Funk:30

Live Music Heaven?

2009-09-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

Let me start by sending a shout out to the staff at New Times for publishing a new annual journal called "Sound Check", completely devoted to the live music scene in the county. Great work by Glen Starkey and crew. He's the man.

Essentially a reference guide, it lists, among other information, 213 working bands in the area.

Two Hundred and Thirteen. Looks like a big number even spelled out.

And that is not all of them. I know, because Funk:30 somehow missed the memo...and I know of a number of other groups that also did not get listed. So, what if we said there were another 50 bands that also didn't make this edition? And these are working bands. Who knows how many more garage/basement/jam bands are practicing right now out there. And it doesn't include touring bands that come through the area. Let's put it in perspective.

As of 2008, there were around 270,000 residents in San Luis Obispo County. Quick math therefore tells us that there is a band for about every 1010 people. While I don't have other county statistics to measure that against, I have to think that is a very high ratio.

And the diversity is incredible - you can hear just about anything you want in terms of music genre if you look hard enough.

We love our live music on the central coast, yeah?

Towards the end of the summer season, I tried to see as many live acts as was reasonable. Now, over the years I am have seen many local bands, but in this case I made a dedicated effort to see bands I had heard about but not yet experienced. I'm up to something like 25 bands so far, with my biggest night reaching seven in a single evening. So...I am barely 10% through the list...oh man...

I saw blues bands, an 80s disco band, some nice lounge acts, a band devoted to swing, funk/soul performances, a handful of cross genre cover bands, hard rock cover bands, world/latin music bands, a band focused on mountain/bluegrass, all-original bands trying to make the big time, and a few that defy classic definition. All were at the least OK, some pretty good, and a few quite exceptional.

And that was in the first 25.

What a treat, SLO County, let's enjoy it, and continue to support the live music scene. Another reason to love the Central Coast.

Groovin' in the Garden

2009-07-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

Well exceeding expectations, our Grover Beach Sizzlin' Summer Concert Series gig went really well. Weather turned out just about perfect, better attendance than we had anticipated, killer sound...we couldn't have asked for more.

We want to thank the city for having us out. Everybody was very nice and supportive. Big props to Rich Rolson and Tony who took care of the sound system. These guys are great - professional, helpful, anticipated our needs, and got us going quickly. Poor old Rich, though - I am all over the place with my guitar volume, sometimes real loud, sometimes real quiet, sometimes clean, sometimes distorted...and I am sure I kept Rich guessing all day!

Most of all, we want to thanks those who came out to enjoy the afternoon. We were blown away with the reception we were given, and very humbled by it. I can add with certainty that we hope we get a chance to do it again next summer, if they'll have us.

On behalf of Funk:30,
Terry

It oughta be illegal...fun (and funk) with Terry Lawless

2009-03-21T23:04:00.000-07:00

A quick note for those who missed our show at Mr. Ricks March 20:

YA BLEW IT!

Seriously, it was such a fun evening. Playing with Terry Lawless, professional musician extraordinaire (check his resume at www.terrylawless.com) - brings out an additional something with the band.

How he finds time to sit in with us is one of the universe's most mysterious questions, but we won't argue or spend too many brain cells seeking the answer - we know a good thing when we got it, and this is one we got, however sporadically.When you see his resume and "real" job, you'll see what I mean.

So what makes it so much fun? Well, let's start by stating the obvious - he's a terrific musician, great keyboard, sax and flute player, and has a seemingly limitless knowledge of bands, artists, songs, styles....we've yet to trip him up, and we've thrown a few curve balls his way. Example: Diana Krall's version of I'm Just a Lucky So and So, a Duke Ellington song. He nailed the piano solo first time, never having played it with us. Got the nuances, lifted our version to another level. And this, after he tried to play coy. "I'm really not a piano player..." he said just prior to the performance. uh huh, sure, we believe you. NOT.

So ok, we've established he can play. Let's talk about creativity. Last night, we pulled out our rocked-up version of The Fixx's One Thing Leads to Another. We added a big-heavy-distortion-guitar-boffo-ending to it because, well, I like big-heavy-distortion-guitar-boffo-endings. Last night, we gave Terry the nod to jump in the mayhem and go nuts. He did alright. In a way we would have NEVER expected.

He pulled out his flute.

Suddenly, we got "Jethro Tull meets The Fixx, Funk:30 style". Brilliant! On top of a chugging bass and drums, with a feedback laden guitar adding a wierd chordal background, Terry took off and just nailed it. What I would give for a bootleg recording!

But you know what? All of this is great and fine. What REALLY sets TL (as we affectionately call him) apart is so simple:

He's just a good guy. Full of humor. Full of support. Always open, sincere, and helpful. He is, in the truest sense, a pleasure to be around. We are better players, and better people, for having hung out with him in the limited time we have had.

If you get a chance to check him out either with other local bands (he sits in with a couple others, too), or hear his contributions with bands in the Major Leagues of Rock n Roll, do it. You won't be disappointed.

Happily Upstaged

2008-11-09T08:53:00.000-08:00

Our public calendar is pretty slim this time of year, but our private bookings continue to roll in. We played a birthday party last night, which under most circumstances wouldn't be much to blog about.

But in this case, we had a unique experience I thought I would share. The honoree was an established wine maker in the area, and his closest 130 friends came out to celebrate. Among those was a nine year old girl who had written "Poppa" a special song. Would we mind if she sang it? Heck no, bring it on!

So, in the middle of our second set, we got this young girl up to the mic, and without hesitation, without a show of nerves or any other distraction, she belted out a simple, catchy, touching song she had written herself. From this little voice came a melody that captured the room, an innocence that only a nine year old could have and a love for Poppa that nobody in the room missed.

We were all singing along by the end. Long, loud applause. Just amazing.

As the moment died down I stepped up to the mic and told everyone we were packing up and going home, as there was no way to top that. I was more serious then kidding.

I suppose this is one of those "you had to be there" moments. I was glad I was there. Now, if I could only figure out how to become her agent...

tc

No Two Gigs Alike

2008-08-18T23:08:00.000-07:00

We recently played some interesting gigs that I thought might be worth mentioning. But then I realized just about every gig we do is truly unique in some form or another.

Because it is recent, and still on my mind, I'll mention one in particular. A couple weekends back, we played at Justin Winery for their annual Wine Club Gala - this was a private event for members of the Justin Wine Club. What a great event. Beautiful facility (the public doesn't normally get a look at the actual winery), great food, great hosts. But the thing that really set this one apart? We played for five hours, mid day. I think that is a record for us. We did just fine, but let me thank whoever decided (might have been Jeff the drummer) that we should have a large canopy over us. That made it work, otherwise, we would still be a wilting, melted mess on their crush pad.

We've played in backyards, on grass and dirt, even up in what seemed like a treehouse. We've been in bars, on stages, and in dusty corners. We've been the center of attention; we've been ignored almost completely. We've played outdoors when it was 110 degrees, we've played outdoors when it was below freezing. We've helped raise money for several causes, but we've missed - TWICE - events that are helping save the planet. Still bummed about those.

The one common theme has always been that we've enjoyed each and every one of them. We always find a way to make each gig fun, and we think that translates to those who come to see us. One can hope!

What?! No Dancing?

2008-07-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

Well, that was different! We played a good gig last night at the Crooked Kilt, but experienced something I don't recall happening before. Almost nobody danced. Yes, we had a couple brave souls on a couple tunes, but by and large, we were in "concert mode" all night.

Considering we are totally geared to being a dance/party band, it was a bit unusual.

But perhaps understandable. I could list a couple reasons - early evening, dinner still being served, alcohol not quite kicking in yet...but I'd like to think that the band is as much fun to listen to, as to dance to.

I could be delusional as well; all possibilities are open for discussion!

That said, we LOVE it when people are up and enjoying the tunes. It definitely adds energy, definitely invigorates the vibe that much more.

We want to thank everybody for coming out, it means a great deal to us. Funk:30 fans are the best!

Benefactors and The Fourth

2008-07-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note thanking the Rasmussens for hosting a great Fourth of July party. If you don't know, the Rasmussens are essentially Funk:30s benefactors. Let me 'splain...

They have a beautiful vineyard in East Paso Robles, with a spectacular 360 degree view of the surrounding hills and valleys, and they've allowed us to call the location our home base these past couple years. Suh-weet. We're thankful every time we drive up the hill, through the vines, to get to the rehearsal hall.

Their annual Fourth bash is always a killer gig - great friends, great food, and of course great wines made right there. Maybe someday we'll turn that party into our very own Winestock Festival and get everybody out there. That'd be off the charts.

Don't worry Family Rasmussen - I am only half serious.

--Terry

Favorite Movies about Rock n Roll?

2008-06-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

Quick list of favorite movies about music/rock (no rules, throw anything out there - documentaries are ok!):

5. U2 - Rattle and Hum
4. Almost Famous
3. That Thing You Do
2. This is Spinal Tap
1. Hard Days Night

honorable mention: The Rutles, All You Need is Cash (well, ok, this was a made-for-TV movie...)

-Terry

Song Selection - you can help!

2008-06-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

If you come out to see a Funk:30 show, you will hear a variety of songs, some you know, some you are not so sure about. That's ok, in fact, it's kind of the plan. There's lots of great music out there that doesn't get much exposure. In our small, tiny way, we hope that we can bring some exposure to some of our favorite artists. Names like Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Coco Montoya, Tommy Castro, Jeff Golub...

But there is a flip side to this - sometimes we see blank looks out there as we play some of the more obscure tunes. I can assure you, that doesn't help the set, nor does it get people in the mood for dancing. Familiar songs always work better. But, how familiar do our songs have to be for us to be considered a "good band" by our listeners? I can say with certainty that we are not interested in just picking the most popular songs you have heard a million times before. Where's the fun or challenge in that? Still, we definitely want our guests to come out of the gig feeling great about the time they spent with us. So how do we do that? It's a question we ask ourselves a lot, and something we ponder at just about every practice.

Unofficially, we've come up with a formula that we use when we decide what songs we will add to our set. I'd like to share that formula, then ask you to contribute any ideas that might get generated from this discussion. Let's see where that takes us, shall we?

So here we go.

The song must be danceable - that can be at any tempo, so slow songs still work. But ideally, it has a good medium tempo beat, could be bluesy or funky, but not metal, not punk, not grunge...there could be exceptions, if we can "funkify" the tune to make it our own. But put simply, sing the song to yourself and ask "could I, or would I want to dance to this?" If the answer is "yes", it has a chance.

Familiarity. This is a toughy, and is always up for debate. Trust us, we have had many! Too popular and it tends to lose our interest. Too obscure and we face the ordeal of losing the dance floor. We've made that mistake, believe me, and are doomed to make it again and again. The ideal song is probably something you have heard in the past, but that you really don't hear much anymore. The kind of song that comes on and you say "Yeah! I used to LOVE this song!" (if you are over 40, replace "love" with "dig"). We started playing The Spinners "I'll Be Around" which is a great example of a song that worked really well. We also do The Rolling Stones "Honky Tonk Woman", and it qualifies as too popular, but darn, people seem to love dancing to it, so we keep playing it. Tommy Castro's "My Kind of Woman" is up tempo, very funky, loads of fun to play, great for dancing. Quick vote: How many of you know the original?

See? This is a tough business, I'm telling you.

Now it gets even harder. Now that you might have a handful of ideas in your head, you can further filter them down over their playability. Keep in mind, we are a four piece, with only three full time instruments (Guitar, bass, drums). We're going to be in trouble if you throw a song that is 100% keyboard/piano driven. Or maybe one with a big orchestra backing that is essential to the song. Or that needs a horn section to pull off. Get the idea? We have to translate most songs to fit our instrumentation; some work, others don't. Sometimes we don't know until we try it. So feel free to suggest it, be prepared for rejection solely on the fact that...we can't play it!

Have I thrown enough obstacles in the way yet? There are probably others, such as the key of the song. Some songs REQUIRE they be played in a certain key in order to work musically on the guitar (songs in the key of E or that use lots of open strings, for instance, cannot be easily or often successfully transposed to another key). But let us worry about that for now.

So, come on America, toss some ideas our way and I'll try to give you an objective response as to why they might or might not work for us. This could be fun. Use the Comments option to reply.

--Terry

Funk:30 and the Blog

2008-06-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

So, this is new and different for us. There are times when we want to say something or acknowledge our friends or latest gigs, and the only way would normally be to use email. But, too much of that, and we start spamming folks. Blogging isn't new, but it is for us, so here we go.

I have no idea how often we'll make some posts, but if we get rolling with it, we'll throw stuff out there every now and then.

To start, let me wish Terry Lawless the best, as he moves on to other endeavors. Terry, as you might know, was sitting in with us occasionally as time and circumstances allowed, on keyboards and sax. What a treat to play with him! If you don't know his lineage, check it out at www.terrylawless.com. He's played and worked for a number of A-list musicians and bands, the most recent being none other than Dublin based U2. Pretty amazing gig, wouldn't you say? Rumor has it that he is going to be headed to Europe to travel with Bruce Springsteen on tour. Nice work if you can get it!

Unfortunately for us, and for several other bands in town, his schedule just starting getting a bit too crazy, and he's decided - for sanity's sake - to cut back on local commitments. We'll miss him, and hope that when he is in town, he'll still stop by to do a show or two with us.

In the meantime, Funk:30 pushes on as a foursome, like we've been doing for over two years now. We are always hoping to find someone that really fits the band (Long Guy! Where are you?!), but we are also very content staying a four piece. Nice place to be.

Ok, I am wrapping this entry up so that I can figure out the technical side of getting this linked to our web page. Thanks for listening!

--Terry