Jackson Rathbone to Leave 100 Monkeys

Monkey Junkies everywhere are broken-hearted.  On March 4, an official statement on the 100 Monkeys website announced that Jackson Rathbone and Jerad Anderson will be leaving the band due to personal reasons.

Due to demands on their personal lives and professional careers, our good friends
Jackson Rathbone and Jerad Anderson will be leaving the band as active members. We have much love for both and wish them well, and they will always be welcome if they should ever decide to drop in on any future shows, or make appearances on recordings. The last four years of albums, tours and other projects have truly been fantastic, and the legacy they leave behind in their work will be remembered in all of our future endeavors. We wish them the best in their future projects and anticipate great new things to come.

Ben Johnson, Ben Graupner, and Lawrence Abrams will continue with 100 Monkeys and will be working onward with the release of the band’s new single “City of Bones,” March 12th, and a set of shows in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Las Vegas starting this April. We will be playing these as a five-piece and will announce the names of the accompanying musicians shortly.

Personally, replacing any of the band members looks to be difficult given that the 100 Monkeys aren’t your typical band.  Every member of the band plays almost every instrument and needs to be very versatile.  But we want to hear from you.  How do you think this will effect the 100 Monkeys and if you consider yourself a fan, will you continue to support them even without two of their original members?

Read the whole story at the band’s website.  Thanks to Hypable for the heads up.

100 Monkeys Rock the UK: Video and Interview

The 100 Monkeys are on tour in the UK, here is what STV thought about the group in their interview.

First off it has to be said that this collection of multi-instrumental musicians are hard to define. The 100 Monkeys, made up of Jackson Rathbone, Ben Graupner, Jerad Anderson, Ben Johnson and M. Lawrence ‘Uncle Larry’ Abrams, delivered a set bursting at the seams with a quick paced mash of blues beats, soul sounds and rock-n-roll rhythms but with a modern fresh twist.

The result was, under the command of Rathbone, that the swaying crowd were well and truly “funkified” as the upbeat chords of opener Ugly Girl bounced around the room.

Before the gig 100 Monkeys sat down to talk to STV about their unique live shows and how they don’t let their busy lives get in the way of coming up with new ways to please their every growing troup of Monkey followers.
100 reasons to see Twilight’s Jackson Rathbone and his Monkey mates

Rathbone commented: “With any group of artists who come together to focus on one unified vision you really have to dedicated the time and energy for that and that’s not easy. All of us do have different jobs or different bands that we perform in or different avenues of the arts that we pursue. We have to take the time to practise, practise and passion are the two most important aspects of being a musician. There are five of us and we have five very different lives and it can be a chore some times but we make it work we have fun with it.”

The thing that makes 100 Monkeys so fun to watch is their energy and unpredictability, they play for the sheer enjoyment of making music and pleasing the crowd. So often we’re plopped in front of musicians who lazily deliver a performance that ebbs along giving gig-goers a fulfilled but formulaic few hours. This is not a characteristic of 100 Monkeys. Predictability was replaced by a tightly polished set that wandered across every sound on the musical spectrum.

Check out more including a video that we can’t embed on STV

Ouch Magazine Profiles Jackson Rathbone and 100 Monkeys

Ouch magazine currently available is featuring Jackson Rathbone in their latest issue. They also have two behind the scenes videos.

Jackson Rathbone, breaking dawn from ouch magazine on Vimeo.

Getty Images Music presents 100 Monkeys from Getty Images on Vimeo.

100 Monkeys Improvs Hurricane Song at Last Night’s Show

Oh My Carlisle on Twitter was on the show and this is how she describes it.

“At every 100 Monkeys show, the band has the audience throw out an idea for a song and they create an original song on the spot. This night they picked my idea, “Hurricane!” I yelled Hurricane because this was the weekend Hurricane Irene was beating up the east coast. Jackson Rathbone (The Twilight Saga’s Jasper Hale) is on lead vocals.”

100 Monkeys New Video Teaser Puppet Style


What do you think of the band’s newest idea?

MTV: 100 Monkeys What Makes Their Show Different

Get More: MTV Shows

100 Monkeys Offers Free Tickets to Veterans

This press release on the 100 Monkeys cross-nation, summer tour just came out:

Twilight star Jackson Rathbone and his band, 100 Monkeys, have hit the road this summer on a headlining tour throughout the U.S. and Canada.  On July 12th, the funk-rock band plays Boston, MA and will continue through August 28th, concluding in San Diego, CA.  Tickets are on sale now at ticketmaster.com and information can be found at http://www.100monkeysmusic.com/.

“We are excited to get back out on the road this summer,” says Rathbone.  “We can’t wait to rock out with our fans, and we look forward to some great shows.”

100 Monkeys, comprised of Jackson Rathbone, Ben Graupner, Jerad Anderson, Lawrence “Uncle Larry” Abrams and Ben Johnson, are multi-instrumentalists known for their raucous, theatrical live-sets, where they switch instruments and lead vocals on almost every song. “Liquid Zoo” (Warrior Records/Universal Music Distribution), the band’s second studio, full-length recording album, is on sale now at www.bestbuy.com.

In honor of band member Lawrence “Uncle Larry” Abrams, 100 Monkeys is offering free admission at every concert to any US military veteran, upon arrival at the venue.

Tour dates are as follows:
7/12 Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
7/14 Philadelphia, PA – TLA
7/16 New York, NY – Gramercy Theater
7/17 Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony
7/19 Allentown, PA – Crocodile Rock
7/20 Baltimore, MD – Bourbon Street
7/21 Norfolk, VA – Norva
7/22 Charlotte, NC – Fillmore
7/23 N. Myrtle Beach, NC – House of Blues
7/25 Nashville, TN – Exit In
7/26 Atlanta, GA – The Loft
7/28 Tampa, FL – Orpheum
7/29 Lake Buena Vista, FL – House of Blues
7/30 Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Revolution
7/31 Jacksonville, FL – Jack Rabbits
8/2 Birmingham, AL – Work Play
8/4 New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
8/5 Houston, TX – House of Blues
8/6 Dallas, TX – House of Blues
8/7 Austin, TX – Emo’s
8/9 Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom
8/10 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
8/11 Kansas City, MO – Beaumont Club
8/13 Denver, CO – Marquis Theatre
8/14 Colorado Springs, CO – Black Sheep
8/16 Salt Lake City, UT  – The Grand Room
8/19 Vancouver, BC – Venue
8/20 Spokane, WA – The Knitting Factory
8/21 Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
8/23 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
8/25 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
8/27 Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
8/28 San Diego, CA – House of Blues

100 Monkeys Toronto Interview

100 Monkeys Meet and Greet Opportunities

100 Monkeys continues their nation-wide tour. Good news for fans there are meet and greet opportunities up for grabs in EVERY city! Click here to check out what you have to do to get a chance at meeting the band face-to-face.

 

Also the following just popped up on the official Girlfriend Facebook page:

” On July 18th (Monday) after the 7:30 screening at the Quad there will be a one time only Q&A with Jackson Rathbone, Jerad Anderson and the rest of the 100 Monkeys – Ben Johnson, Ben Graupner and Lawrence Abrams Be there! (Evan Sneider and Justin Lerner will also be in attendance)”

The official movie page is here

Also the Band is playing the following shows in the New York area, including the club where Springsteen and the E Street Band started out:

JULY 17, 2011
Stone Pony
913 Ocean Ave
Asbury Park, NJ
All-Ages
EVENT TICKET INFO

JULY 19, 2011
Crocodile Rock
520 W Hamilton St
Allentown, PA
All-Ages
EVENT TICKET INFO

100 Monkeys Performs at Chicago’s House of Blues