Biography

The roots of the whimsical indie rockers Saucy Monky can be traced back to when singer/guitarist/songwriter Cynthia Catania decided to leave her native New Jersey for LA. After successful gigs around N.Y.C. which led to good press but not a recording contract, Los Angeles was the next stop. A yearlong job as a background singer on The Larry Sanders Show and a new group -the Sugar Junkies- kept her busy, but that big-label deal failed to materialize. Catania is the proactive type and decided to go it alone. She was also inspired by Ani DiFranco's D.I.Y. attitude toward the music industry and decided that instead of waiting for the major-label deal, she should form her own label-olivoiL records- to release her music. A solo album appeared, but Catania was still yearning for a band. She found one in late 2001 when she met kindred spirit Annmarie Cullen, also a singer/guitarist/songwriter from Dublin, Ireland. Soon bassist Carson Cohen and drummer Adam Marcello rounded out Saucy Monky. A couple of albums worth of Catania_Cullen songs were ready to go. Their debut, Celebrity Trash, was released in 2003, but only in Ireland where "Don’t Wanna Know Your Name" became an indie rock smash. Turbulence, appeared a year later in Ireland, caught the ear of the American label 429 Records and Measured Records in Scotland. The labels reissued the album in 2005 with a remix of "Disco Ball" as the kickoff single. The track went Top 40 on triple A radio in the states. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi