Shitake Monkey clearly is a trio who knows their humor: besides taking two of the funniest words in human language as their name, the New York City trio named their debut album
Street Beef, after a legendary John Candy sketch on SCTV back in the early '80s. And yet, for all the goofiness of their act, these three musicians have credible real-world chops as well: DJ and keyboardist
Electric Pete is
Peter Wade, a noted engineer and remixer for acts ranging from
Wyclef Jean and
LL Cool J to
Jessica Simpson and
Jennifer Lopez. Bassist Johnny Rodeo is the Texas-born John Hill, who has recorded and toured with contemporary dub reggae/drum'n'bass star
Dr. Israel and new wave revivalists
Stiffed. And singer, guitarist, and conceptual leader
Chuck Brody is
Caleb Shreve, who has engineered and mixed albums for a variety of gangsta rappers and R&B stars while also producing the gimmicky hip-hop novelty
Northern State. Those hip-hop and R&B influences are prominent in
Shitake Monkey's music, but in the way that they're prominent on albums by
Beck and
Gnarls Barkley: though partially rooted in hip-hop,
Shitake Monkey is a quirky, experimentally minded pop band at heart. Their debut album,
Street Beef, was released in April 2007; in an unusual move,
Shitake Monkey alerted potential new fans that the album was available, in full and authorized by the band, on all of the major file-sharing networks. ~ Stewart Mason