Munkee seems deliberately vague when asked about the band’s beginnings along with obvious resistance at any attempt to tear the veil of their cross-media brand. “[How we started] is something that we get asked a lot, probably because we’re not your normal band/brand,” he says assuring me that answers will come; they’ll just be in the form of a graphic novel. “We are in the middle of finishing Blindmunkee…The Movie and the trailer will be in cinemas mid Feb. The comic is the tie into that and it answers all of the ‘where did you come from?’ questions.”
It’s hard to tell what answers are serious and what are simply taking the piss but that’s all part of Blindmunkee’s charm. This is never more obvious than when he’s asked about the group’s chaotic approach to marketing. “Wayne Peters and his alter-ego Reginald B. Munkee keep a lid on all the crazy stuff and help us funnel it into things that make sense, if it wasn’t for them we’d just be four weird blokes making noise in a basement,” he says. “Reggie gets out and about quite a bit; he’s been on the telly a few times sticking his head in where it’s not really wanted. He’s been punched by a few ‘well known celebs’ for dry humping legs. We’ve also had quite a lot of complaints from ‘graffiti watchers’ about the amount of Munkee head stickers that fans have stuck up and we actually had a box confiscated by police before a show.”
So what part of the band’s music is serious and what part is a complete mock-up?
“Our music is about thinking, questioning and making up your own life, not the one sold to you online or over the counter. It’s a sarcastic snap shot of the world,” he says.
In the current creative economy, where no one wants to pay for anything at any point on the assembly line, Blinkmunkee’s take on marketing is unique without being annoying. For them, it seems to be more of a statement about how people consume art than a focused, economic strategy. “For the most part sheeple want the biggest, shiniest, loudest thing that is cool right now,” he says. “They want it downloaded on their cloud before they even really know they want it, and then they want the next biggest thing right up its arse. So we take the approach of doing what we do, putting it in places that people who want to find it can find it and enjoy it. We don’t talk up stuff or try and convince people to validate our art, we just do what we do. Which I guess makes us pretty unique.”
Despite the character-driven performances, gorilla-marketing and tongue-in-cheek approach to the industry as a whole, Blindmunkee take things seriously in as much as they’re always working with the next twelve month lining up to be no different. “2013 is looking very bright and shiny in Munkee land,” he says. “There’s lots of touring here and overseas, we are doing our New Single Every Six Weeks again, latest one, G.P.S, is up blindmunkee.com.”
BY KRISSI WEISS
