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This band is headed places. And they're busy, no not in a musical sense - I mean these guys just got started and they're booked up through the summer. Funkuponya consists of Brian Werner (keys/organ) and Loe Kishore (bass), Carl Blackwell (drums) and Doug Carter (guitar). This Jazz Funk operation (think "Funky Meters" and "Greyboy Allstarts") has calendar dates through the summer, festival included. This picture was taken last week at the Berkley Cafe.
Like with any good band, it's hard to find any weak link here. But, on top of the chops, the musical style of each person in this group is unique - they all feel completely comfortable with any direction the music takes. You might think at first that these are some good jams but, when they stop it on a dime or take you plunging to a new direction -you can tell; these guys make looking tight easy.
I LOVE the drums in the band; Carl's got that back-beat feel that is groovy and tight. I'd say he leaves the perfect pocket for a bass player and Leo takes advantage of it with all five strings. Leo seems at ease at all times and enjoying every line. I love it when even good musicians don't look bored.
I'm not gonna sugar coat it - the rock-n-roll lover in me wants these guys to stretch their wings. The Funk fan in me digs it all just the way it is. Sometimes if feels so tight that when a solo comes it comes big - and I guess that's a good thing. Guess what I was trying to say is that sometimes I want everyone in the band to freak out and just jam, cause I know it when the musicians have the talent to handle something way left field and then bring it back to home base.
Anyway - I was talking about the big solos - and I have to say my favorite came from Doug Carter on the guitar on this particular evening. I saw his guitar lean back and come rising out of the smooth funky sounds with an angry furry of rockin' dirty tones. There, that's the contrast I dig.
We gotta wrap this one up w/ Brian Werner and his organ. Now I've seen Brian before but, you just know it's gonna be good when you walk up to the stage and see this rotating Leslie. He gets the best organ tones out of this thing. There it is again, these guys all have their own sound; Brian's playing is almost like a dance and his tone is warm and rough at the same time. I recognize some of the songs from his older bag of tricks and he does seem to do a fair amount of writing in this group but, I'm sure they're mixing it up a bunch. All these guys got big bags with lots of tricks.
Check em out,
www.myspace.com/funkuponya
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