Two weeks ago, MonkeyJunk left the Maple Blues Awards under the weight of four trophies. Quite a haul, but only a fraction of the 15 the band has scooped up, along with a Juno award for blues album of the year in 2012, in its short career.
Those numbers are impressive by any standard, but considering the Ottawa blues outfit has only been performing together for about six years, it鈥檚 clear something is clicking for MonkeyJunk.
Steve Marriner, the band鈥檚 frontman, explains that while the band itself is relatively new, he, drummer Matt Sobb and guitarist Tony Diteodoro had all been making music individually long before MonkeyJunk was formed.
Marriner first got on stage when he was 13 years old, called on by Diteodoro鈥擬arriner鈥檚 elder by decades and somewhat of a mentor to him鈥攖o show off his harp skills.
For a kid who picked up the harmonica on a whim after watching 鈥淏ig鈥� Walter Horton shred it in the Blues Brothers movie, having someone like Diteodoro in his corner helped mould Marriner into the musician he is today.
He remembers how when he was still a kid, Diteodoro would always tell him he was his favourite harmonica player.
鈥淲hether he meant it or not I don鈥檛 know, but that鈥檚 the kind of guy he is,鈥� Marriner says, 鈥渨e just have a really tight bond, we鈥檙e like family. Him and I and Matt.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great that we have such a chemistry with each other. The band was born out of just having something to do on Sunday night. It was just a little gig at a little club in Ottawa that we just did for fun, with no aspirations for anything鈥攏o plans for anything鈥攚e just wanted to jam.鈥�
But that didn鈥檛 last long. The guys quickly learned they had some musical chemistry, and within six months of their first show, the band had already been nominated for its first Maple Blues Award.
鈥淸There鈥檚] just something about MonkeyJunk. I don鈥檛 know, you put the three of us together and it just kind of worked鈥攚e really inspire each other,鈥� says Marriner.
He tells a story about playing as an opening act in Boston. He and the guys were playing an intense tune, and had lulled the crowd of 500 into a kind of trance.
Then, as the crowd sat in hushed silence, the spell was broken when a man with a loud Boston accent blurted 鈥測ou guys are freaking awesome!鈥� and the whole venue lost it.
鈥淲e almost fell apart on stage, it was so perfect,鈥� he recalls.
Marriner has a thousand stories like that, and as he rattles them off it鈥檚 clear he has a deep respect and love for his band mates. As he finishes a story about bombing in front of a perplexed French audience, he trails off.
鈥淟ook, it鈥檚 a challenging journey. Being on the road and making a career in music is challenging any way you cut it, but it鈥檚 a whole lot easier when you have people that you care about and trust, who are with you for the ride.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really enjoyable.鈥�
Trevor Nichols
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