uncle monkey
single / album / live reviews
The Wellingtonian
The Timaru Herald
The Package
Capital Times
Salient
Craccum
New Zealand Musician
 Rip It Up
hEARd Magazine - Australia
TV Day
Pavement
Real Groove
The Dominion
City Voice
press articles
ATTRACTIVE MONKEYS
What is it about Wellington's music scene that sees it churn out great vocal bands?

Whether it is Pearl, Mon Ami or The Shot Band, blended harmonies abound in the capital. And so it is with Uncle Monkey's The Great Attractor, a cracker of an album that is full of superb three-part harmonies in songs that are instantly memorable including the standout track Cracked Up, and the cuban-flavoured Sunny Days.
Uncle Monkey - Carl Webley, Sam Hyde and Steve Carlin - are the epitome of the much heralded "Wellington sound" with their great vocals, and jingle-jangle guitars that mark them as a latter-day, antipodean-version of The Byrds.
The arrangements of the 13 self-penned songs should also be praised. Many of the songs have sudden beautiful twists that lift them out of the ordinary.
The Great Attractor deserves to live up to its name and attract plenty of attention for Uncle Monkey.

(**** Very Good)

Dave Burgess - The Wellingtonian

I had never heard of Uncle Monkey but now I'm hooked.
It's easy listening and the catchy beats could be perfect chill-out music or to get your groove on to. The vocals are outstanding with several beautiful harmonies. Alternating vocalists for various songs provided variety and one of the guys sounds very much like Tim Finn giving the group a sort of Crowded House vibe. The guitar work is superb and the sound very emotion provoking. 'Dally In Indigo' is the single off the album but I really liked the first two songs, 'Orchestra Entangled' and 'Open Arms' and you can't help but tap your feet to number seven 'From'.
Definitely worth buying and would be brilliant live - ****

Bethany Marett - The TImaru Herald
UNCLE MONKEY Bar Bodega Fishing Release: May 16 2001
I have to admit that this was my first ever Uncle Monkey experience - and a little uncertain one at that. To start off with it must have been about 3 degrees outside, and with the unsavoury characters and happenings going on around town at the moment, I was feeling a little sorry for myself. So it was a relief to be sitting in a cosy little corner in Bodega, watching some tennis on the telly realising I didn't even know what style of music Uncle Monkey played. It did turn out to be an evening of learning.
They started to play around 10.20pm to an obviously close knit supportive community of fans and supporters alike. It wasn't a huge crowd, but they all seemed to know each other, and all the words to the songs, while I sat and learned. I can't deny that I was impressed with these guys, they surprised me with their sound. A three-piece they reminded me of some sort of Warratahs/Crowded House/Irish Jig type hybrid - please forgive me for my limited knowledge in Irish music. It wasn't something I could mosh to, but it definitely made me look at my candle on my table a whole lot.
Another thing these guys have got is personality, there was a token joke between each song (I did chuckle) and they encourage audience participation. The drummer supplies a few extra "doo-dads", and some lucky member of the audience gets to join in the musical experience.
If you've never supported New Zealand music, this is probably a good time to start, because the less money we spend on it the more local talent we lose to Aussie.

Pip - The Package

On these three tracks Uncle Monkey prove themselves successful graduates of the Neil Finn school of songwriting. The title track is a combination of angsty melody, understated rhythms, beautifully recorded guitars and heart-felt lyrics. The "fantail outside in the lemon tree" (misquoted) line is a bit naff but probably true. Very Neil. This first release from a forthcoming album demonstrates a sound and songwriting skills that could blitz pop radio. Bring along the singalong choruses and the hits will come. 3.

Aaron Watson - Capital Times
UNCLE MONKEY Orientation: Victoria Student Union Sunday, Mar 4 2001
The former fun acoustic trio Uncle Monkey now performs as a full band, drum-kit and occasional use of electric guitar fleshing out the sound. The same wonderfully warm, well-blended vocal harmonies are present. And the songs - all originals for this gig (ditching their penchant for always excellent and sometimes just hilarious covers) - translated well to the full band sound. It's a pity that the crowd on Sunday was a bit too relaxed, and sparse, sitting far from the front of the stage. But all in all Uncle Monkey gave yet another strong performance, hinting, with songs like 'Fishing', that their recent work in the studio has led to progression within the group. Look out for this year's new singles from them.

Simon Sweetman - Salient

At a time when musicians try to create credibility by being constantly serious about everything, it's great to find a band that like to have fun. This Wellington 3-piece has a sound reminiscent of Femmes with their single drum and front-of-the-stage performance. 'Happy' is a death-knoll in the industry, but Uncle Monkey are too talented to be allowed to fade away. Their parody of the honey puffs ad is almost cult status at concerts. The remainder are good boppy pop with a hint of the tragic and a hint of the inspirational.

- Craccum
UNCLE MONKEY Same Planet...Different Orbit
Uncle Monkey define the instruments they use on this independently released album like cooking ingredients. For example: one snare drum, 2 acoustic guitars, 1 piano, 1 lead vocal, etc. If one was to describe what they turn these instruments into it would look and taste something like a very enjoyable and fluffy banana cake with chocolate icing - just like mum used to make. I think Uncle Monkey (despite the unusual name) would appeal to my mum, especially the country-chicken hoedown cover of Paul Simon's 'The Boxer'. Although the album starts off like a very cheesy-cheesecake with 'Uncle Monkey', the rest of the album is covered in steady strumming pieces. Other parts are littered with longing lyrics, mostly about love, accompanied by equally poignant piano. Uncle Monkey's shuffling pop is nothing like the swirling cover of the album, but they rock 'n' roll in a calm and sometimes funny kinda way.

Scott Kara - New Zealand Musician

An organic album from Uncle Monkey, three lads who reside in Wellington. Mostly acoustic and softly sung, this is a tender album. It's good late at night, especially sweet songs such as 'Another Crush' and 'Lovesux'. Even the booklet artwork is clean and pure, with a number of bananas (understandable with the monkey reference) and oranges (huh?) gracing the pages, and a collection of 'song' recipes, (a quirky idea) instead of lyrics. Carl Webley's lead vocals impress, he's heading in the direction of Neil Finn or Greg Johnson. It might be a bit drenched in love and goodness for some ears, but the melodies are catchy and who could resist being able to own Uncle Monkey's rendition of the Honey Puffs song. The simplicity of 'New Kinds Of Flowers' and 'In Rocking Chairs And Cups OF Tea' are inspiring, but the lead track 'Uncle Monkey' has to be a joke. Right? Ever wanted to hear a country version of Paul Simon's 'The Boxer', well now you can... Needless to say this album doesn't flow continuously, but anyone with a sense of humour should be able to stand it. Basically a simple album which seems much to short at less than forty minutes, though god forbid what they'd use to fill up any more time.

Emma Philpott - Rip It Up
A New Zealand based band whose music is a great cross of style that runs between the sounds of The Whitlams & Crowded House, with some excellent melodies & general songwriting which has all the hallmarks of a band on the verge of 'the bigtime'.
The band open things up with their own signature tune & then proceed to amaze with a bunch of excellent tunes which feature not only a mostly acoustic guitar driven sound, but some very interesting effects like the drum brushing sounds found on "In Writing" & "I'll See You Later".
Pick tracks here are many, but any listed highlights would have to include the haunting piano & vocal song "New Kinds Of Flowers" & a cool cover of an old Paul Simon track called "The Boxer". Definitely a band who will be getting some more exposure in the near future you would imagine after listening through this album.

Terry Allen - hEARd Magazine (Australia)

Does the world need a cover of the Honey Puffs' song? Uncle Monkey seems to think we do. The band obviously has a sense of humour, but thankfully it can play too. Lead singer Carl Webley's guitar skills stand out on the band's self-produced album. His fingers fly on a great version of "The Boxer". He also wrote more than half the 10 tracks himself. The mixed bag of songs are as colourful as the cover art and prove the perfect remedy for the mind-numbing banality of dross like Moods 3.

Bruce Pitchers - TV Day
Same Planet Different Orbit kicks off with the entertaining opener Uncle Monkey, a charmingly silly tune that gets bonus points from me for mentioning my favourite chocolate bar, Perky Nana. Uncle Monkey do a very nice line in simple, stripped down, mellow pop, utilising acoustic guitars, bass and shuffling drums in a fashion reminiscent of Neil Finn and Crowded House...' '

Peter McLennan - Pavement

Same Planet Different Orbit (www.unclemonkey.com) is an assortment of predominantly acoustic pop tunes from Uncle Monkey, a trio of mellow musical dudes. Along with dashings of earnest fun, monkey and rooster noises and even a version of the Honey Puffs theme, they have a penchant for the more reflective Neil Finn/Crowded House style material - and make a good fist of it. Not only that, they do a 100mph version of Simon and Garfunkel's 'The Boxer' too.

Brent Cardy - Real Groove
This Wellington trio of latter-day acoustic ramblers deliver a caught-with-your-pants-down stunner. The ballads, In Writing and I'll See You Later, are worthy of Neil Finn, there's a delightfully irreverent rockabilly take on Simon and Garfunkel's The Boxer, and New Kinds Of Flowers is an exquisite and moving song, which introduces piano into the mix. The only minus is that, at just over 35 minutes, it all ends too soon.

Mike Alexander - The Dominion

Another strong debut comes from acoustic popsters Uncle Monkey.
Same Planet...Different Orbit kicks to life with a band's sprightly theme song but fortunately things don't get that cheesy again until about three quarters through the record when they drop a cover of the Honey Puffs jingle. Sandwiched between these are a selection of songs that see the band occupying a territory somewhere between the Violent Femmes and Crowded House.

Simon Vita - City Voice
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