How “Bad Monkey” became a tribute to Tom Petty’s songs

When was the moment when you realized Evil Monkey was a sunny beach oasis for Tom Petty's music? It might have been one of the first moments in the premiere, when “American Girl” opens with a panoramic view of a fishing boat sailing along the Atlantic Ocean. Or maybe it waited until the end of the third episode, when a dirge of “Mary Jane's Last Dance” accompanies the show's biggest twist yet. Even our own TV critic branded Evil Monkey as “Tom Petty Noir” — flavor! The heartland rock associated with Petty, who hails from the northern Florida city of Gainesville rather than the show's Key West/Miami setting, may not exactly scream “fun in the sand,” but showrunner Bill Lawrence and music supervisor Tony Von Pervieux are both superfans whose choices aren't dictated by geography. In fact, they've realized a dream.

“He was always on my wish list for a show. He is also the top artist on Bill's music list,” says Von Pervieux. “Two and a half years ago, when this project started, the whole idea was Okay, it's in Florida. Not in Gainesville, but still in Florida. Can we do something that's never been done before? Bill and I started talking about it, and Bill said, 'Maybe we'll do some covers of Petty songs.'”

Von Pervieux originally set a goal of commissioning 10 covers, an average of one per episode. He used Petty's master as a placeholder in scenes to establish the style and context he wanted. “It just went uphill from there,” he recalls. “We just kept commissioning more.” Ten soon became 21 original covers, and musicians were called who Von Pervieux felt “fit the tone of the show strongly.” “I had an idea of ​​what artists I had in mind for each cover, but there were a few artists who had done a Tom cover in the past, or I gave them the option to pick which cover they wanted,” he adds. “Everyone we contacted was on board. We got 21 out of 21.”

Compared to previous projects Von Pervieux has worked on as a music supervisor, he had little to convince the people he contacted about his vision. (That Eddie Vedder recorded the very first cover, “Room at the Top,” was a helpful proof of concept.) “The easiest way was to say, 'Hey, we have this cool show and really cool experience to do a cover. This is the specific way I want to do this cover based on the scene,'” he says. “And they all said, 'Yeah, of course. We're huge Tom Petty fans. You don't have to explain.' In the past, when I've worked on a project that required cover songs, I've contacted multiple artists because you never really know if they're really interested or if it's going to be a money game. But in this case, it was a passion thing.”

For the vast majority of covers, Von Pervieux gave detailed instructions on what a scene needed, down to location and time of day. This resulted in several compositions outside the usual Petty cover playbook, such as the Meridian Brothers' “Yer So Bad” (“a tribute to Miami and Latin culture”) and Stephen Marley's “You Don't Know How It Feels” (“a reggae-style island vibe”). Even artists with no obvious throughline on paper made it into the selections for simple reasons of creativity. “Marcus King, Nathaniel Rateliff and Weezer have nothing to do with Florida, but they had everything to do with who best fit that sound in the scene and whose voice can best sell that scene,” he explains. Other names rounding out the track list include Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Sharon Van Etten, the War on Drugs and Kurt Vile, all of whom seem to be wearing flannel jackets rather than cabana attire. “The criteria was really: Who are some of my favorite artists that I'm listening to right now? Who are the coolest artists that I think could do a Tom Petty song?”

But despite the enthusiasm of all involved, It was still important that the Petty estate, run by Petty's daughter Adria, gave its blessing Evil monkey. Von Pervieux informed her of possible ideas “as early as possible.” “I was a little nervous going through it because you don't know what you can get out of cover versions and I didn't want to make a fool of the music,” he explains. “I wanted it to be great and special. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.”

Von Pervieux sent Adria a demo of each cover he thought should be included. “We got comments like, 'We really like this one, great job,'” he notes of the estate's involvement. “It was meaningful that I was able to talk to Adria and she told me she was a fan of the soundtrack. She said the bands were chosen properly, they did each cover independently and it felt like it all fit together.” The only rule the musicians had to abide by was that Petty's lyrics could not be changed. “We understood that,” Von Pervieux adds. “There's no reason to cross that line anyway.”

Evil MonkeyThe official album of , which contains a total of 29 songs – the 21 Petty covers and eight film soundtrack selections – will be released on October 4 and serves as the conclusion of a robust period of re-orientation of Petty's legacy following the success of a country-inspired Cover album released in June. Of course, the appreciation of his music is not limited to a particular season. “Tom Petty is just healthy food for everyone,” says Von Pervieux. “We brought together a family of artists that we respected and loved, and who respected and loved Tom Petty in return.”