What are Boogie Monsters?
No, they are not green Martians from the Cavity of Nasality. I checked out the group’s Web site before meeting them and found lots of pictures. I spotted a mummified Elvis, but no jointless limbs or dripping slime. Turns out the Monsters are just four guys, slacker musicians, all transplants to the Reno area.
That’s scary enough.
The Boogie Monsters are Dave Adams, 32, (bass, harmony); Wayne Evans, 35, (lead vocals, guitar); Brian Judkins, 33, (drums); and Yves Stilmant, 45, (lead guitar, harmony). Coming from all over, geographically and musically, they have joined forces and created the blues/rock machine known as The Boogie. An odd synthesis of talents that began at the Los Tres Hombres Blues Jam in Jan. 2002, no one is more surprised by their formation than the band itself.
Judkins says, “We definitely all have different backgrounds, different personalities, and that’s what makes it work. I know it sounds cliché, but …”
Stilmant, who has extensively toured Europe and played guitar as early as he can remember, agrees. “I’ve been playing for a lot of years,” he says, “and that kind of thing, with us, has only happened two or three times to myself.”
After meeting at the jam, they dubbed themselves Boogie Monsters and started working on actually writing songs together. You can find many of these tunes on the Web site. (OK, there are five songs online, but I wanted it to sound impressive).
Judkins calls a typical band show, “a blues/funk comedy hour.” Everyone else just calls it blues-funk-rock and something the Web site content describes as “that Boogie Monster stank.”
“We’re not afraid to corrupt what traditionalists call ‘blues’,” Adams says. “It’s definitely a departure for all of us.”
Evans expands on that idea.
“If you look at the blues scene around Reno, not to put it down, but for a while now, there’s been a real lack of energy,” Evans says. “We play music that is classified as blues, but we play it with the energy of a rock band.”
These days, the Boogie Monsters are in the process of recording an untitled CD, which is due out before December. Notable is the song “Cheeze,” about the joys of cheese, jazzercise and “fat chicks.” In a list of types of cheeses, “guv’mint” pops up.
When it comes to lyrics, serious is not in the vocabulary of this band.
But the group is serious about playing with other musicians. At the jam where they all met—and event now called The Boogie Monsters Blues Jam—they welcome any local musicians with an interest in having a good time, learning new licks or teaching old tricks, to sit in with them. They bring their own equipment and give everyone a chance to play. As far as shows, they are just as interested in playing with everyone, Brian Judkins says.
“Basically, call us with good gigs, and we’re there,” he says.
While somewhat new to the Reno scene, The Monsters are ready to take Reno by storm and make us all have some fun—whether we like it or not.