AN INCREDIBLE DOCUMENT! THE MONKS BEFORE THE MONKS! The Torquays were an early 60s rock-n-roll band, comprised of five American soldiers stationed in Germany. Upon leaving the service, they decided to stay in Germany to earn their living playing music. A little later they changed their name to THE MONKS and, well, they are now considered the first proto-punk band of the sixties, and a true avangarde and misunderstood group years ahead of their time.
In late 1964, The 5 Torquays entered the studio to record and release a self-financed single. 500 copies were pressed and Larry Spangler would sell them at gigs, using the top of his organ to conduct business. "When the Torquays decided to record "Boys Are Boys" and "There She Walks" we were playing in Heidelberg at the Odeon Kellar putting in a solid 7 hour playing night. I guess we thought that we'd soon get a recording contract a get out from under our heavy playing load.
We found this little recording studio down the street from the Odeon Kellar and popped in there one day to do the songs. As I recall, it was a two track facility so the band was recorded on one track and the vocals on another then mixed together as mono. It all went pretty fast, I was playing a 12 string acoustic guitar on "Boys Are Boys" and electric on "There She Walks". It was our first experience recording." |
|
|
