In 1966, Michael Yonkers was a young man well on his way to becoming an unsung king of sonic experimentation. Decades of obscuration and uncertainty lay before him, which would see him produce works like Microminiature Love, one of the most prominent works of rock and roll and guitar tinkering that, until its wide release more than three decades later, few had ever heard.
Locally, Yonkers' is now a royal name. He has made large fan following of the new generation by his collaborations with the Blind shake, which promptly revived the enthusiasm for his earlier works.
Presently, Destijl records, the label attributed with a huge assist in helping Yonkers be a pertinent drive more than four decades after his debut, released Yonkers' first LP which was recorded with his band the Mumbles.
Restored from the master tapes more than four and a half decades after the recording, the Mumbles LP was released on vinyl only, with a digital download code for ones with limited analytical ability.
Yonkers was a central personality in the noise music article City Pages. Decades before the capricious winds of music crit turned a favorable ear to noise rock, Yonkers was producing it when almost no one, save a cadre of gallant audiences, could fathom it.
Sadly, in the year 2009, Yonkers announced his ostensible retirement from performance to Gimme Noise. A consummate techie, Yonkers built and modified all of his equipment: he created two effects pedals, he made one guitar out of two, constructed synths from children's' toys, and felled his Fender Telecaster down to a small rectangular plank to aid his psychedelic ventures. To add to the obscurity until he announced his retirement he still used his scaled-down Tele, even though it was in such a condition that it had to be held down by duct tape.
It was since 1971, he had suffered from a debilitating back injury which had often restricted his capacity to perform, and if that wasn't enough to let down the spirits of his fans, just a few weeks after he was featured in "The Sound And The Fury," things took a turn for the worse, stating him permanently bedridden.
Not being able to witness such a legend perform and missing out on his solo performances or collaborations with his mate Woehrle is a terrible loss for the music industry.
We here pay a tribute to the legend by sharing the best of his works, his musical history, and the journey towards rediscovering his music from more than four decades ago which were shelved and now being exclusively restored and made available to rock music lovers by Destijl records.
