Truth in Advertising: Funk Fest 8 Delivers the Goods
It was a busy weekend at the start of the very busy festival season, and all over the state of Florida there were great music events from Jacksonville to Okeechobee. For those looking to funk, there was no better destination than Punta Gorda, where Funk Fest 8 delivered on its name — bigly.
It was a reasonably simple concept: gather together 15 great funky bands for two days for one funkin’ great time. Two stages, essentially side by side, so that there was zero downtime, and you didn’t have to miss a single note.
The sound was great throughout the festival, food and craft vendors were plentiful, and the bands seemed truly pleased with the efforts the organizers made in throwing this big party. The only element they could not control was Mother Nature; more on that in a bit.
FRIDAY
We arrived as Walter Lukens was halfway through his opening set, really solid. Lukens on keyboards and vocals was joined by McKenzie Griffin, also singing and playing keyboards. Their voices worked well together, backed by a very good trio (guitar, bass and drums). Lukens is from Austin and was in the midst of a Southeast tour.
Another local group, Soulixer, kept the party rolling. This funk trio launched immediately into “Shaky Ground,” and throughout the set we heard originals interspersed with “Give Up the Funk,” “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” and more.
Atlanta’s Voodoo Visionary came out swinging, playing songs from their debut album and brand new Off the Ground album. In addition to the five regular members of the band, they brought along percussion, alto sax and trombone players, which really gave their sound a great boost. And one more shout-out to the sound crew for a job extremely well done all weekend.
They opened with “Testify,” replete with Dennis Dowd’s synthesizer and Mike Wilson’s stinging guitar. Wilson kicked ass the entire set, but then so did the entire band. Mac Schmitz on drums and p on percussion had a nice segment during “Get Down,” followed by a huge “People Say,” Jimmy Lynch all up in it on bass. And the horns provided a strong intro to the closer, the bouncy “Sip of the Sunshine,” from the new album.
Then came The Fritz, Asheville’s funk ambassadors. They are so over-the-top astounding at this point, seven years into a career just threatening to explode everywhere. It is easy to focus on singer and keyboard wizard Jamar Woods, because that man is a genius, but the other members of the band are so incredible tight and amazing. For my money, bass player Jake O’Connor was the most impressive player of the weekend.
Their set included five great originals and a fine cover of “Psycho Killer.” The original songs are powerful social commentaries; no fluff here. “Voices” and “Fact or Fiction” are tremendous funk-rockers, and Jamie Hendrickson is about the baddest funky guitar player you’re likely to hear. The two closing tunes, “Too Late” and “Another Way,” were simply amazing, Michael Tillis (drums) and Mike “Mikey Spice” Evans driving the pace.
The Black Honkeys, unlike the two jambands before them, provide an incredibly polished stage show, starting with the O’Jays’ “Power to the People,” then pouring on a bunch of excellent original tunes (with “Everyday People” somewhere in the mix). Brother Phil is a dynamic and emotive frontman, joined on lead vocals by Nicole “Miss Groovalicious” Simone. One really awesome segment included “Who Wants to Get Sexy > Let Me in Your Party,” with the Ebony and Ivory Horn Section taking a great spin.
The legendary Greg Billings Band was up next. However, by this time, Mother Nature was intervening. And it wasn’t rain; the skies were blue all afternoon and clear at night. It was the wind. It seemed only a minor annoyance during the sunny afternoon, with temperatures in the low 80s. But the wind was relentless, blowing 15 to 20 MPH. That became extremely unpleasant as the temperatures dipped nearer to 60 with an absurd wind chill factor.
I was a Boy Scout; I embrace the motto BE PREPARED. I wasn’t. I was miserable. Billings and band, celebrating 35 years in the business, were blowing it out on stage, and I was shivering in my chair. We made it through half the set, including rockers “We Got the Soul” and “Roll the Dice.”
Eventually, however, we had to bail. That meant missing The Motet. Fortunately, they would also play Saturday night, and I had been lucky enough to see them twice on Jam Cruise. It also meant missing Black Taxi. Everybody said that both bands threw down great sets.
SATURDAY
The weather Saturday was largely a match for Friday, although a bit warmer; no change in the wind, though. We arrived as Das Funk Haus, a Sarasota band built around singer and guitarist H.B. Russell, was whipping up some early funk, including a really amusing “Pot Salad.” The quartet had kicked it up a few notches with the addition of Juanjamon (of The Juanjamon Band) on vocals, keyboards, and tenor sax.
Voodoo Visionary topped Friday’s set with an even better one, starting with “Jangalang” from the new album, P-funk horn vibe blowing it up. Dennis Dowd’s clavinet and synths highlighted “Harmony,” Scott MacDonald’s vocals so solid. “Cold Shallow Moon” is one of the best tracks on Off the Ground, and they shot this one skyward. “Damn” spun between Afrobeat and a great Allman Brothers-type jam. This was Jimmy Lynch day; he killed on bass. They closed with “Kiss.”
Naughty Professor are one of New Orleans’ special proponents, young cats with one foot in the tradition and the other firmly in future funk. This was a spectacular set, sonically the best I’ve ever heard from them. Opening with “Chef’s Revenge,” they grabbed hold of the crowd and wouldn’t let go. On “As They Say in the Biz,” drummer Sam Shahin had his first opportunity to demonstrate his amazing skills at the kit. Bill Daniels had a lovely subdued guitar solo, and Noah Young was powerful on bass.
Later, a song started with a great intro from Young, the horns walking out right before the tune kicked into full gear. Nick Ellman rocked both alto and baritone saxes, with John Culbreath blowing a world of trumpet. And tenor man Ian Bowman nailed it every time he soloed. The horns would return later to accompany Dumpstaphunk!
We had never seen Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad, and I was underwhelmed with the first several run-of-the-mill reggae tunes. All of a sudden, they burst out of that with a really hot song, jam and ska and blues, seguing into… “New Speedway Boogie!” From there, the set was strong, especially the insightful “What Kind of World are We Living In?”
Also new for us were TR3, the power trio fronted by guitar phenom Tim Reynolds. Believe the hype. The first song was a stripped-down approach to Sly’s “Time,” followed by “All Over the Plate,” Reynolds’ raspy voice just right for the group’s sound. He took a fabulous solo on “Dracula” and made the most of his pedals as a guitar trio did just to Booker T’s “Hip-Hug-Her.” Nick Vaughan was really impressive on bass. They played a really hard rocker called “I See You,” then blistered “Funk #49.”
It was definitely party time as Big Sam’s Funky Nation, another NOLA stalwart, kept everybody dancing throughout their set. There wasn’t any real break in the action, as the set just kept morphing from one funk jam to the next, Big Sam dancing, singing and wailing on trombone, joined by Drew “Da Phessah” Baham, playing trumpet and percussion and dancing and singing. By the time they got to their last song, “Thank You I’m Happy,” he was speaking for everybody.
The biggest crowd of the fest swelled in front of the main stage for Here Come the Mummies, the brilliant studio musicians from Nashville who wrap themselves in their music, literally (the proper use of that word). The Mummies made a magnificent entrance, marching on stage, several with drums, before grabbing their instruments and putting on a spectacular show. Think Blue Man Group with deep funk and double-entendre fun.
“Moral Freaks” gave us a fairly good indication how the set would go. They hit Latin funk with “Nothing New Under the Sun,” the horns blazing. Hard-rocking “Friction” was next. After “Let Your Freak Flag Fly,” the Mummies delivered their big ‘hit’ “Pants,” pure genius double entendres start to finish. A heavy funk piece was highlighted by one of the sax players playing two saxes at once, then two of them playing two horns. They shut it down with a massive song called “We’re Your New Neighbors.” WOW!
The Motet was up again, and they threw down an amazing set of funk and jazz, with vocalist Lyle Divinsky in his usual mode, dancing up a storm and funking everything up. They began with a great instrumental; Ryan Jalbert was lit up all set on guitar. Meanwhile, Gabe Mervine (trumpet) and Drew Sayers (sax) were all over the set. By the time they got to “Back It Up,” Joey Porter was making it very jazzy on electric piano. A really funky Herbie Hancock-style jam was next, Porter on clavinet and electric piano, Garrett Sayers huge on bass.
Divinsky asked us if we wanted some P-Funk, promptly delivering “Getten to Know You.” They also blew out tremendous versions of originals “Keep On Don’t Stoppin’” and closer “Closed Mouths (Don’t Get Fed),” Dave Watts propelling all the action from his drum kit. Divinsky was a whirling dervish the entire set.
Dumpstaphunk kept the P-Funk train going by kicking off with a massive “One Nation Under a Groove,” then moved to “Help Me.” “Shake Your Booty was a real treat. Tony Hall and Nick Daniels were on basses, while Ivan Neville had come down from his keyboard riser to play guitar with Ian Neville, and Ian Bowman (Naughty Professor) had a great tenor solo.
My favorite Dumpsta song is “I Wish You Would,” but I had never heard them play it with horns. Cross that off my to-do list. It was HUGE! The horns really kicked it, Tony Hall on guitar, and Bowman had another superb solo. The band’s great new song “Justice” is relevant every day; so glad to hear it any time they perform. And they knocked “Sledgehammer” out of the park, Alvin Ford, Jr.’s drums punctuating every step.
While we were adequately covered, finally the wind was too much again, and we split before Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad took the stage for the final set of the festival.
Kudus to all the bands, the sound and light crews, and the vendors for a wonderful weekend.
There were three very good reasons that all of the bands loved playing Funk Fest and want to return: Nick and Matt Nemec of Big Crush Distributing and Carrie Nemec of Carrie’s interiors, the people who organized such a great weekend. BRAVO!
Truth in advertising: FUNK FEST 8.
You can bet MusicFestNews is looking forward to Funk Fest 9! (With hoodies and mukluks!)
All photographs by kind permission of Chuck Cummins / Foto by Chuckie