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Who are The Tea Monkeys?

Lewis and J Wo form the main songwriting partnership, as well as sharing guitar and vocal duties. Our rhythm section comprises Dave on bass and Tony on skins. We're just a bunch of very ordinary, down to earth guys who happen to enjoy making music.

Who or what are your greatest influences?

Too diverse and varied to mention really. It's more genres that influence us rather than particular artists - funk and reggae being the most prominent in our sound.

My Mum actually quite likes us but prefers Westlife so she'd probably say quite catchy but you're not as attractive as those clean cut Irish boys

Best gig so far?

Summervibe, our second birthday at The Shed - we were onstage for an hour and a half and enjoyed every minute of it!

Worst gig?

Toss up between a gig we did at Sumo, and one at The Music Caf茅 - in both cases we'd been badly messed around by the organisers and ended up having a nightmare.

Who are your favourite local artists at the moment and why?

C*Bob, ist, Red Star Radio and Butterfly Polite, as well as some of the more interesting solo artists; Anyone who can write memorable, accessible tunes, irrespective (within reason!) of their technical ability.

When did you begin performing?

Lewis, J Wo and Tony all got into music in their teens. Dave was a bit of a later developer, his first band was formed in his 20s.

What's been your greatest musical achievement?

Probably getting a very favourable gig review on a 成人论坛 website!

The quality and diversity of the bands is the best it's been in my memory. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much in the way of an audience though.

Do you have any pre-gig rituals?

I always suck a sweet to clear my throat and get the saliva moving - I've had several disapproving looks as I stick a tablet shaped object in my mouth right before I go on...

Favourite track you've written?

'Give It' is a good example of Lewis and J Wo coming from different places but somehow managing to meet on common ground.

Have you got any groupies?

We had a few but they're on summer leave - a bunch of female students who saw us at the half time orange a while back. They loved us - I've still got the live recording with all their screaming on it - makes us feel good when we're down.

What's been your most embarrassing music-themed moment?

Completely forgetting the words to a song - we were doing a cover of 'Easy' to keep the paying people happy and I went blank completely. The band were professional about it though and kept repeating the intro until some kind fella in the crowd shouted out the words to me.

More decadence than misbehaviour but spent the entirety of Glastonbury 2003 with a thermos flask that was always full of pimms and fancy cigarettes no smaller than six inches in length...was the best weekend of my life.

What would you be doing now if you weren't doing this interview?

Plumbing up my new washing machine which I picked up at the weekend.

If you could have one super power, what would it be?

Un-chemically aided flight would be a winner.

Favourite cheese?

Swiss gruyere, brie and Canadian cheddar.

Fascinating fact about your band?

J Wo used to supply UB40 with gardening equipment in a previous incarnation.