Monk, 42

'I'm a funky guitar player'

“I was born on a Sunday—Groundhog Day. Sometimes I don’t see my shadow —sometimes I do.

I was born in Provo, Utah. … My dad ran a chain of gas stations down there called Crest General Store. And my mom was Supermom. She worked for the city. She was a city councilwoman. She did a lot of political work that was really cool. She’s a rebel, but she’s a Republican—so, I had a twisted household because my dad was a staunch Republican growing up.

I didn’t fit in anywhere. I’m interested in things that are just out there, random. I was acute ADHD. I learn things, I grab a hold of it, I learn everything about it, and I learn everything about it to the molecular level. … And guitar, I want to be a better guitar player every day.

I have photographs, a Polaroid, pictures of me one day that my sister took of me in a diaper, lick and stick tattoos, no shirt on, Ray Ban sunglasses, they were my brother’s, and I had a ukulele in my hands … and I’m holding a C chord. Music has been a part of me—it’s how I speak. I want to relay myself to people as genuinely as possible, and the best way I can do that genuinely is (stops talking and starts to play his guitar).

I was always self-taught. You gotta take the funk in the rock and the rock in the funk. Michael Jackson said that. I push the perimeter. My songs I actually play are psychedelic and weird. The ones where I’m serious, I’m confident they’re amazing songs. I love my music. I’m grateful to be able to humbly say that. I’m a funky guitar player.

Everyone has a metal phase (plays on the guitar). And then the Grateful Dead became part of my life (whistles). I love Jerry Garcia very much.

If I don’t have a guitar, my friends all know, they’re like, ‘Get Monk a guitar.’ Like, when I don’t have a way to express myself—it’s like my paintbrush—I will go nuts.

If I can bend and wiggle a note (does it on the guitar) a little bit further… I go in there and play something awesome (plays more on his guitar). And I start getting into something bluesy, country or rockabilly stuff.

As of late, I’ve had a really tough time with some personal things. The only family I have access to are the people who I live with out here"

Photograph and story documented by Stephen Speckman.