The Dog Spankin' Monkeys

We are The Dog Spankin’ Monkeys and we’ve been dominating the local scene for about 5 years now. It all started on a beautiful spring day on the Gulf of Mexico. There we were, down to our last 4 shots of Jagermeister, out of cigarettes, and broke. We decided it was time to get a job. None of us were really the 9 to 5 type…so we decided to put a band together.

At that time, Ben and Doyle had been playing music together for years. Due to creative differences, they had recently moved on from their last band, Fungus Amungus. With Fungus, they played in front of thousands of people at Warped Tour back in 2000. They also got to play some shows in Tallahassee opening for bands like Mastodon and Candiria. With their ebony and ivory style, their bass and vocals were set to move mountains.

Jason had always owned the drums. Dude lives in the pocket. He’s a pure, naturally solid drummer who will crush any soul, and make you fall into any groove. He’d been in various bands all over Florida playing anything from death metal to cover songs…all with a scotch in his hand and a Pall Mall in his mouth. You don’t want to miss his Michael Macdonald impressions.

Justin’s face melting guitar was the final piece of the puzzle. He had recently graduated from Berklee School of Music in Boston where Bill Cosby, Dr. Cliff Huxtable himself, handed him his diploma. He was teaching guitar at Playground Music, along with Ben who worked there as well, teaching people young and old how to bitch slap the bass.

It all came together in smoke filled local bars on the strip in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. In the beginning, our friends were our biggest fans. They would help spread the word by passing out flyers and posting our show dates wherever they could. They came out to every show by the carload to party with us, and get people on the dance floor.

Since then, we’ve made a decent name for ourselves with regular gigs from Pensacola to Panama City. We are the house band for Helen Back…GQ Magazine recently named Helen Back one of the Top 10 Bars in the US. We’ve also played at Club Overboard in Destin where they just recently hosted Three Six Mafia and Fuel. We also have regular gigs in Fort Walton Beach at Coaster’s, and in Destin at KJ’s and the Funky Blues Shack. In 2008 The Dog’s Spankin’ Monkeys were nominated for Best Alternative Band at the Annual Beachcomber Awards that they have here on the Emerald Coast.

The bar scene in our area is an equal mix of locals and tourists who want to hear a mash up of originals and covers. We have been, and continue to be, honored to provide that to the area. But we are ready to take our music to the next level. Our first release, which is available on iTunes and CDBaby, is a collection of songs that we wrote in our first few years together. We are currently working on our second studio album, which we hope to put out by September 2010.

“Remember to tip up, and drink your bartenders….cheers everybody, big ears!”
- Doyle Autry