Velvet Monkeys
| Don Fleming | |
|---|---|
Don Fleming in 2009
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Donald Gene Fleming |
| Born |
September 25, 1957 Valdosta, Georgia, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Labels | Thick Syrup |
| Associated acts | Velvet Monkeys, B.A.L.L., Gumball, Dim Stars, Half Japanese, The Backbeat Band |
Donald Gene "Don" Fleming (born September 25, 1957 in Valdosta, Georgia) is an American musician and producer. Besides fronting a number of his own bands, (Velvet Monkeys, B.A.L.L., and Gumball) Fleming has produced Sonic Youth, Teenage Fanclub and Hole.
Fleming started his musical career with the art/garage/punk group The Stroke Band of Adel, Georgia in the late 1970s. They released one album, Green and Yellow, in 1978 on Abacus Records.
After The Stroke Band, Don relocated to Norfolk, Va. in 1979 and formed the punkish/new wave group Citizen 23 with Elaine Barnes, Mark Myers, and, Stephen Soles. Their only recorded output was on the compilation album No Room to Dance in 1980.
Citizen 23 broke up in early 1981; all members but Mark Mayers relocated to Washington, D.C. shortly thereafter and formed the three-piece psychedelic/post-punk band The Velvet Monkeys in the fall of 1981. The Velvet Monkeys line-up featured Fleming on guitar & vocals, Barnes on keyboards and vocals, Stephen Soles on bass, and a drum machine called Dr. Rhythm providing the beat. The Velvet Monkeys would go through many incarnations over the next 10 years, with Fleming the constant factor in all versions. In July 1982 the band released their debut -- Everything is Right—on cassette tape. This album was re-released in on CD in 2011.
After trading in their drum machine for a live drummer (Jay "The Rummager" Spiegel) in 1981 and switching to a new bass player (Charles Steck) in early 1982, the band began to grow their following through increased gigging in the Washington, DC area and the Eastern Seaboard. This lineup released the album Future on Fountain of Youth Records in 1983.
In 1985, ousting all but Spiegel and himself, Fleming brought on guitarist Malcolm Riviera of D.C.'s Grand Mal and bassist Rob Kennedy, formerly of D.C.'s The Chumps and NYC's The Workdogs. The band now turned away from its synth-pop roots completely and became a kind of glam/trash rock theatre that included light shows, smoke machines, live wrestling with the audience, and even instrument-free lip-syncing.
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