It's difficult to put a date on when MonkeyTrial actually started. We often performed ambient sections while gigging with one our earlier bands in the 1990s, and at some point we decided to take the idea further, calling the project MonkeyTrial (combining part of our previous band's name and the title of a Japanese TV program, in case you wondered).

In 1998 we completed our first CD, recorded in a local studio during quiet periods. It expanded on our earlier ambient ideas to create an individual brand of soundscapes, electronica and layered guitars. Following that, MonkeyTrial went into a period of hibernation while Clive set up a design company and Shaun started a family. Neither of us stopped writing and recording music, with Clive contributing to ccMixter.org.

Restarting MonkeyTrial, we completed 'un' in January 2010, naming it to possibly represent a fresh start (one), or maybe to represent a prefix to some missing word (the name was chosen as much for its shape as anything else).

Our next project involved the construction of an interactive outdoor sound installation at a RHS exhibition later in the year and was awarded a silver medal as well as drawing hugely positive responses from the people who interacted with our sound garden (see our BBC interview and YouTube video below). We intend to develop these ideas further as a way to present our ambient music in real-time.

Shaun Bailey
I remember taking an audio polyphony test at school, probably around the age of 8, after which I was given the option of learning to play the violin, which I turned down. For several years after that I carried the idea around in my head that I had some kind of musical ability, even though there was little evidence to back that up. An encounter with an electric guitar at the age of 14 changed everything. It was obvious to me that I should play the guitar.

In the 1980s I moved to Yorkshire to study physics at Leeds University. While there I met some interesting musicians. I transferred what I'd learnt on the guitar to the keyboard in order to use synthesisers, and I became familiar with recording techniques and sequencer programming, becoming continually more interested in textures and soundscapes. A good time was had by all.

After that I met Clive Mollart through a mutual friend and bass player, joining their band despite them originally planning it to be an electronic duo (it then added a drummer). The band finally ran out of steam sometime in the 90s, and since then I've mainly worked on music with Clive Mollart as MonkeyTrial.

I use electric and acoustic guitars, a guitar synthesiser (often looped), an octave mandola, keyboards and sequencers. I'm equally comfortable with ambient minimalism, vintage guitar tones and shredded processed noise, depending on the requirements. I'm interested in the immersive, textural and structural aspects of music, and I'm also fairly album-oriented. I like to create collections of music that cover a lot of ground stylistically but also are bound together by some common threads.

Clive Mollart
My first memory of playing a keyboard was on my parents' foot pedal organ which was eventually chopped up for firewood! I can remember having to concentrate on playing and pumping the bellows with my feet at the same time, which wasn't easy until I was much older. Sadly, with the demise of the organ my playing ability dwindled.

Then several years later I stumbled upon a Yamaha CS5 synth, and the pedal organ memories flooded back. I have since purchased and sold a great many synths, some of them classics that I now wish I'd kept.

I played keyboards with various local rock bands in the 80s and 90s, discovering in the end I was much happier creating music rather than playing in front of a crowd. I retreated to my home studio and worked on material for the first MonkeyTrial CD. At that point I was hooked.

I have also collaborated with various artists on ccMixter.org and release my own music under the pseudonym Planck.

I am inspired by the sonic structures within music, and the use of audio installations in the environment. I've used these techniques to design various audio therapy gardens using my skills as an award winning landscape designer, opening up new opportunities as an installation artist.

Un