The Mono Ensemble is a transmogrification of Mother's Monkey, a band formed in 1991 in College Station, Texas. Mother's Monkey was Eric Gottula (vocals and guitar), Jim Gillespie (bass), Frank Skowronski (guitar), and Reed Shaw (drums). After playing gigs in and around Bryan, College Station, and Houston -- oh, and graduating, of course -- the guys moved to Austin. From 1995 'til about 1998, Mother's Monkey played gigs around Austin at small venues like The Mercury, Trophy's, and Uncle Nasty's.

The band took a brief hiatus in 1998. And when they got rolling again, they found that the foursome had become a sixsome. OK, a sextet. (Or something like that.) Jason Steans and Ted Reck had joined the band, and the band itself started making new recordings and playing new material under the name "The Mono Ensemble." Jason now played bass. Jim played alto saxophone. Ted played trombone and keyboards. Then Jason played bass and guitar; Ted played trombone, keyboards, and guitar; Jim played saxophone and bass. Then Jason started playing banjo, Jim bought a soprano saxophone, and everything went to hell. Well, not really, but the band did change shape again when Ted left. We miss him so.

At this point, it might be worth mentioning that the band is full of multi-instumentalists. Except for the drummer, Reed, because he's just stubborn that way. In fairness, though, Reed does play bass drum, snares, toms, cowbell, woodblock, and a wide range of cymbals. He also has been known to sing on occasion. For now, this is how the instrumentation is distributed:

Eric: guitar, vocals, keyboards, bass, harmonica, percussion.
Frank: guitar, trumpet, congas, percussion.
Jim: alto & soprano saxophones, bass, keyboards.
Jason: guitar, bass, vocals, banjo.
Reed: drums, percussion.

Songwriting for the band is a collaborative process, but Eric writes most lyrics and the underlying melodies.