rope as neckties, and sporting tonsures shaved into their scalps, the Monks played noisy, stripped-down rock with a fierce, propulsive beat, fuzzy guitars, an amplified banjo, and lyrics that were openly critical of the military and the standard social order.

While the Monks developed a small but loyal following and appeared occasionally on German television, the group was simply too unconventional to attract a large audience, and after the commercial failure of their album Black Monk Time, the group split up in 1967. However, the band's reputation lived on, and the album became a cult favorite among record collectors and fans of pre-punk garage rock. The album was belatedly released in the United States in 1997, and the group reformed to play a reunion show at New York City's Cavestomp Festival in 1999. Filmmakers Dietmar Post and Lucía Palacios recount the strange journey of this most unusual band in Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback, a documentary which features interview with the original members of the band, their friends and associates, and some of their better-known fans, including Jon Spencer, Peter Zaremba, and Genesis P-Orridge. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Formed by two childhood friends from San Pedro, CA, D. Boon and Mike Watt, the Minutemen were at once one of the key bands in the Southern California hardcore punk scene of the '80s and a group who flew in the face of all rules, including those of punk rock. Named in part because their early songs usually lasted 60 seconds or less, the Minutemen were a band who stripped their music down to the bone -- short songs with minimal solos and wiry structures -- but at the same time found ways to integrate elements of funk, jazz, and world music into their bubbling aural bouillabaisse. Despite the stark frameworks of their music, no one could argue that the Minutemen couldn't play -- bassist Watt and drummer George Hurley were one of the most potent rhythm sections in underground music, and Boon's guitar work marked the place where Jimi Hendrix and Captain Beefheart's influences met. While many punk bands bellowed harsh political rants, the Minutemen offered pithy but intelligent discourse on the world around them, focusing on how larger issues impacted ordinary folks in a way few people in rock ever managed. And the Minutemen's "econo" philosophy took D.I.Y. to a new level, as they set out to show by example how even the most cash-strapped musicians could bring their music to the people. (Their best album, Double Nickels on the Dime, was a two-record set recorded for less than 2,000 dollars.) The band were critical favorites on the cusp of a new level of popularity following a tour opening for R.E.M. when their career was stopped in its tracks by the tragic death of Boon in a car wreck in late 1985. We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen is a documentary which tells the full story of this unusual and influential group, featuring performance footage of the Minutemen on stage, extensive interviews with Watt and Hurley, and contributions from friends and family members. Interview subjects include Thurston Moore, Ian MacKaye, Flea, Henry Rollins, Keith Morris, Greg Ginn, and many more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi