An uncle who acts like a monkey and Uncle Monkey are two separate concepts.
The band Uncle Monkey will be performing at the Loaded Hog tomorrow night, and you can bring your uncle and discover the difference.
Their nationwide tour, Cracked Up began in Nelson on Wednesday with 12 other gigs around the country.
Carl Webley fronts the band on vocals and guitar, with Steve Carlin on vocals and drums, and Sam Hyde on vocals and bass.
The band is excited about their return to Timaru after a great gig at Waitangi weekend earlier this year.
"We had a great time in Timaru last time, because of the holiday, heaps of people came out to see us," Webley said.
The bands latest single has been receiving significant airtime, and their video for their single 'Open Arms' was nominated and placed third for the peoples Choice Award at the annual New Zealand Juice TV Music Video Awards. The band has been around for five years and is waiting to be signed.
"We will just keep chipping away at it, we will not be a band that is a fashion item, here today, gone tomorrow," Webley said.
The pop rock band is big on vocals with three part harmonies throughout their songs. Webley compares their style to Coldplay, REM, and Radiohead. The band is also big on interaction with the audience according to Webster. "A good gig is one when your words and your songs engage the audience in an immediate sense they can relate to."
The bands name is not the result of a relation's behaviour but something that "came out of Sam's brain quite close to Kaikoura on tour once".
Emma Bailey

Extract from article...
Getting your music noticed these days is about more than just playing good music and "believing in yourself".
To highlight the release of their second album, The Great Attractor, Wellington's Uncle Monkey asked artist Jared Kahi to paint pictures representing each track and held an art exhibition.
It was a simple idea. Easier than painting yourself for a magazine cover like K'Lee did...but hey, that works a charm also.
Uncle Monkey caught peoples interest judging from the who's who of the media and music industry that attended the event. Guitarist Carl Webley said they didn't want to just "do another CD release party".
Uncle Monkey are just one of many bands trying to get their music noticed by the public and ingnite the interest of the industry. And with the amount of music generated these days, that's no easy task. There's more to it than "just gigging". Webley and bass player Sam Hyde agree the key to being heard is being seen. They reckon on television is vital and once you've got a video playing then you're "in the loop".
Rebecca Thomson

If you like what you hear on the Newtown Festival stage this Saturday, why not buy the CD?
This year music lovers among the several thousand people expected at the fair day can take the sounds of the festival home with them on the Newtown Beat CD.
The Newtown Residents' Association has joined up with Accent Entertainment to produce a compilation CD of bands that are playing, or have previously played the event.
This year's festival line up includes Uncle Monkey, Fat Freddy's Drop, Odessa, Smart Dogs and a duo from the Celtic band Jackie Tarr. All these bands feature on the CD along with Trinity Roots, Ben Fulton and others.
Barrie Hutton of Accent Entertainment calls the CD "a sort of private NZ on Air". "Most of the people that perform at the Newtown fair actually live there, which makes it unique."
The sampler gives people a chance to check out a variety of acts on one CD and look out for acts they particularly like, he says.
The CD has been funded by the Tararua Licensing Trust. Hutton says he hopes the project will become self-funding and be repeated annually, or more frequently if demand requires.
The CD will be on sale at the main stage on the fair day and from Madness Music in Newtown. Other attractions include ethnic food stalls, craft stalls and a fairground.
Newtown Festival, Mar 7-16, Fair Day, Riddiford & Constable Streets, Mar 8.

EVERY now and again...as cliched as it sounds, it does happen. Those little bubble bags spew forth a gem.
Just last week these guys were playing Greymouth and Fox Glacier. And Dunedin's arthouse Arc Cafe. They've also been in Wellington's Marmalade Studios with producer Brett Stanton recording their soon-to-be-released second album for which 'From' is a clever little teaser.
The trio plays perfect pop, little acoustic pearls that wouldn't sound out of place coming from 'real' bands like Coldplay or Gomez. They have a wistful looseness that no amount of techno- wizardry can produce, a special gift in these days of techno every which way.
Earnest, certainly, but fun too - these were the guys who regurgitated the Honey Puffs jingle. And we all know the difference between sweet treats and syrup. Lovely.
Julie Jacobson

Wellington will come alive on Sunday March 10, as Uncle Monkey perform at the Kilbirnie Festival to prepare for the release of their next album. In an afternoon of tantalisingly tight musicianship, Uncle Monkey will deliver 60 minutes of fresh previously unheard originals as well as favourites from their first album.
The band began recording its upcoming album last year at Wellington's Marmalade Studio, releasing and touring the first single Fishing with a promotional video.
Uncle Monkey's second album shows an evolution and a new level of musical maturity achieved after only four years together.
"We have produced an extremely full and multi-layered sound that we are very proud of, and look forward to releasing," drummer/vocalist Steve Carlin says.
The band received significant radio play with four of the songs from their debut album Same Planet…Different Orbit and promise to make an even bigger impact with their second.
"These songs are so juicy and edible, it'll leave you wanting more," guitarist/vocalist Carl Webley quips.
Hannah O'Reilly

Wellington band Uncle Monkey starts the lower south island leg of it's 20 gig national tour in Dunedin tonight.
Promoting a new single, Fishing, Uncle Monkey divided its time between New Zealand and regular gigs in Australia, said guitarist-vocalist Carl Webley, in a telephone interview last week.
With a much bigger music scene, Australia had alot to offer performers, he said. "It's tempting to move there, but we like New Zealand".
"We figure we can probably have the same amount of success without moving, if we work hard enough in one base."
Australian performances started after Uncle Monkey drummer/vocalist Steve Carlin played in New Zealand with a friend from Queensland, three or four years ago. When the friend returned to Australia, he helped organise a small Australian tour circuit for Uncle Monkey (Carlin, Webley and bass guitar/keyboard/vocalist Sam Hyde).
We played around the place and started to get a feel of how to perform in a foreign place".
Australia, "foreign"?
Any performance in new territory felt foreign, Webley said.
"You have to tee up promotion, convince people that you're good enough to play by sending them your music".
"If you're self managed it can be quite demanding."
Time for Uncle Monkey to get a band manager, then?
"There's not much return for a manager until you're signed to a major label," he said. "So they would have to be doing it for love, pretty much."
In the meantime, the band manages itself and a useful marketing tool is the band web page, http://www.unclemonkey.com.
The internet is another form of radio these days, Webley said.
"People can access all sorts of music online. It's a free way for people to access your art."
The Uncle Monkey site is visited by about 2000 users each month and can hear some music, read reviews, learn about performance dates and receive band updates - like the 30th birthday party planned for Uncle Monkey's old Holden Kingswood station wagon.
That will happen in January. Fans wanting to be part of the celebrations could send car- friendly gifts, Webley said, like bumper stickers, fluffy dice or petrol vouchers.
"We try to personalise the experience so people feel like they know us."
Angela Crompton

"Three guys goofing out" is how Wellington band Uncle Monkey describe themselves.
Talking over the telephone last week before heading south in the yellow Holden band wagon (polyprops and thermals packed alongside their instruments), guitarist Carl Webley said he, drummer Stephen Carlin and bass player Sam Hyde would be on the road for three and a-half weeks.
The band starts its national circuit at Queenstown's Winnie Bagoes on Sunday, then travels to Dunedin for a midday performance at Otago University on Tueday and a show that night at the Fusion Bar, Fuel Cafe.
"Indie acoustic rock" is how Webley describes Uncle Monkey's music. He is the band's main songwriter and plays plugged-in acoustic guitar. Hyde plays bass and Carlin uses a snare drum.
Live shows are a band highlight, with Webley claiming no-one has truly heard Uncle Monkey until they had been to see them at a gig. After playing in London last year a reviewer described the band as "The best...that you're going to see in a long while".
Radio play and exposure on the Internet are good ways of encouraging potential punters to go along to gigs.
In April, Uncle Monkey put its first Mp3 files on the Internet and its song 'Another Crush won a competition organised in Australia for bands online.
Participation required travelling to Sydney to play, Webley said, and he had felt "a little bit sceptical at the legitimacy of it".
But it was all above board, Uncle Monkey was the winner and a smart $7000 computer - with a sound card system he and the others "still haven't got their heads around" - was delivered.
The band's website - www.unclemonkey.com - attracts frequent hits and members make it a policy to answer all emails.
Recently one was received from a young woman in Russia who wanted a copy of Uncle Monkey's debut album, Same Planet...Different Orbit, so she could play it on Euro FM and review it in a Russian magazine.
"The only way she could have learned about us was on the Internet."
Not everyone is glued to their computer screens, surfing the 'Net, however, and the value of radio coverage is not lost on the band. It plans to record some singles soon, aimed at winning time on the air - although Uncle Monkey knows its music does not slip easily into established radio formats.
"We're not hard enough for Channel Z or The Edge and we're not quite right for Breeze or More FM. There's some support from student radios - but we're outside the square. We're not loungey enough or techno enough."
"Beautiful" was a term Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly used for the band's songs when Uncle Monkey did a couple of support sets for him in London last year.
Taking their music to Britain was the fulfillment of a dream for Webley, Hyde and Carlin who, in an earlier line-up, stayed safely within New Zealand shores. Last year, they stopped off in Alaska and Hollywood en route to London and were impressed by the overseas music industry's professionalism.
"Everywhere we went, everyone we approached would ring us back. In New Zealand, you're always chasing people."
Band members have decided to play their part in changing Kiwi customs and, back in New Zealand, have pledged themselves to staying positive and professional, Webley said.
"It's all about attitude."