Monkey Hands started out doing late-night guerrilla practice sessions in the South Hall basement and playing at parties around Tufts in 1996. At the end of their first year, the musicians recorded Explorations into the Nature of Garbage, an experimental noise recording in which they gathered garbage from around Hill Hall after students moved out and began to make music out of whatever they found.
Monkey Hands consists of three Tufts/New England Conservatory (NEC) students - Todd LaCompte on trumpet, guitar, and vocals, J. P. Eliots on piano and keyboards, and Rob Sapien on drums. The foursome is rounded out by renowned jazz musician Craig Polasko on bass. The band's name comes from a wrestling maneuver that Eliot used in his days on the team at Rindge and Latin High School in Cambridge. Driven by Eliots' Doors-esque psychedelic keyboard work, the music incorporates strong jazz and reggae elements in the bass, drums, guitar and trumpet.
As their influences, members of Monkey Hands list a wide array of things that would otherwise have nothing to do with each other - Jennifer Love Hewitt, going to the zoo, food, their everyday environment, Dr. Frog (a local band), Gary Wilson (an obscure musician from the 1970's), Bruce Hornsby, Shania Twain, and R. Kelly.
"You get influenced by the things you see everyday," says Drummer Rob Sapien.
Over the years, Monkey Hands has continued to perform and has made a few recordings, the most recent of which is Monkey Hands (The Heroes of the Future), a cassette demo featuring four of the band's 15 original songs. "Oh Amanda" is an ode to Hewitt's character in the movie Can't Hardly Wait. "Monkey Hands (All Across This Sweet Land)" is an all-around silly and playful song sure to garner a few laughs from listeners. "No Girls Allowed" is a reggae song about an island where the only rule is... well, the title pretty much speaks for itself. The final song, "Corey and Claire," is about two girls who are friends of the band. They've also done an impromptu cover of Gene Wilder's "Pure Imagination," (from the movie Charlie And The Chocolate Factory) during one show but are undecided about making it a regular addition to the setlist or not. Even the Florida recount provides musical fodder; Sapien and LaCompte have wagered a bottle of beer that if George W. Bush wins the election, he will grow a mustache. One can't help but wonder how that's going to affect their music, or if there's even a song the band can derive from it.
The next step for Monkey Hands is to jump from a digital 4-track recorder to a recording studio at Harvard. There, they will independently work on an official LP with newly recorded, mixed, and mastered songs from over the years. Their goal is to have the record finished and in stores by Christmas time. A website with MP3s is also in planning and should be up soon.
In the bigger picture, the musicians are about to finish their fifth year at the Tufts/NEC program and want to write more material before deciding whether to head out for Los Angeles or New York after graduation. All of the members are keen on visual arts and have done some film work together, including a 40-minute puppet flick titled The Most Disgusting Story Ever Told. Hopes are high that a move to either of these major entertainment industry markets will allow them to break through in both of their fields of interest.
When taking into account the situation of Guster, a band composed of Tufts grads which has since received nationwide exposure, Monkey Hands was optimistic about its chances and hopes that they be the next Tufts band to make it in the music business. More than anything, though, they are focused on making good music, performing live, making this record, expanding their fan base in Tufts and around Boston, and having fun while doing it.
In the more immediate future, Monkey Hands will be performing at Oxfam Caf?©'s Hunger Benefit this Thursday at 7 p.m. Head over there to check out a Tufts band that offers something completely different.
