Sometimes opportunity comes from unexpected quarters. When venues shut due to Covid earlier this year, Monkey Finger wasn’t even an idea, but after the first jam together as a duo, drummer Simon Bruni and singer/guitarist Geoff Helisma knew they had a musical connection that had to be pursued.

Since that day in April, they have rehearsed many hours each week, amassing a large and diverse repertoire of cover songs from across the breadth of contemporary music’s history, as well as a healthy list of original tunes.

“Simon was a bit reticent at first and it took several invitations before he popped over for that fateful jam,” says Helisma. “There was still some disharmony after the band we were in broke up at the end of 2019. But it was clear that we had missed something during our first twelve months together.

“After half an hour of jamming, we looked at each other and virtually said the same thing: ‘How did you know I would do that?’ So, we set ourselves a target of being gig-ready when the Covid veil was lifted.”

Catch Monkey Finger at Club Iluka (Iluka Bowls Club) this Saturday December 5 in the Garden Terrace Bar from 4.30pm.