The Mono Men were an American

garage punk A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

band, based in

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (loc ...

. Their sound contained elements of grunge (distortion-heavy guitars, sneering vocals), but the Mono Men filtered these through a mimicry of 1960s

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

proto-punk, garage rock bands such as

The Sonics The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington that formed in 1960. Their aggressive, hard-edged sound has been a major influence on punk and garage music worldwide, and they have been named inspirations to the White Str ...

History

The Mono Men rose up from the ashes of another Washington band, the Roofdogs. John Mortensen came from the Dehumanizers and Game for Vultures before joining the Mono Men. The band came together in late 1987. They played shows in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, Japan,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. They were featured in the Northwest Rock & Roll documentary ''

Hype! ''Hype!'' ( 1996) is a documentary directed by Doug Pray about the popularity of grunge rock in the early to mid-1990s United States. It incorporates interviews and rare concert footage to trace the development of the grunge scene from its early ...

''. Their albums all received generally positive reviews. The band split in 1998, though in 2006, the Mono Men reunited to play a series of concerts called the "Spanish Attack." The band reunited in 2013 to play shows in Bellingham and Seattle in the US, plus a tour in Latin America with shows in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil.

Trivia

*Members of the Mono Men went to the same

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

as the

Fastbacks Fastbacks were a Seattle, Washington, punk rock band. Formed in 1979 by songwriter/guitarist Kurt Bloch (born August 28, 1960), and friends Lulu Gargiulo (guitar and vocals, born October 12, 1960) and Kim Warnick (bass and vocals, born April 7 ...

. *In 2006 the Mono Men launched the 5-show "Spanish Attack" tour with shows in

Bellingham, WA Bellingham ( ) is the most populous city in, and county seat of Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies south of the U.S.–Canada border in between two major cities of the Pacific Northwest: Vancouver, British Columbia (loc ...

and various venues in Spain. * Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder performed Mono Men's "Watch Outside" with

C Average C, or c, is the third letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''. History "C" ...

in Alpine Valley 13.6.1999 (Tibetan Freedom Concert).

Members

*Dave Crider (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

) *Ledge Morrisette ( bass) *Aaron Roeder ( drums) *John Mortensen (guitar,

) (from late 1990) *Marx Wright (vocals, guitar) (1987–1990; 2013) File:Mono Men 25 (9273025583).jpg, John Mortensen File:Mono Men 12 (9275918440).jpg, Ledge Morrisette File:Mono Men 19 (9275862784).jpg, Aaron Roeder File:Mono Men 11 (9273141793).jpg, Dave Crider File:Marx Wright Mono Men.jpg, Marx Wright

Discography

Albums and EPs

*'' Stop Dragging Me Down'' (Estrus, 1990) *'' Wrecker'' (Estrus, 1992) *''

Back to Mono The human back, also called the dorsum, is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral column r ...

'' (1+2 Records, 1992). The title is a reference to a

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

slogan, advocating

monophonic Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...

recording. *'' Shut the Fuck Up!'' (Estrus, 1992) *'' Bent Pages'' (Estrus, 1993) *'' Sin and Tonic'' (Estrus, 1994) *'' Those Mono Men Recorded Live at Tom's Strip and Bowl'' (Estrus, 1995) *'' Gypsy Woman Live'' (Impossible Records, 1996) *'' Ten Cool Ones'' (Scat, 1996) * ''Have a Nice Day, Motherfucker ''(Estrus, 1997)

Split Singles

* 1993 - Demolition Derby w/ Apeman Dragship * 1994 - Kronophonic w/ Stokastikats * 1995 - Gearhead w/ Girl Trouble

External links

Band's Myspace * AMG entrybr>Interview with Dave Crider
{{Authority control Grunge musical groups Garage rock groups from Washington (state) Garage punk groups Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups disestablished in 1998 Musical groups reestablished in 2006 Musical groups disestablished in 2006 Musical groups reestablished in 2013 Musical groups disestablished in 2013