Stony Plain Records announces a May 5 U.S. release date for the vinyl LP edition of Time to Roll, the fifth album by award-winning Canadian blues/rock trio, MonkeyJunk.
Time to Roll is unique in that it incorporates elements of all four of their previous recordings with added maturity in songwriting and instrumentation, cementing MonkeyJunk’s originality and sound as its own. It is also progressive for the band, as they’ve added electric bass on most of the songs. No MonkeyJunk recording to date has included bass, but they felt that it would be a welcome addition to MonkeyJunk’s sound. In another precedent, the band also recorded one acoustic track for the first time on the new album.
Comprised of Steve Marriner on vocals, baritone guitar, bass, harmonica and organ; Tony D on lead guitar; and Matt Sobb on drums, MonkeyJunk is one of the hardest working bands on the scene today, performing at venues and festivals around the world for over eight years. Continually pushing boundaries and blurring genre lines, the Ottawa, Ontario-based trio has added an edge to their music by incorporating swampy blues and rock with thoughtful and intelligent lyrics.
Time to Roll was recorded at Signal Path Studios in Almonte, Ontario, and mixed and mastered in just over two weeks spanning across two months. “The writing and recording process was different on Time to Roll in many aspects,” says Matt Sobb. “All of the past records have been made over periods of six months to a year - starting and stopping many times over those longer time frames. This time, we were only in the studio for about three weeks all-together and that is BY FAR the fastest and shortest time we’ve ever made a record…but it was intentional to do it that way. We wanted to push ourselves to work hard and to work efficiently and focused - to see what we could come up with in a shorter period of time.”
MonkeyJunk has delivered 10 top-notch tracks that are consistent with the quality and passionate delivery they are known for. Heading back to their blues roots and drawing on inspiration that runs from John Lee Hooker and Lightnin’ Hopkins to J.J. Grey & Mofo and The Meters, Time to Roll showcases deep grooves, fervent vocals and soulful, original material, plus a cover of Albert King’s classic, “The Hunter.” Time to Roll was co-produced by Ken Friesen, who also doubles as a co-songwriter. Kelly Prescott, Tom Wilson and Stony Plain label-mate Paul Reddick also lent their songwriting talents to the recording.
No strangers to awards ceremonies, MonkeyJunk has won a collective 20 Maple Blues Awards, two Canadian Independent Music Awards, a Blues Music Award (USA), and have been nominated twice for a JUNO Award, winning the award for Blues Album of the Year in 2012. Favorites of Elwood Blues (aka Dan Aykroyd), MonkeyJunk has received great support from the syndicated radio program, The BluesMobile.
Time to Roll Track List
Side A
- Best Kept Secret
- Time To Roll
- See The Sign
- Blue Lights Go Down
- Pray For Rain
Side B
- The Hunter
- Can't Call You Baby
- Undertaker Blues
- Gone
- Fuzzy Poodle
