Man I love these kinds of nights! ... everyone is a cool dude (I use this term generically) everyone is having fun and everyone looks great…

Why?

Not because they are fashion victim-trendite-tryhards but because they are happy and are all-together to celebrate and enjoy a common interest. Everyone is here for the music! THAT makes them cool and gorgeous. Wouldn’t you agree?

‘Funk Off’ followed on the heels of the sell-out ‘A Funk Affair’ at the Basement on May 9th this year. Stuart Crane, the man behind promotion and production outfit ‘Intravenus’ showed once again that his finger is well and truly on the pulse, by bringing together a wildly impressive line up of Australian artists that fall into a new rapidly expanding definition-defying music genre. The word fusion has to be used here to describe this explosive, energetic and enjoyable combination … funk / hip-hop / jazz / swing / electronica / percussion / reggae … and the list goes on da de dum de dum dada.

With a line-up reading like a who’s-who of funky (how many times can I use the word in a single article?) entertainers; the evening kicked off with Perth-crew Salamander, moved on to Erratic, Kid Confucius then to Katch [DJ set] and finally to UpShot. And all night the bands played with an entertaining visual backdrop from films such as human traffic (‘the weekend has landed’ scene), old Elvis movies and the glorious Kath & Kim.

Unfortunately – due to a poor understanding of the physics of time and movement – I missed the vast bulk of Salamander’s set. What I did see was a venue that was already milling and an energetic live act delivering a fine performance of funky toons with some deliberate and delicious jazzy twists and hints of middle-eastern flair. Salamander had flown in from Perth that morning on the Red Eye special, and after a full day taking care of business around Sydney, then opening Funk Off, they were tired and in desperate need of food before they could even consider checking out the other acts. In a typical show of poor timing, and assuming that they were leaving already (rather than popping out for life saving sustenance), I pounced on Peter the bass player (and one of the three original members along with the drummer and samplist) at the door. Bless his cotton picking socks, he smiled and didn’t seem to mind standing with me in the light drizzle outside the Gaelic Club or answering the torrent of questions I threw forward haphazardly as a result of unexpectedly missing the set.
Musing that perhaps the audience wasn’t yet drunk enough to let lose on the dance floor as much as he would have liked, Peter was still very happy with their set – and who wouldn’t be? Although the “project” as he calls it has been a couple of years in the making, the band proper has been together for less than a year but already has their debut album ‘Funk Affair’ out and is getting loads of coverage beyond their home in the West.

Back inside the now near-capacity venue and it was time to turn my attention to Erratic. Front-and percussion-man Paul opened the set with “We’re just here to have some f***in fun!”. (Which made me smile as I had just thought of my opening lines for this review and his call confirmed my own thoughts.)

All the band were really into it and going nuts, with Machon the bass player proving once again that bass players are simply the coolest and that we are all ‘totally addicted to bass’...add to that Matty E’s fabulously energetic drumming solos, wicked keyboard and TT work by Scriv and of course the infallible talents of Shet (Paul’s brother incidentally … the extended ‘St Ives posse’) on Gee-tar and there we had it; Erratic’s unique style of fast-paced electro funk with a bass-drum edge.

I snaffled Shet for a few words after their set, whisking him away to the sophisticated surrounds of my media-room (i.e. outside the club), there I was introduced to ‘Gus the Bus’ – the band’s 22-seater tour-machine. Mentioning that they really only got together NYE 2000 for an casual gig in Avalon, Shet also added that they were about to record their second EP (the first one is called Oscillate and well worth a listen – thanks boys!) and that things were really beginning to steam roll for them. He also mentioned that this year sees two tours to Melbourne. I eyed off Gus wondering if he was invited.

Nine-piece Kid Confucius are consummate professionals when it comes to performance, entertaining and getting the crowd involved. The band’s front man spent their entire set going off, calling for the audience to “pump their shoulders” and dancing like a man who really LOVES doing what he does. Many of their tracks saw the crowd literally dancing with their hands in the air. Kid Confucius claim to “build words like lego, [with] more flavours than a freddo” and I would have to agree.

After their set I caught up with Andrew from the band who was tickled pink by the number of people who knew their lyrics and commented on the thrill of playing in a bigger-than-your-average-pub venue. He mentioned that the band (which originally started as a four piece) and have only been gigging since Aug 2000, have managed to play over 100 gigs in that time. Truly live performers, they are in the process of recording their first full length album are “always looking for more and different ways to improve their sound”.

Tired but happy after Kid Confucius, I briefly thought that Katch’s set would give me a chance to catch my breath. Not for long. His set – a medley of hip-hop and breaks – was perfect as always, and certainly deserving of the adjective ‘funky’. Lucky for us, the lad stayed on to play with seriousfunk-meisters Upshot, skillfully filling in for their usual DJ (LeeRoy Brown – who was resting up with a broken ankle).

Headliners for the night, Upshot are personal entertainers with a vibrant sound that ranges from all out rap through hiphop to groovy tunes and chilled funk. The band’s lineup is unique too, having no lead guitar but instead using a blend of keyboards, bass, drums, sax, turntables and two vocalists to create the perfect sound. The audience was beginning to tire a little by this stage (remember we’d been grooving for almost 5 hours by this time) but a true testament to these guys was the energy with which the punters down the front were still throwing themselves into dancing. On the verge of collapse (well, it felt like it anyway) from exhaustion I was still ‘slave to the rhythm’ and bopped along to the very end. One of my personal favorites was the ‘fire alarm’ interlude right at the end of the evening … ;P

Cutting a long story longer. The night was the result of some damn fine work, both in terms of getting 5 brilliant groups of artists together and in terms of the quality of performace experienced. Make sure you keep your eye out for other funky nights going on (or ‘off’ rather), they make a great night out and a fun break to clubbing.

Oh and a final ‘Werd-up’ to the Paul (keyboardist for UpShot) for eventually capitulating in the face of my pathetic begging and signing a copy of their CD for me. He remarked that he had never signed anything before, and while I believe him, I have no doubt that he (and EVERYONE who played at Funk Off) will have many an opportunity in the future.