The Monkees Without Davy Jones? ‘Doesn’t Seem Very Likely,’ Says Peter Tork

Says he and the other Monkees are awaiting word about funeral or memorial plans for Jones.

Still feeling like he’s “dragging an anchor around” in the wake of Davy Jones’ surprising death on Wednesday from a heart attack in Florida, Monkees bandmate Peter Tork says any continuation of the group “doesn’t seem very likely, does it?” But he isn’t ruling it out entirely, either.

“It’s not absolutely impossible,” Tork tells Billboard.com. “The Monkees have gone out as a threesome for most of the past 20-some years. But there are no plans, no discussion. This is way too early to begin to think about that.” Tork adds that “certainly if there’s some kind of concert in his honor, I think we would all attend if we could arrange it” — referring to himself, Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith.

Dolenz and Tork toured with Jones for a Monkees 45th anniversary tour in 2011, while Nesmith has begged off of all reunions save for a short U.K. tour in 1997 to promote the “Justus” album, which featured all four of the members. Tork says he, Dolenz and Jones “were talking a little bit about getting back together” after the tour ended, and that he and Dolenz spoke on Wednesday evening. “He’s feeling very much the same way I am,” Tork says. “He’s pretty much still in shock as well.”

Tork says he and the other Monkees are awaiting word about funeral or memorial plans for Jones. He woke up on Thursday and “played a little bit of ‘Daydream Believer’ on the piano and the guitar, for old times sake,” and he remembered Jones not only as a musician but also as a performer.

“What stood out for me with Davy as an artist was his spontaneous stagecraft,” Tork recalls. “He enjoyed himself on stage, for sure, gloried in his part. He was so alert as an entertainer and so relaxed that things would come to him out of the blue and he would just go with them. He could be incredibly funny. Micky and I were always breaking up on stage.” Tork remembered one night when, after Dolenz performed a song he co-wrote, Tork would yell out “Author! Author!” and Jones, in a Dudley Moore impression, “muttered behind my back, ‘Arthur? I’ll give you Arthur’ — just to me. I’m so sorry he’s gone. I’m going to miss that wit and heart.”

Monkees or not, Tork will be on tour this year with his blues band Shoe Suede Blues, with dates booked into September.

via The Monkees Without Davy Jones? ‘Doesn’t Seem Very Likely,’ Says Peter Tork | Billboard.com.