YOUR AD HERE »

Monk ToniK to perform in Beaver Creek Thursday

Caramie Schnell
cschnell@vaildaily.com
Left to right is Tyler Jager, John Cummins, Roy Burki and Patrick Beaudine.
Special to the Daily |

Local high school teacher Patrick Beaudine did something three years ago that he wished he’d done back in high school.

He started a band with his friend John Cummins, the band’s guitarist.

Dubbed Monk ToniK, the four-person band is rounded out with new bassist Tyler Jager, also a teacher a Vail Christian High School, and drummer Roy Burki of Little Hercules and The Sesh acclaim.



“John and I started Monk ToniK together over three years ago, something we should have done back when we were 16,” said Beaudine, the band’s lead singer and guitarist.

Beaudine had played the club scene in Chicago and then took 15 years off from music, he said. Local band Who’s Drivin’ lured him back to the band scene.

Support Local Journalism



“(We) wanted to start a band that recognized the power of the three-minute rock and roll song that drove people to the dance floor when we were in high school,” said Cummins who writes a lot of the band’s original songs.

The band scored a prominent gig this week. They’ll perform at the awards ceremony for the USA Pro Challenge in Beaver Creek Thursday afternoon. The band performed at the Eagle Outdoor Festival and one of the organizers from the Vail Valley Foundation was impressed and thought the group would be a good fit for the event.

“We are really excited and honored to be a part of this event,” Cummins said.

Expect a mix of original songs and eclectic covers by artists ranging from Social Distortion, The Ramones, the Black Keys, and Rancid to U2, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.

From Anti-M to Monk ToniK

The band was originally called Anti-M (an ode to the Wizard of Oz, Beaudine said) but after about a year they heard from the founder of another band by the same name, located in California. That band had been using the name since the ‘90s and so the band members acquiesced.

“We ended up taking a sheet of paper, writing down names in a stream of consciousness brainstorming session, and somehow Monk ToniK became the top choice,” Beaudine said. “We definitely didn’t want to receive another call from some other band across the country and we were pretty sure no one had ever used that one before.”

If you can’t check the band out on Thursday, don’t worry you’ll have another chance this weekend. On Saturday at 5:30 p.m., the band will play on the patio at The Dusty Boot in Eagle at a fundraiser for the Fill the Boot Campaign sponsored by the local fire departments.


Support Local Journalism