The Monk thing started back in the early nineties, when Simon and Ashley went up to London to do a session with Geoff Barrow AKA 'Portishead'. It was a fresh white boy rap thing, just being real and original, with that Monk madness there from the start...how could it not be! From this session the Monk and Canatella idea was born. Geoff later dedicated a tune, 'A Tribute To Monk and Canatella'.

Ashley then went off on a mad one for ten years, and just at this point Simon was working on the 'Flyfishing' E.P. Magically he bumped into Jim, they went out on a session that night and had a chat about life and music. The next day two new tunes were born and so was a new era.

It's always been about trying to be original, doing something that is natural to us, and that we can call our own. Coming from two different musical backgrounds, Simon from the street with the Hip-Hop through to the Reggae, and Jim from his early days of Classical guitar up to the Indie thing. We attempted to mix these together, and came up with something new and original. It was fun, and definitely different! Sounding only like Monk & Canatella

We always said that we would rather fail at something we believed in, rather than follow like sheep. It's such a part of our lives, and our lives are a part of it..Ordinary Unordinary people feeling the pain and love of life, just like anyone, with the gift and torment of being able to portray it in the form of music.

Here we are once again, the two of us, united in the search for sound.