Music Review

Thumpermonkey are a band all about those lurching off kilter time changes, colossal chugging riffs and screeching vocal screams. Obviously, you'll find the odd Fantomas or System of a Down album in this bands record collections.
NOT THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES does all the above with an air of dark menace and a twinkle of near insanity in its eye - guitar riffs splinter off into unusual new directions and the lead singer veers violently between raging tasmanian devil and innocent choirboy, screaming something about Argentina and lepers along the way.
They may have forgotten to include a tune amidst all the chaos, but Thumpermonkey get by by managing to confuse and scare you shitless simultaneously - an arresting and in-your-face debut, NOT THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES is explosive stuff.

2001 - The original premise for Thumpermonkey manifests itself in the mind of Michael Woodman. He releases HITCHHIKERS=ESCAPING INMATES; a selection
of cheap dance beats, hair metal guitar solos and pig noises, all produced on an antique PC. The wall of silence that greets the recording is no
surprise, although it still has a special place in Woodman' heart.
2002 - Thumpermonkey still nags in Woodman's mind; a subconscious reaction against the surf-pop band he is in at the time...something is tapping away
at the back of his head. Woodman starts listening to Fantomas, Faraquet and Oxes, yet the pop never quite 'gets its coat' either.
2003 - The tapping in Woodman's mind ceases. He records ALPHA ROMEO, a semi-serious attempt to see how far his take on 'dirge disco' can go without
an actual band. Reviews are positive, and offers for gig supports flood in, but Woodman turns them down. Without a band, it would be like Lonnie
Donegan covering Extreme Noise Terror. The tapping returns...
2004 - Woodman leaves the surf-pop act, and decides to focus his efforts into recruiting musicians. First to join is Mike Hutchinson, fresh from
supporting Goldie Looking Chain with his bizarre white middle-class rap act, Stonasaurus. For the first time the tapping leaves Woodman's head and
enters the rehearsal room.
2005 - An internet search leads to the recruiting of Dave Crowshaw (Bareface / Gods Royal Family). Thumpermonkey are finally ready. From the seed of an
idea in 2001, Thumpermonkey finally release their new album CHAP WITH WINGS, FIVE ROUNDS RAPID in spring 2006.

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