The Purple Monkey

Our influences range from Joshua Redman to Jon Scofield to The Grateful Dead. We all enjoy a large array of music, and three of us have studied, or currently are studying, music on a relatively extensive basis. The band started out with Fraser and Bennett with another Drummer, and no bassist when Fraser and Willis met in a Religious Studies class (they were telling the class about medicinal uses of marijuana), so Willis became the Djembe player with the band for a while. Eventually, the older drummer had other obligations which led Willis onto the kit (his preferred instrument). After a while of playing as a trio without a bassist (not desired), Gaydos was invited to join the band completing the foundation. Soon, Willis' girlfriend brought in Laky to the band to add the diverse element of the saxophone and bring the band an increasingly more complex, and interesting sound. Since then, the band has been producing new material varying from folky dead-esque tunes to obsurd snap funk bass centric pieces.
The Purple Monkey has a different sound from a lot of bands due to the diverse nature of the musicians' backgrounds. For example, Willis is a scientist, Gaydos a historian, Fraser a businessman, Bennett is a cook, and Laky defines himself through his music solely, for the most part. So, even on the level of educational background, the 5 members of The Purple Monkey are very different. However, we all meet on a level plane when it comes to making, and loving, music. The story behind the name of the band is rather obscure as well; it comes from a Russian friend who one day regurgitated the term, which he heard from someone else, "Purple Monkey Dishwasher". Well...it turns out that there is already a "famous" metal band signed somewhere with that name; go figure. We decided to abbreviated it to "The Purple Monkey" dropping the "dishwasher".