July 2000 saw the release of ‘The Balls EP’ on alphabetty, which was limited to 500 poo-coloured 7” records. It had massive support from Xfm’s John Kennedy, Radio 1’s ‘Session In Scotland’ and Radio Scotland’s ‘Beat Patrol’ (on which they were also interviewed), as well as a couple of spins by John Peel and ‘The Evening Session’. It was recorded in 14 hours and released on a budget of £600. ‘Queens of’, from ‘The Balls EP’, was licensed to Vitaminic for use on 20,000 promotional MP3 CDs used to demonstrate new Philips MP3 players.

With a Radio 1/BBC Music Live session broadcast to the nation that August, two support slots with Hundred Reasons (London and Aberdeen), and an In The City unsigned showcase in Sep 2000 (resulting in front-page ‘Tip Sheet’ review hailing them to be the best band of the day), they set off to record ‘Fisty’. The studio sessions were plagued with double-bookings, cancellations, colds, and the engineer being snowed-in for days… but we think it’s come out great in the end.

‘Standoffish’ was first released by Fierce Panda in March ‘01, on the ‘Cheffing And Blinding EP’ with Six By Seven, KaitO and others, which landed in the indie charts at No. 4. The core songwriters of Purple Munkie, Alan Ferguson (vocals/guitar) and Jim Butterly (guitar), are already hard at work writing new songs showing even more diverse influences. The 46-second hardcore punk track ‘Two Brass Camels’, originally penned in extra studio time whilst recording their first ever demo, appeared on vinyl mini compilation ‘The Littlest Album’.

Although the band formed in Elgin (roughly halfway between Inverness and Aberdeen), the band are now based in Glasgow. Drummer Lewis, an Inverness boy, replaced Chuck Rose at the start of 2002.

The band have also recorded a 3-track session for R1's 'Sesssion In Scotland', which was broadcast in spring 2002.

After a few gigs with drummer Lewis Gale, the band decided to write a new set and change their name. They are now called Fickle Public.

Releases

• The Balls E.P - single, out 03/07/2000 on alphabetty. 1 review (read/post)

Past events

• Tue 23 Jul at London Camden Dublin Castle. 1 review (read/post)

News

• 07/07/2002: Lapsus Linguae visit Club Fandango
• 19/04/2001: Purple Munkie tour

Features

• 05/08/2000: Interview

Links

• purple munkie - official site

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