MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO

Iron the Cat where formed in 2001, the band consisted of:

Rich Ellis : Vocals
Ben Slater : Lead Guitar & Vocals
Tom Smith : Bass
Chris Burrows : Keyboards
Chris McCormack : Drums
Dave Ellis : Logistics

They fast established a reputation in the west country for a fun live performance and charity support. The guys enjoyed some fabulous highs across five years together, starting in 2001 with local village events, like the Big weekend. Driving through the next couple of years they established themselves with a wider audience, finally making it as far as Sutton Benger(!) in 2003 for a first visit to 'TrevFest'. 2004 saw an Album "Great Balls of Fur", an accoustic set at "Riffstock" and a rock out gig to 10,000 people at the Northwilts Festival. The following year the lads went international with a gig on the Isle of Wight at the Silicon Cup Ocean Racing village in Cowes, with some of the band even racing the next day and Mr Burrows ending up on the winning boat! They followed this up at the end of the summer with a return trip to TrevFest, to witness the Elvis suit, the biggest non firework display ever, and getting kicked offstage during the encore cos we passed the bewitching hour, bizzare!

The events of Boxing day 2004 drove the band to put together its biggest ever project, working with many local friends we put on a Tsunami concert on behalf of the British Red Cross, which featured The Specials, The Wurzels and Iron the Cat, with special guests for the evening, Andy Scott (The Sweet) and Nick Mason (Pink Floyd). This amazing evening, which raised over £60,000 included Bens rendition of the haunting single "Another Day" which he wrote and performed especially for this gig and will stay with those that where there forever. This proved the signature event for the band, and they bowed out on a high during the following summer of 2005, with a typical anthemic performance opening the Crimestoppers fun day at Bowood House to 10,000 people on a hot Sept afternoon. Ben went on to get a real job and drive his own band Bad Lizard, Tom retired gracefully to the south coast, and Mac went on to play Blues with No Mean Feat. Rich and Chris took the chance to rest for 6 months, whereafter the pull of the stage grew too strong and Mac, Rich and Chris teamed up with a couple of local muso's Ro and Steve looking to rock out, and Monkey See Monkey Do was born.

It was a hell of a ride!! Check out the Pics, video and music on this page to feel the cat experience.

Songs
1. By Your Side : Slater / ITC
2. Another Day : Slater / Slater : Single Still Available on Womad Records
3. Attraction : Slater / Ellis / ITC