“Monkey” – Trapeze
Originally Released on ”Trapeze” (Warner Bros. 1975)
Also available as: CD (Alfa Japan 1994, Wounded Bird 2008)

The self-titled 1975 album was actually the first I heard by UK band Trapeze. At this point I had no idea this was the breeding ground for Deep Purple bassist/singer Glenn Hughes, Judas Priest drummer Dave Holland and Whitesnake/Phenomena guitarist Mel Galley. I also had no idea they had released a bunch of great albums prior to this one. I was originally thinking of doing “Starbreaker” or “The Raid”, but I got in touch with Mel Galley through MySpace. I asked him if and when the self titled album would be available on CD. He said it already was, but it was rare and expensive. I said I would like to do a cover of one of the aforementioned songs. He instead suggested I’d do “Monkey”. Duuh, why didn’t I think of that, I love the track. Not long after Mel went official with his terminal cancer. After he passed away I decided I would do “Monkey” as a tribute to Mel. My initial idea was to have Glenn Hughes sing the track. After some contact with his manager it unfortunately folded because of financial matters. So who would do this song justice? Around this time I had just received the stunning debut by 70s style rockers Rufus Huff. The CD totally blew me away! When reading the liner notes on the CD I see they are actually influenced by… Trapeze! So a couple of mails later I had both singer Jarrod England and guitarist Greg Martin (also in Kentucky Headhuters) on board. My next problem, however, were … the lyrics. Trying to decipher what Mel was singing was sometimes more or less impossible. I had the album on vinyl – no lyrics, and I finally found a CD version with “Trapeze” and “Hot Wired” as a double pack – no lyrics! I posted the question on melodicrock.com (where else…) and soon a fellow board member guided me to Glenn Hughes’ message board. At the same time I also found the original Japanese CD-version on Ebay – with lyrics. My day was saved! Recording and playing bass for this one was fun! It’s quite a challenging song to play with some interesting bass oriented twists. I was in touch with Glenn Hughes’ guitarist Jocke “JJ” Marsh to lend a guest solo hand, but finally had to give it up as his schedule wouldn’t allow it. So I did the end solo myself, and I stand by it!

Line-up:
Jarrod England: Vocals
Janne Stark: Lead/rhythm guitar
Greg Martin: Lead guitar
Janne Stark: Bass
TrumPeter Svensson: Drums