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The Blow Monkeys

The Blow Monkeys are a British pop band that started out in 1984, as a new wave-oriented act. They subsequently turned into more commercial pop rock hit-makers, and finally became a dance group, shortly before splitting up in the early 1990s.

Their first hit came in 1986, with ‘Digging Your Scene’, which was followed up by other big singles, ‘It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way’, a pop funky track, with a dancey flavour which reached number 5 in the UK and ‘You Don't Own Me’, which was featured on the platinum selling ‘Dirty Dancing’ soundtrack.

The band called it quits in late 1990, shortly after the release of their fifth studio album and with 20 singles under their belt.

After briefly recording with Dee C. Lee as Slam Slam, lead singer Dr. Robert went solo and continued producing. He played bass on Paul Weller's No. 1 album, Stanley Road, and co-wrote material with Weller, Lee and another notable collaborator in Beth Orton.

On 18 November 2007 the original band members announced the reunion of The Blow Monkeys, as well as a new album and a tour in 2008 (the first in 18 years!).

The new album, ‘Devil’s Tavern’, which was named after the venue the band first met, contains 11 brand new songs recorded in Andalusia in Southern Spain and featuring all four original members.

The album was produced by the band themselves with additional production and mixing provided by old Blow Monkey accomplices Marius De Vries (Bjork, Madonna, Rufus Wainwright) and Adam Moseley (Beck, Dust Bro's).

As well as performing songs from the new album on the tour, they will be playing selections from their back catalogue, to support the Demon records release of ‘Digging Your Scene - The Best of The Blow Monkeys’.