Bragg Creek Performing Arts will welcome Ottawa-based band MonkeyJunk on Nov. 25 as a part of the final fall season performance at Bragg Creek Community Centre.
The band, who are a Canadian rock and roll/blues band, came together in 2008, and they haven’t looked back since … MonkeyJunk has won a collective 20 Maple Blues Awards, two Canadian Independent Music Awards, a Blues Music Award and a JUNO Award. They are made up of three members: Steve Marriner on vocals, baritone guitar, harmonica and Hammond organ; Tony Diteodoro on lead guitar; and Matt Sobb on drums and percussion.
Marriner had been playing a weekly solo show at Irene’s Pub in Ottawa when he was first getting started, frequently inviting guests to join him … this led him to Diteodoro and Sobb who had been playing together for eight years and they decided to try a three piece (two guitars, drums and no bass) in March of 2008 to form MonkeyJunk.
Marriner has also toured the world performing alongside Harry Manx. He has also been invited to perform with many other artists in concert, such as Randy Bachman, Colin James and Big Sugar.
At the age of 19, Diteodoro performed three nights for Buddy Guy’s band. In 1982, he opened for Stevie Ray Vaughn. These events helped propel him into a long-standing career with his own project called The Tony D. Band. Diteodoro has also toured with some of Canada’s greatest musicians including the late Dutch Mason.
Before joining MonkeyJunk, Sobb was a very busy session drummer around Ottawa and has backed up several regional, national and international artists live on stage, touring and in studio over the last 25 years. Those include Kim Wilson (Fabulous Thunderbirds), Jeff Healey and Tom Wilson (Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, Junkhouse, Lee Harvey Osmond), and the Tony D. Band.
Their fifth and most recent Stony Plain Records release titled, Time to Roll, is unique in that it incorporates elements of all four of their previous recordings with added maturity in songwriting and instrumentation… Along with Time to Roll, MonkeyJunk released their recording Mood Turn Red just over a year ago, and have also delivered ten tracks that have ranked in the top ten.
Tickets are $30.00 for adults and $28.00 for seniors and are available at www.braggcreekperformingarts.com.
