Music Style Rock/Pop/Alternative/and some other good stuff.

Musical Influences Goo Goo Dolls, Metallica, Radiohead, Dog's Eye View

Similar Artists Tonic, Live, Goo Goo Dolls, Our Lady Peace, Better Than Ezra, Verticle Horizon

Artist History Music comes naturally for the five young men of the Naked Spatula Monkeys. Years of experience on several instruments and in diverse ensembles have given each of them a strong background in a variety of styles. It was the collaboration of three musicians in a high school jazz band in their hometown of Valparaiso, Indiana that conceived NSM, which first won renown as champions of the 1996 “Battle of the Bands”. For Bob, Bryan, Chris, Mike, and Tom, the pursuit of music is a shared passion, a passion that most recently culminated in the release of their second full-length album of original material, entitled You, Understood. After their high school days, NSM recorded and released their first CD, Wearing Nothing But a Smirk. The album chronicled the best original songs that NSM had written in the four years since their inception in 1994. Mirroring the musicians’ diverse backgrounds, the twelve songs are carefully-crafted exercises in various genres. From the alternative sounds of opener "As Yet, Untitled" through the poignant, metrically complex ballad "Fallen Angel" and the pop sounds of "So Damn Glad" to the hard edges of the closer, Mind," the songs of Wearing Nothing But A Smirk show that their authors had come a long way from their garage beginnings. Following the successful completion and release of Wearing Nothing But A Smirk, NSM continued to progress rapidly. In spite of college commitments that keep them away from “The Region” (as natives of Northwest Indiana know it) most of the year, necessitating an intermittent chain of concerts, the band managed to attract the interest of independent record labels (including Savant International Records), to record a music video at a Chicago television station, to play a special half-hour radio broadcast on WIIL (95.1 FM), and to complete another album's worth of songs. This summer, the band completed work on the ten songs that comprise You, Understood, their sophomore effort, just released in January 2002. Recorded over two summer weeks in Kenosha, Wisconsin's Renwood Messenger Studios, NSM worked closely with producers George Renner and Matt Mattoon, noted for collaborations with such bands as Hangnail and Slipknot, and with important producers including Tom Lord-Alge and Sean McMahon. Trevor Sadler, distinguished for his work on such platinum successes as Nine Inch Nails’ Broken, mastered You, Understood at Milwaukee’s Mastermind Studios in the fall of 2001. “[You, Understood] shows a lot of growth, a lot of maturity,” said NSM’s lead singer Tom Oram, recently hailed as “a singer whose sincerity is never in question” by the editors of British musicmag Listen.com. “We simply can’t wait for people to get these songs in their ears.” The album features tracks like the catchy, radio-ready "Only Holding", the muscular, rhythmic "Consider This:" and “Sorry Afterwards”, and the imploring ballad "Let Me In". You, Understood has a strong visual as well as sonic content, thanks to the work of graphic design majors (and Spatula Monkeys) Chris, Mike, and Bob Wszolek. NSM is hitting college campuses across the Midwest this winter in an effort to bring their music to a wider audience. The band with the name “fished out of the stream of consciousness”, already favorably compared with modern rock standouts Live and power-pop successes Better Than Ezra and The Goo Goo Dolls, aspires to similar recognition. visit NSM on the web at www.nakedspatulamonkeys.com

Group Members Tom Oram - Vocals Mike Wszolek - Lead Guitar Chris Wszolek - Drums, Percussion Bryan Meanovich - Rhythm Guitar Bob Wszolek - Bass

Instruments Guitar, Bass, Drums, Piano, Vocals

Albums Wearing Nothing But A Smirk & You, Understood

Press Reviews http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2003/01/17/features/on_the_go/41f9d264d3dad91786256caf0082127b.txt http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2001/12/21/news7219.txt

Additional Info You, Understood was named one of the top 10 albums of 2002 in North West Indiana.

Location Valparaiso, IN - USA

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