Matt Fassas met Robbie Edwards totally by chance while catching guitarist Jimmy Herring’s April show at The Handlebar. The two exchanged numbers and were soon putting together an acoustic band mixing ’90s and sepia aesthetics, with Fassas on vocals and guitar and Edwards on bass. After their percussionist flaked out before an upcoming gig, they drafted drummer Jason Owens as a last-minute replacement.
“We had one, hour-long practice together in the back of a music store in Anderson,” Fassas, 22, says of Funky White Monkey’s first rehearsal at Draisen-Edwards Music.
The Greenville trio’s set features Fassas originals including “Boston,” a watery R&B track—think Stax Records meets Phish. “Hollow eyes” is coffeehouse prog. The inky dirge of “Wish” sounds like an early Stone Temple Pilots demo.
“One of my things with writing is to try to use a tempo that doesn’t match the vibe of the song just to give a different spin on it,” Fassas says. “ ‘Hollow Eyes’ is a song about somebody in the height of depression, but seeing it from the outside view and trying to be optimistic about it.”
Stone Temple Pilots are listed as one of your influences on your MySpace page. That’s a band a lot of musicians like, but a lot of music snobs detest. Why is that? I think musicians like STP because they covered so many musical horizons over their career. “Core” was a more high-energy, rock ‘n’ roll feel. Then you get later on into stuff like “No. 4” and there’s this whole totally different sounding band, but you can tell it’s the same members. They’ve got at least one song everybody will like.
For your money, what’s the best STP record? I still love “Core.” It’s got that classic AC/DC, make-you-want-to-drive faster feel to it. At the same time, they were also doing some cool things musically a lot of other bands weren’t doing at the time.
What are the songs like you’ve been writing since Robbie and Jason joined the group? “Old Sad Song” almost has a John Mayer kind of vibe to it, but with a more spaced-out jam in the bridge than anything he would ever do. We’re really trying to expand on all the songs and allow there to be open section where we can add our own thing every time we play it. “Dehlia” is a purely instrumental tune that almost has a Yes feel to it, with odd time signatures.
Does the fact you grew up in Kentucky filter into your music? In Kentucky, of course, bluegrass is king. Not that I hate bluegrass, but if you’re in Kentucky and expect to make it in the music industry as anything other than a bluegrass player you have to go somewhere else.
Funky White Monkey plays a free show at Smiley's Acoustic Cafe Nov. 5.
For more information, check out www.myspace.com/funkywhitemonkeys.
