It's safe to say that by the time Avril Lavigne crooned over "sk8er bois" and Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong was shouting about American idiots, they and their ilk were just throwing flowers on punk rock's grave. But just because a genre-as-we-know-it is dead, it certainly doesn't mean its spirit is.
Tommy Erdelyi - or as dedicated punk rockers know him, Tommy Ramone, the original drummer of and oft-producer for legendary New York punk band the Ramones - is still making music and believes that how people classify a musician's creations doesn't mean much in the grand scheme.
"I never saw myself necessarily as part of any scene," Erdelyi said in an interview with The Eagle. "With the Ramones, it was Ramones music, other people called it punk rock and things like that. What I'm trying to get at is, it's not necessarily a specific genre, it's basically the way we express ourselves musically."
In recent years, Erdelyi has opted to express his musical urges through indie-folk duo Uncle Monk, who will appear Tuesday at Jammin' Java in Vienna, Va. With bandmate Claudia Tienan, Erdelyi draws on old-time and bluegrass music to create an entirely unique sound.
"The songs themselves are modern songs with modern themes and modern lyrics," he said. "But the instrumentation is bluegrass instruments, mandolins and banjos and other things like that. I'd classify it as modern, indie, acoustic music."
Uncle Monk began in the early 1990s as a three-piece jam band. Fifteen years, a banjo, a mandolin and one less member later, Uncle Monk's current incarnation prides itself on its serious modern take on traditional music.
The band's straightforward brand of modern folk has received positive reviews from The New York Times, Mojo Magazine and Harp. Though Erdelyi is reluctant to put Uncle Monk in the same genre with any other band, he was quick to mention that they identify greatly with bluegrass acts like The SteelDrivers, and that they're huge fans of old-time bands like The Freight Hoppers and the Foghorn Stringband.
It seems like a big jump from "Blitzkreig Bop," the Ramones hit which punk rock historians often credit Erdelyi with the bulk of writing, to "Round the Bend," an Uncle Monk song that calls to mind folk classic "Crawdad Song." But Erdelyi said he disagrees.
"Actually, old-time and bluegrass music is not that far away from punk rock," he said. "They're both seemingly simple structures but very complex in themes and feelings and emotions."
Since his childhood, Erdelyi has viewed rock 'n' roll and folk on equal footing in his musical evolution.
"My older brother would bring home records from the library and that was kind of old-time music or folk music or string band music," he said of his musical roots. "That's kind of what I grew up on. And my father was a big country music fan. So I grew up listening to that, and then The Beatles and the Rolling Stones and stuff came along and everybody picked up electric guitars and so did I ... But you know, to me, all that stuff has always been connected, I've always loved ... both types of music."
Erdelyi's reluctance to separate genres is reflected in the fans Uncle Monk draws. He said recent performances have attracted everyone from bluegrass and acoustic fans to fans of indie rock and Ramones fans eager to make a punk rock connection. Regardless of what brings fans to an Uncle Monk show, Erdelyi said he loves the crowd, loves making music and is excited to be back in D.C.
"We're definitely looking forward to coming to Jammin' Java again," he said. "This is the third time we're there ... We're looking forward to meeting new people and spreading our music."
You can reach this staff writer at kpowell@theeagleonline.com.
