Biography
Since the late 1960s, Minneapolis musician Michael Yonkers has worked in near-total isolation, occupying a niche comparable to that of Captain Beefheart, the Fugs, and the Godz. Anchored in surf and garage traditions, he expanded the sonic boundaries of underground rock through radical guitar and effects alterations paired with an unfiltered performance style.
Yonkers, born in 1947, first took up the instrument in the early 1960s. Shaped by the sounds of Link Wray and the Trashmen, he launched his professional path fronting Michael & the Mumbles, a group that performed at proms and local dances throughout the Twin Cities. The ensemble continually altered its approach until it became the Michael Yonkers Band, featuring his brother Jim on drums and Tom Wallfred on bass.
During 1967 Yonkers sliced his Telecaster down to a bare plank and introduced further equipment changes that defined the unit’s singular character. Minneapolis promoter Peter Steinberg then secured the band a Sire Records agreement at a moment when major labels actively sought acts reminiscent of the Mothers of Invention.
The group’s debut album, Microminiature Love, was slated for release in 1968, yet the Sire arrangement collapsed for reasons that remain unclear; the band dissolved and the completed recording stayed unreleased.
An on-the-job injury at an electronics warehouse shattered Yonkers’ back in 1971. Subsequent exploratory operations worsened his condition, and an adverse reaction to X-ray dye produced a degenerative spinal disorder. Despite these setbacks he continued to record, issuing three solo albums on his own imprint in 1974—Grimwood (taped in 1969), Michael Lee Yonkers (taped in 1972), and Goodby Sunball (taped in 1973)—alongside the collaborative Borders of My Mind with Jim Woehrle. Thy Will Be Done appeared in 1976, after which Yonkers remained largely absent from public view for twenty years.
Get Hip Records issued the compilation Free Flight: Unreleased Dove Recording Studio Cuts 1964-69 in 1997, drawing on material recorded at Dove Studios in Richfield, Minnesota; the set included two tracks from Microminiature Love, “Puppeting” (erroneously titled “Microminiature Love” on the release) and the anti-Vietnam song “Kill the Enemy.” These raw, early art-rock pieces attracted the notice of De Stijl’s Clint Simonson, who located Yonkers after an extended search. Simonson reissued the long-unheard Minneapolis psychedelic-garage album Microminiature Love in 2002. The vinyl pressing quickly gained favor among collectors, prompting Sub Pop to release a CD edition in 2003 that added six previously unreleased recordings from around 1968.
Yonkers, born in 1947, first took up the instrument in the early 1960s. Shaped by the sounds of Link Wray and the Trashmen, he launched his professional path fronting Michael & the Mumbles, a group that performed at proms and local dances throughout the Twin Cities. The ensemble continually altered its approach until it became the Michael Yonkers Band, featuring his brother Jim on drums and Tom Wallfred on bass.
During 1967 Yonkers sliced his Telecaster down to a bare plank and introduced further equipment changes that defined the unit’s singular character. Minneapolis promoter Peter Steinberg then secured the band a Sire Records agreement at a moment when major labels actively sought acts reminiscent of the Mothers of Invention.
The group’s debut album, Microminiature Love, was slated for release in 1968, yet the Sire arrangement collapsed for reasons that remain unclear; the band dissolved and the completed recording stayed unreleased.
An on-the-job injury at an electronics warehouse shattered Yonkers’ back in 1971. Subsequent exploratory operations worsened his condition, and an adverse reaction to X-ray dye produced a degenerative spinal disorder. Despite these setbacks he continued to record, issuing three solo albums on his own imprint in 1974—Grimwood (taped in 1969), Michael Lee Yonkers (taped in 1972), and Goodby Sunball (taped in 1973)—alongside the collaborative Borders of My Mind with Jim Woehrle. Thy Will Be Done appeared in 1976, after which Yonkers remained largely absent from public view for twenty years.
Get Hip Records issued the compilation Free Flight: Unreleased Dove Recording Studio Cuts 1964-69 in 1997, drawing on material recorded at Dove Studios in Richfield, Minnesota; the set included two tracks from Microminiature Love, “Puppeting” (erroneously titled “Microminiature Love” on the release) and the anti-Vietnam song “Kill the Enemy.” These raw, early art-rock pieces attracted the notice of De Stijl’s Clint Simonson, who located Yonkers after an extended search. Simonson reissued the long-unheard Minneapolis psychedelic-garage album Microminiature Love in 2002. The vinyl pressing quickly gained favor among collectors, prompting Sub Pop to release a CD edition in 2003 that added six previously unreleased recordings from around 1968.
Albums
