I actually did this interview, with Jeremy Reisig, percussionist for the Kalamazoo band Funktion, last week, but haven't had a chance to post it. They'll be featured in Thursday's WOW, so, well, here you go:
DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY ALBUMS OUT?
“We have one, called “Funk Prelude,” that we hope to put out at the end of July.
HOW MANY TRACKS IS IT?
“Nine tracks.”
ARE YOU GUYS ON A LABEL?
“No.”
TELL ME A BRIEF STORY ABOUT HOW THE BAND GOT TOGETHER.
“The band got together because, because 06/07, well, I’ll start with ... There was a band called Deep Blue Underground, and in 06/07 our lead singer was the singer for Deep Blue Underground and at the time, myself, my brother, the guitar player and Rob had all been play-ing in a band called The Weatherly Band and so we were all kind of in separate projects. And then in late 07, August of 07 I think it was, the singer of The Weatherly Band decided to pursue career stuff, moved to New York, and Weath-erly broke up in August of 07 and Deep Blue came to an end right around the same time. We formed the band right around the end of 07, that was the initial construction of the band. Then, in like the middle of 08, like August/September 08, we added the horn section. The horn section really fleshed out the band, it really adds the color to the music.”
WHY WERE YOU GUYS DRAWN TO FUNK? WHY PLAY THAT IN A SCENE DOMINATED BY BLUES AND ROCK?
“It just kinda happened. Initially the band started as an opportunity to make money, because our rhythm section has the ability play James Brown, Parliament Funkadelic, you know, guys like that. And our singer can facilitate those kind of vocals. You can get a ton of bar gigs and get paid good money when your band can play that kind of stuff; people love to hear it. As we progressed, we had the name Funktion, we had 50 or so funk tunes, naturally, when we started writing music, it became funky, upbeat, dancy kind of music. But it fills a niche. You can play at any bar anywhere and people have a better with funk than with blues or rock.”
IS IT HARD TO WRITE FUNK SONGS LIKE THAT, WITH SO MANY PARTS?
“The main thing to do there, the way we fit together nicely that we all play to our strengths. Our rhythm section: which is myself, Rob and Nate, we’re very tight and what we do is stay right there. We don’t do a lot of fills, we just stay right in the pocket. And then the thing that catches people’s ears is emphasizing the vocals and showcasing how talented the horn players are. When we write music those things are always in mind.”
WHO WRITES MOST OF THE LYRICS?
“Both Andrew, he writes most of the lyrics, and Kenneth Massey, he plays trumpet, he also helps write. Those two write the majority of the music.”
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY MOST OF THE SONGS ARE ABOUT?
“Fun, having a good time, love, just like, women. A lot of the songs off this first album are just simple, fun, kind of typical fun stuff. Like, we have a song called “Ooh, Baby,” we have a song called “Hypnotize,” a song called “Make You See,” we have a handful of tight songs written that are mainly just songs about having fun and also love. If you listen to funk music, all those things are there. But in funk, the lyrics aren’t prominent, you know, they’re just part of the music, like James Brown, for example. With us, Shrock does a good job making vocals great but what drives them is this funky beat that’s hard to sit still to. You can’t sit still to it. Funk is driven by that backbone.”
WHAT KIND OF IMPACT DO YOU HOPE THE BAND HAS ON A LISTENER? IF A LISTENER TAKES IN EVERYTHING, MUSIC AND WORDS AND ALL, WHAT DO YOU HOPE THEY WALK AWAY WITH?
“Being entertained and hopefully being to take something they’re listening to and see how it fits into their life, maybe a situation they’ve been through. I hope they hear something that in their life they’ve experienced before. We want them to take away, that, these guys put a pretty sweet album together; they’re not the same as everyone else. They’ve got an intricate horn section, they drive people to say, ‘I wonder what these are like live.’
“When it comes down to it, our live show is who we are. We bring energy to the show. It’s hard not to move when you’re out in the audience. We want our CD to bring people to the live show, because that’s where they’re gonna have the most fun. They’re going to forget all the bullshit from Monday through Thursday and come out Friday and Saturday and be like, ‘We wanna rock out with Funktion,’ ‘cause we’re gonna make them have a good time.”
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE MESSAGE BEHIND THE BAND? IF YOU COMBINE THE MU-SIC, THE LIVE SHOW, THE WAY YOU DRESS, THE ATTITUDES OF THE ALL THE MUSICIAN, WHAT DO YOU HOPE YOU PROJECT TO THE AUDIENCE?
(Moment of silent thought) “Hold on, I have to patch in Sean on this one. That’s a good question. Hold on.”
(Patches in drummer Sean Reisig on conference call; asks me to repeat question; I repeat)
Sean: “Our message is, we try to tell people that, even though there’s all the bullshit in the world there’s still something fun and original and fun and upbeat in the world. Our message is positive energy through live music; we transmit the energy we have through people in the audience. It’s fun, upbeat, class and style at the same time.
“We like to be one organism up there trying to have the same focus and that’s just to get people moving. We want to affect people in a positive way so they can forget about their shitty jobs and the fact they have bills, and we’re all about that, man. All about energy and having fun and looking good while doing it. We’re all laid back, positive people and that comes through in our music.
“And with our dress, we all dress the same way and that’s because we try to honor the guys that pioneered funk music: James Brown, Kool & The Gang, Sly & The Family Stone, Parliament, James Brown. Part of the style of music. We dress the same out of respect.”
“We have one, called “Funk Prelude,” that we hope to put out at the end of July.
HOW MANY TRACKS IS IT?
“Nine tracks.”
ARE YOU GUYS ON A LABEL?
“No.”
TELL ME A BRIEF STORY ABOUT HOW THE BAND GOT TOGETHER.
“The band got together because, because 06/07, well, I’ll start with ... There was a band called Deep Blue Underground, and in 06/07 our lead singer was the singer for Deep Blue Underground and at the time, myself, my brother, the guitar player and Rob had all been play-ing in a band called The Weatherly Band and so we were all kind of in separate projects. And then in late 07, August of 07 I think it was, the singer of The Weatherly Band decided to pursue career stuff, moved to New York, and Weath-erly broke up in August of 07 and Deep Blue came to an end right around the same time. We formed the band right around the end of 07, that was the initial construction of the band. Then, in like the middle of 08, like August/September 08, we added the horn section. The horn section really fleshed out the band, it really adds the color to the music.”
WHY WERE YOU GUYS DRAWN TO FUNK? WHY PLAY THAT IN A SCENE DOMINATED BY BLUES AND ROCK?
“It just kinda happened. Initially the band started as an opportunity to make money, because our rhythm section has the ability play James Brown, Parliament Funkadelic, you know, guys like that. And our singer can facilitate those kind of vocals. You can get a ton of bar gigs and get paid good money when your band can play that kind of stuff; people love to hear it. As we progressed, we had the name Funktion, we had 50 or so funk tunes, naturally, when we started writing music, it became funky, upbeat, dancy kind of music. But it fills a niche. You can play at any bar anywhere and people have a better with funk than with blues or rock.”
IS IT HARD TO WRITE FUNK SONGS LIKE THAT, WITH SO MANY PARTS?
“The main thing to do there, the way we fit together nicely that we all play to our strengths. Our rhythm section: which is myself, Rob and Nate, we’re very tight and what we do is stay right there. We don’t do a lot of fills, we just stay right in the pocket. And then the thing that catches people’s ears is emphasizing the vocals and showcasing how talented the horn players are. When we write music those things are always in mind.”
WHO WRITES MOST OF THE LYRICS?
“Both Andrew, he writes most of the lyrics, and Kenneth Massey, he plays trumpet, he also helps write. Those two write the majority of the music.”
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY MOST OF THE SONGS ARE ABOUT?
“Fun, having a good time, love, just like, women. A lot of the songs off this first album are just simple, fun, kind of typical fun stuff. Like, we have a song called “Ooh, Baby,” we have a song called “Hypnotize,” a song called “Make You See,” we have a handful of tight songs written that are mainly just songs about having fun and also love. If you listen to funk music, all those things are there. But in funk, the lyrics aren’t prominent, you know, they’re just part of the music, like James Brown, for example. With us, Shrock does a good job making vocals great but what drives them is this funky beat that’s hard to sit still to. You can’t sit still to it. Funk is driven by that backbone.”
WHAT KIND OF IMPACT DO YOU HOPE THE BAND HAS ON A LISTENER? IF A LISTENER TAKES IN EVERYTHING, MUSIC AND WORDS AND ALL, WHAT DO YOU HOPE THEY WALK AWAY WITH?
“Being entertained and hopefully being to take something they’re listening to and see how it fits into their life, maybe a situation they’ve been through. I hope they hear something that in their life they’ve experienced before. We want them to take away, that, these guys put a pretty sweet album together; they’re not the same as everyone else. They’ve got an intricate horn section, they drive people to say, ‘I wonder what these are like live.’
“When it comes down to it, our live show is who we are. We bring energy to the show. It’s hard not to move when you’re out in the audience. We want our CD to bring people to the live show, because that’s where they’re gonna have the most fun. They’re going to forget all the bullshit from Monday through Thursday and come out Friday and Saturday and be like, ‘We wanna rock out with Funktion,’ ‘cause we’re gonna make them have a good time.”
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE MESSAGE BEHIND THE BAND? IF YOU COMBINE THE MU-SIC, THE LIVE SHOW, THE WAY YOU DRESS, THE ATTITUDES OF THE ALL THE MUSICIAN, WHAT DO YOU HOPE YOU PROJECT TO THE AUDIENCE?
(Moment of silent thought) “Hold on, I have to patch in Sean on this one. That’s a good question. Hold on.”
(Patches in drummer Sean Reisig on conference call; asks me to repeat question; I repeat)
Sean: “Our message is, we try to tell people that, even though there’s all the bullshit in the world there’s still something fun and original and fun and upbeat in the world. Our message is positive energy through live music; we transmit the energy we have through people in the audience. It’s fun, upbeat, class and style at the same time.
“We like to be one organism up there trying to have the same focus and that’s just to get people moving. We want to affect people in a positive way so they can forget about their shitty jobs and the fact they have bills, and we’re all about that, man. All about energy and having fun and looking good while doing it. We’re all laid back, positive people and that comes through in our music.
“And with our dress, we all dress the same way and that’s because we try to honor the guys that pioneered funk music: James Brown, Kool & The Gang, Sly & The Family Stone, Parliament, James Brown. Part of the style of music. We dress the same out of respect.”
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