Funky Monks

Band: Funky Monks

Members: Michael Mundy, vocals; Bob Rorbaugh, guitar; Jay Robinson, bass; Dana Delong, drums Who we talked to: Robinson

How did you guys get started? I guess I probably got the idea (to have a Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band) maybe eight years ago. I wasn't real serious about it at the time. I'd say we're probably about three years (old). We had a little bit of a problem with the lineup. It seems like now, we've got a pretty good lineup. Everybody's on board. Mike, he's kind of an old York musician. I've known him for years. The same with Bob, the guitar player. We picked up Dana through (MySpace).

How did you guys get together? It's one of (The RHCP songs). It just seemed like a pretty good theme song. We were going to be the Mild Green Habaneros.

Have you always been a big RHCP fan? I've been (a fan) from day one, ever since they were still playing punk rock. I kind of liked it because they went against the grain. In my day . . . a bass player kind of stood in the corner, kept his mouth shut and followed along. (Bassist Michael "Flea" Balzary's) the epitome of playful. (RHCP) take chances. They'll just go crazy. A lot of people play it safe. There's not too much that's safe about the Chili Peppers, but that's what makes it fun.

Have you seen them in concert before? There was a radio promotion out in California and I went to check them out. I got to talk to everybody. That was back when (guitarist John) Frusciante's house almost burned down. Me and Mike went down to a show (a while back).

Do you have a favorite song? I like they're older kind of more wild stuff. "Johnny, Kick a Hole in the Sky" is probably like one of my favorite songs to play.

Do you think the RHCP's music has changed over the years? They went with (producer) Rick Rubin. You have to industrialize a little bit. But they're still true to their style. I think they do a lot of stuff intentionally to push people's buttons. The record companies couldn't do anything to them since they were selling so many records. That was 20 years ago. They're all grown up now, but probably not all that grown up. I have a similar connection and love for music.

Where do you guys play? We're looking to do York. Anyplace we've played asks us back. We're 100 percent. So many people know about us, but nobody really comes out in York to see us a lot. We've never had the proper billing and advertising. We're certainly open to playing just about anywhere right now. We just have to start spreading the word around. We recorded at Mellow D's Studio up in North York.

Do you try to sound exactly like RHCP? It's easy to tell the difference (between RHCP and us) because we don't have any back-up vocals. People don't actually catch that. Our singer is actually so good that he pulls it off. People were like "Oh, I thought the jukebox was on."

Any best memories? I would say some of our best things we did were parties. I wouldn't say I remembered all of it, but I remember it was a lot of fun.

What are your plans for the future? We're going to try to hit the colleges and we're looking for management. We just kind of got right back together . . . and I didn't even start to book yet.

- ERIN McCRACKEN, FLIPSIDE STAFF