Iron Monkey

Iron Monkey came together in Nottingham, England, during 1994 with the explicit goal, voiced by bassist Doug Dalziel, of setting out “to irritate as many people as possible.” The stance proved effective at first, yet growing numbers of listeners soon embraced the band’s output. A self-titled six-song mini-album appeared in 1996 and earned the group solid underground regard. Persistent rumors claimed that Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo had the record playing at the moment of his 1996 heroin overdose. The resulting attention surrounding the release, the concerts, and the surrounding lore led Earache to sign the band in 1997, after which Iron Monkey delivered the sprawling, unsettling Our Problem in 1998. That major-label platform elevated the group from a regional act to one of the two dominant forces in late-’90s sludge, alongside New Orleans’ Eyehategod. Following the completion of Our Problem, the musicians stayed resolutely self-reliant and issued their final recording—a split 10-inch and CD with Japan’s Church of Misery titled We’ve Learned Nothing—through Frank Kozik’s stoner-rock imprint Man’s Ruin Records. In 2017 the band reassembled as a trio comprising co-founders Steve Watson on bass and Jim Rushby on guitar together with newcomer Scott Briggs on drums. The reconstituted lineup then unveiled the studio album 9-13 on Relapse the same year.