Munk Duane Band

Artist Information

Biography

The Boston Globe - “Munk crafts his music with intelligence and panache. Can superstar status be far behind?”


Singer, songwriter and Berklee College of Music alumni Munk Duane has built a reputation as a respected indie artist and live performer, leveraging his diverse musical background and pop sensibility into a package that is at once approachable and tenacious. His music has been featured in over 200 media and television placements, such as CBS Sports broadcasts for the NFL, including the 2010 Super Bowl Half-Time show, NCAA (March Madness) and HBO’s The Soprano’s, CBS’s NCIS, ABC’s One Life To Live and many more.

Inspired by the exploration of American roots music. Munk is taking his penchant for modern pop hooks, and infusing a little bit of Country into his Rock n Roll, creating a high energy Americana hybrid with Munk Duane Band.

Accompanied by A-List, Boston area players guitarist Tony Savarino (Garvy J, Missing Persons), bass player Sean McLaughlin (worked with Elliot Smith, Rush and Marilyn Manson) and drummer Mike Levesque (David Bowie, The Candy Butchers, Natalie Imbuglia), Munk Duane Band have been gaining a reputation since forming in 2012 as a powerhouse local super group.

“I’m a pop songwriter at heart and always will be, but pop comes in many forms. Right now, I’m going back to the beginning and immersing myself in music that transcends the time it was written in. It’s a complete reinvention for me.” While hooky and radio-ready, the songs are performed with an earnest passion and soul.

Munk Duane Band is currently in the studio woking on their full length follow up "Argue With Gravity", due in 2013.



• Munk has been featured in Billboard Magazine for selling over 22,000 downloads on iTunes, independent of a major record label.

• Featured in over 200 TV spots on HBO, CBS, ABC and in over 50 NFL, College Football and NCAA broadcasts.

• MDB Guitarist Tony Savarino was featured in Vintage Guitar Magazine and has toured with 80’s synth/pop group Missing Persons.

• MDB Drummer Mike Levesque has played with David Bowie, Seven Mary Three and Dave Navarro

• January 2012 – Every track from MDB’s debut is in heavy rotation on 120 European radio stations.

Instrumentation

Munk Duane - Guitar, lead voc
Tony Savarino - Guitar
Sean McLaughlin - Bass
Mike Levesque - Drums

Discography

Everywhere is South of Somewhere (2011)

Argue With Gravity (2013)

Official Website

http://www.munkduane.com

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube

Audio

• Some Rivers
  Listen  
• Mama Said Never Love Me
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• Take It Down To Tennessee
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• No July
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• Just Let Her Cry
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• Sweetly
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• Going Back To Vegas
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• Beautiful (I Know You're)
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• We Come Away Alone
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• Coming After Me
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Lyrics

• Some Rivers
• Take It Down To Tennessee
• No July
• Sweetly
• Coming After Me
• Going Back To Vegas
• Perfect
• Just Let Her Cry

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Boston Band Crush Song Review: No July [+ Show ]
  

  Today is the big day for the Munk Duane Band. I know they are playing at the Hard Rock Cafe on Thurs...Today is the big day for the Munk Duane Band. I know they are playing at the Hard Rock Cafe on Thursday night, but without any music, well I don’t know what they’d do there. Lucky for everyone, they have released a new record today. So you have a chance to become acquainted with the material, see? So you make your acquaintance starting right now, and you’ll be good and ready for the big show on Thursday night. Everybody wins!
  
  This song actually displays a pleasing melange of flavors from the get-go; presenting with the western flair of a big old hollowbody guitar (I bet it has F holes. Who you calling F-Hole, F-Hole?), the upwardly mobile beat of modern pop, and the pleasing shifts in speed and power that keep things interesting. It is these changes that make this song move, providing plenty of hills and valleys for the train that is “No July” to pass through. This makes for a nice landscape for everyone in the train, those passengers being this song’s listeners. Meaning us.
  
  The song’s sense of dynamics sits on top of a sturdy framework – “No July” uses a fairly sweet and somewhat underused chord progression for the majority of the track. The “I – IV Minor” motif works its way through the track, painting a picture of a band that is able to utilize various tensions to bring a song around. The key interval here is the minor-ness of the IV chord (which is a augmented fifth for those of you keeping score who still know what I am talking about). All melodies and hooks revolve around this interval, and “No July” works it to near-perfection.
  
  “No July” gets another sense of power from the gutsy vocals. No, we don’t mean “gutsy” as in “tries for it but doesn’t hit it and we don’t want to say anything mean,” we simply mean that these vocals have a sense of gravity and power to them that gives them a serious oomph. The vocals hit hard, especially in the chorus; holding onto notes long and strong. The stalwart vocal presence is perhaps the strongest thing in the track. The guitar sort of stands to the side and does one of those “Check this guy out!” hand gestures like they used to do in professional wrestling, hitting the side of the boat with waves of chords that don’t intend to knock it over, just simply to take part in the voyage.

• Getting To Know Munk Duane Band [+ Show ]
  

  In the latest edition of Getting to Know, we let Boston’s Munk Duane Band tell us about themselves. ...In the latest edition of Getting to Know, we let Boston’s Munk Duane Band tell us about themselves. You can catch the band’s next performance at Precinct in Somerville on Friday, November 18 as part of the International Pop Overthrow Festival.
  
  How did you form?
  About two years ago, a music industry friend told me he felt I might have some Country songs in me. I had primarily been a rock and pop songwriter since I started writing songs but having Johnny Cash and The Allman Brothers in the depths of my musical consciousness, I was intrigued. I took a deep dive into traditional American music, coming at it from a student’s perspective, and started to discover threads I was compelled to start pulling on in my writing approach. I then shot for the moon and contacted people like Tony, who plays with every band in town, but is the guy if you want to play in this style. I never expected he would be available, let alone interested. He responded immediately. After several member changes and a handful of “field test” gigs under the moniker “The Radio Says”, the current lineup came into focus and it feels like doors are just starting to open.
  
  Who are some of your influences?
  It’s almost a loaded question when it comes to this band. Chet Atkins to The Rolling Stones to Joshua Tree era U2. As a writer, I gravitate toward artists who have successfully navigated the waters of Rock, Americana, Country and Pop and found a new voice within the combination. My iTunes on Shuffle these days will go from Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top and Bruce Springsteen to Jason Aldean, Brad Paisely and Little Big Town to Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs and Andrew Bird.
  
  Finish the sentence, someone would like your band if they like…
  … a little Country in their Rock and Roll.
  
  What has your most memorable moment as a band been?
  Battling Hurricane Irene to get from Boston to Secaucus, New Jersey to play The Meadowlands for Guitar Con, New Jersey and loosing. See the full story on our Vlog “Subfamous”.
  
  Walk us through your songwriting process.
  It changes from song to song depending on the instrument I start with. At times, I’m pounding out a melody and changes on an acoustic. Other times, I start on the rhythm section instruments (bass and Toontrack’s EZ Drummer for guide parts) and build the track from the feel on up. Lyrics are generally dead last and take the greatest investment of time on my part. I’m a habitual self-editor, which is born of necessity. I usually start with complexity married with ambiguity and attempt to boil away my pretense to the simple root. A great song to me is like a great joke: if you have to explain the punchline, it’s not very funny.
  
  Who is the best musician in your band?
  I refuse to answer this question on the ground that it may incriminate me. Pleading the 5th.
  
  
  What is your favorite local venue?
  MDB is relatively new so I’ll have to speak from past experience. I love to death playing The Lizard Lounge. I’ve never had a bad gig there and the vibe is so intimate, it’s easy to make connections. On a larger scale I have to go with the Paradise. It’s really hard not to feel like a rockstar on that stage when the room is jammed.
  
  What separates you from other local bands?
  We’re like the great melting pot. There are Americana bands, indie bands, rock bands, country bands and more in Boston, which is what makes the scene so distinctive and diverse. MDB is the band where all of these ingredients are simmered and served up piping hot. I think I just made myself hungry.
  
  What do you have coming up that people should know about?
  Well we just released out debut album, Everywhere is South of Somewhere, a few weeks ago, which is available on iTunes, Amazon and a gagillion other digital outlets, so we’re out playing in support of that now. We were invited to play the International Pop Overthrow Festival at Precinct on Friday, November 18 at 7:30 p.m. We’ll also be at Rosebud in Somerville on Saturday, December 17.
  
  Convince our readers to see your next show.
  We’re here to make you feel good and give you a melody that you won’t be able to shake. It’s an inclusive experience of beer, smiles and song. A brief moment of simple pleasures in complicated times.
  
  Band Members:
  Munk Duane: Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keys (Whitman, MA)
  Tony Savarino: Slide Guitar (South Boston, MA)
  Dark Mark White:: Upright Bass (Roslindale, MA)
  Brian Kelly: Drums (Braintree, MA)
  Conor Smith: Fiddle, Mandolin (Quincy, MA)
  Julie Hunt: Backup Vocals (Weymouth, MA)
  
  Albums:
  Everywhere is South of Somewhere (2011)
  
  Website:
  www.munkduaneband.com

• Podcast Growth Creating Viable Marketing Route For Artists [+ Show ]
  

  In the early part of the decade, Boston-based independent musician Munk spent several years trying t...In the early part of the decade, Boston-based independent musician Munk spent several years trying to promote tracks from his two albums through traditional PR and college radio. In 2004, he sold scarcely 100 single downloads, according to a CD Baby digital sales report. That number reached 2,500 in 2005, and by the end of 2007, after not releasing an album since 2003, his paid downloads totaled more than 12,000. Munk has now also found success with publishing deals, and he is unequivocal about how he gained exposure: “I know that it was all driven by podcast plays,” he says.
  
  Indeed, while the media attention devoted to podcasts in 2005 and 2006 may have waned, Munk is one of many musicians and companies finding that the opportunities around them are steadily growing.

• Vibrantly Fluid [+ Show ]
  

  a “unique blending of lyrical resonance with the soft, vibrantly fluid flow of his music. The Altern...a “unique blending of lyrical resonance with the soft, vibrantly fluid flow of his music. The Alternative genre finds a touch of spirituality in the subtle beauty of this music, like a lively orchestra wrenching at your heartstrings while [munk]'s calmly passionate words reverberate a sense of understanding and recognition into your soul.”

• Oozing Coolness [+ Show ]
  

  I am in love with Munk. I pop this CD in my player and it hasn't left since. His stuff is madly addi...I am in love with Munk. I pop this CD in my player and it hasn't left since. His stuff is madly addictive. Before you know it, you’ll be skipping work to listen to Munk. Not long afterward, you’ll start shooting up Munk in the bathroom. No really, it’s that good. A perfect blend of irony and just plain kick ass rock & roll. The pace changes with every song, keeping you glued to your earphones until the end of the album. Never a dull moment, I swear! It’s the kind of music that simply oozes coolness.

• Up To The Challenge [+ Show ]
  

  Usually when an artist has penned music for a variety of TV shows and video games, it means that the...Usually when an artist has penned music for a variety of TV shows and video games, it means that they're quite musically versatile. The gentleman who goes simply by the moniker of [munk] is up for a challenge of genre jumping any day of the week... pretty darn impressive.
  
  With popular music becoming increasingly predictable circa the early 21st century, the arrival of a ‘hard to pin down' artist like [munk] is certainly a welcome one

Setlist

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