Badass Motherfunkers held their first and only concert (for now), Friday January 22nd. 2010. Five musicians aged 19 to 36, some meeting for the first time at the initial rehearsal, played songs by George Benson, Nils Landgren and Stevie Wonder (among others) in front of a happy crowd cheering and dancing their ass off (check out the audio and video clips below and listen while reading if possible). They weren’t the best band on Earth, but they produced the unmistakable feeling of funk after only three rehearsals. This is the story of how it went down.

First and foremost: A quality definition of the funk in Rickey Vincent’s excellent book “Funk: The Music, The People, and The Rhythm of The One” (1996):

Funk is a many splendored thing. Funk is a nasty vibe, and a sweet sexy feeling; Funk is funkiness, a natural release of the essence within. Funk is a high, but it is also down at the bottom, the low-down earthy essence, the bass elements. Funk is at the extremes of everything. Funk is hot, but funk can be cool. Funk is primitive, yet funk can be sophisticated. Funk is a way out, and a way in. Funk is all over the place. Funk is a means of release that cannot be denied… Village Voice writer Barry Walters explained The Funk as well as anyone could: ”Trying to put that thang called funk into words is like trying to write down your orgasm. Both thrive in that gap in time when words fall away, leaving nothing but sensation”.

Mr. Funky Bass: Åsmund Wilter Eriksson.

Inspiration and idea

After living in San Francisco and hanging out with an excellent group of jazz/funk musicians, Jazz Mafia and The Park, I moved back to Tromsø (a small city in the north of Norway) with a mission; I wanted to create the same vibes I’d experienced in SF. I now knew the ingredients needed to make the music go down. I joined the local jazz club and about a year later I suggested putting together a funky jazz band for a musical all-nighter. The idea was to arrange a late night concert during a weekend with jazzy danceable music alternating between a band and a DJ (incidentally me). This wasn’t a normal thing for the jazz club to do or even conceptualize. I wasn’t discouraged. My girlfriend, Guro Vrålstad, was involved with the local film club that each year arranges a party during the city’s international film festival. We suggested for both our boards to unite forces for the occasion. Throughout the project Guro worked hard and pushed on forward. Without her things would never have gone down as they did. Arranging a concert turned out to be quite expensive, but luckily the film club got sponsored by a central film organization making the project seem feasible.

Håkon Skog Erlandsen bustin his balls (right) with Kjetil Andreassen backing up with some excellently executed guitar licks.

Musicians and song selection

I had heard some local musicians I liked and asked them to join. Only one of them had the opportunity, but all were helpful in suggesting candidates they thought would fit into the scheme of things. The band ended up as an instrumental quintet. The only person I’d originally envisioned in the band, Håkon Skog Erlandsen (21), plays saxophone. I’d heard him with a local band and seen potential. On bass, Åsmund Wilter Eriksson (30), a talented cat that plays with one of the city’s most successful bands: Adjagas. A forceful drummer, Jonas Karlsen (22), which I believe learned a thing or two about The Funk during this project. And another learner, Benjamin Nygård (19) on keys. Fortunately we were lucky enough to get the best rhythm guitar player in town, Kjetil Andreassen (36), to join. He turned out to be most experienced with the genre. He’s lived in L.A, seen The Funky Meters live and played with the Swedish funkman Nils Landgren just to mention a few things. As the group slowly came together with a lot of emails and phone calls going back and forth, I found about 15 songs I thought would match the instrumentation and mix of jazz and funk. We ended up choosing five of these: “Simple Life” and “Amtrak” by Nils Landgren, “Flute Song” by Benson & Farrell, “Got To Get Your Own” by Rouben Wilson and “The Night Of The Wolf” by Al Foster Band. In addition two songs came up during rehearsals: “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder and “Cissy Strut” by The Funky Meters. The band agreed to my idea about stretching the songs to around 10 minutes, passing the hatchet around and hitting hard.

Rehearsing and marketing

During the first rehearsal some of the musicians greeted for the first time. It was a Sunday and some (including me) had a slight hangover. I was there as some sort of producer and interested spectator. The groove was there and I understood the project was attainable, but it was at the second rehearsal we all got the funk-foot going. There was another rehearsal before the concert and some rehearsing on the day of the concert. Things moved forward nicely. After throwing some ideas back and forth I came up with the name Badass Motherfunkers toghether with my girlfriend and the boss of the filmclub.  The jazzclub was far from known for doing anything like this, so we had to come up with a good name to make the party vibrations obvious for marketing. The marketing consisted besides this of making an event on Facebook, a poster (see below) and getting information into the local newspapers. All worked out pretty well, but next time I’ll be contacting the newspapers at an earlier stage, so they can write better articles beforehand and review the concert as well. There were an article about the concert beforhand, but no mention anywhere afterward. The night deserved that. Of course information was also spread through friends, the jazz and film clubs homepages.

The local film festival has a reindeer in its logo, so I decided to use one I'd taken a picture of for the promotional poster. I think it's got an interesting eye.

The night itself: DJ’ing, recording and some great live funk

A good friend of mine who’s also a DJ came up from Oslo for the night and to enjoy what the area had to offer (meaning a “few” beers and some heavy hanging out). We began DJ’ing at 10 p.m. and people started showing up in good numbers. In my head I’d hoped for a good dance floor going before Badass started playing. This didn’t happen and we got a bit nervous. Norwegians aren’t exactly used to start shakin before 12. As the band started out at 11.30 with “Got To Get Your Own”,  fortunately people got together in front of the stage and started cheering happily.

We had hooked up an 8 track recording device to document the whole thing, but only got three tracks because of lack of space on the computers hard drive (check below to listen). Another lesson learned. Luckily a friend of mine brought a camera and filmed most of the first song of the second set. The material shows how much tighter the band got during the concert. Something I learned in San Francisco was never to judge a band based on the their first 20 minutes of performance. Musicians need time to really get into the groove.

“Got To Get Your Own” – Reuben Wilson:

“Cissy Strut” – The Funky Meters:

“Night Of The Wolf” – Al Foster Band:

“Simple Life” - Nils Landgren:

When listening to the three tracks recorded, you can literally hear the band getting tighter and it’s a shame I haven’t got the last songs. The crowd got wilder, the band tighter, the solos more adventurous and engaging. I remember being very happy after the first set, the four songs had lasted about 40 minutes! The crowd was digging it and I knew the best was yet to come. With my experience as a DJ I set the playlist together with the band and we’d saved the safest songs for last. So with the first set of more obscure stuff being a success, I knew everything was going to be all right. During the break we had a solid dance floor and as the band entered the stage and started playing the audience couldn’t really tell the difference between us DJ’ing and them playing. This was a goal I had set and told the band about from day one. The audience pretty soon realized though, and the second set was just a great funky trip for everyone involved. It started off with “Simple Life” by Nils Landgren which has a James Brown washing machine funk thang in the bottom. Then moving on to another song by Landgren: “Amtrak”. This was a song we were a bit uncertain of because it’s sort of a ballad, but with its slower tempo and a tightly grooving band it turned out to be a super hit with a great sax solo (all the musicians had great solos, but this is the one I remember most vividly). When the sure winner “Superstition” went down people actually started jumping as the drummer tightened up the groove in middle of the song. The extra number was “Cissy Strut” once more and DJ’ing after that was just one hell of a party; People actually started climbing the walls.

No cash earned

At the end here I have to get back to some more sober realizations. We had a great night with 200+ people in the audience, but we didn’t manage to break even, what saved us was the support we’d already gotten up front. A successful concert like this should make money and I believe the owners of the place we rented did just that. Our expenses were rent (which was pretty high), fees for musicians, some food and drink before and during the concert. The only money we made were tickets at the door which we’d stretched as far as we dared. We should have gotten some of the money made in the bar, but that was obviously not the name of the game. There could have been two guests all night and the price for rent would have been the same; I’ll think twice about renting that place the next time I’m going to arrange a concert. Well, enough said, now it’s about time to get some more gigs for this band. As a team and concept we got a good thing going. We want to funk y’all right on up!

Happy DJs: Me on the left and Rune Johnsrud on the right.

Special thanks to the following people for their contribution to this article: Christian Bruun (photos and video), Kjetil Andreassen (live audio recording), Rune Johnsrud (photo/video editing, audio mixing and layout), Tromsø Jazzklubb, Tromsø Filmklubb, and last but not least James Brown (R.I.P.)!

Rickey Vincent, the funk guru, author, radio DJ and much more, has been kind enough to let us publish his own personal list of favorite releases from the past ten years and it’s a great read, so dig in and have fun!

Written by Rickey Vincent

Since it is almost the end of the year and end of the decade, I thought I would put together my top ten list of the best funk albums of the past ten years.

Things quickly got so messy I just settled on a dozen of my favorites.

Since so much of our music comes from all angles nowadays, other funkateers could have a list with a dozen other completely different discs. Only two well known albums even made my backup list, and that was “Stankonia” by Outkast and Beyonce’s “Dangerously In Love”. I can’t think of any other hit record (maybe “speakerbox/the love below”) that would get near this list of mine. Too many of my favorite contemporary artists, like Erykah Badu and Michael Franti just didn’t come with complete albums. Yes the industry is collapsing, but good music is still there and the great artists should be able to deliver great albums at least once in a while.

Most of my choices are from former P-Funk members and P-Funk clones, but there are a few very original originals.

Here is my criteria for a great or ‘classic’ funk album:

1. Total listenability – can be played nonstop throughout. Too many CD’s have a few hot jams but you CANT play it through.
2. Some elevated genius funk – something, anything that breaks the jam factors out.
3. Raw Party Jam – some danceable party favors that take U past your conscious mind & your reptilian brain takes over.
4. Staying power. Gets played as often now as it did when it came out.

The best ones do all of the above:

Dodge – “Star Bass Invasion” (JJ-Tracks 2004)   This is uncut, nonstop heavy throb funk, from the first to the last track. Bootsy is on one cut, Jara Harris of Slapbak on another but Dodge needs no help. He clearly has made the funk attack blowout of the decade. Just deal with “National Funkday”, “Mutron Bomb” or “Headache” and you’ll understand.
Maktub – “Kronos” (Velour 2003)   This is so soulful, the band so ripping, that it set a new standard of future music for me. There is some heavy grooving like Galactic, some strong vocals from Mike Watts that invoke Hootie & the Blowfish, and some killer power rock riffs, but this set has an uncompromising sound all its own.
Prince – “3121″ (Umvd 2006)   The rude one finally gave up on the weak social commentary, the religious rants, and the self-absorbed efforts to revisit his Purple Rain era peak, and just ripped the jams on this mix from front to back. A nonstop party from one of the world’s best.
Bootsy Collins – “Christmas is 4 Ever” (Shout Factory 2006)   A throbasonic Rubber Band style blowout of classic proportions. The most inspired Bootsy since the 70’s. One drag is the seasonal theme, and the fact that the there is an undercurrent of sad nostalgia behind the brilliant nonsense here.
Junie Morrison – “When The City” (Junie Morrison Recordings 2005)   Nothing but the most inspired, lunatic fringe genius funk from this all timer. Every track slithers and wiggles like you would expect from Junie, and some are supremely advanced. You gotta go to the website juniemorrison.com and pick it up but if U R a funkateer you will make the move. It is worth every slippery penny. “Friends” and “Robot Love” are beyond advanced.
Amp Fiddler – “Afro Strut” (Genuine 2006)   Amp comes full circle, finally overtaking his contemporaries like Raphael Saadiq, and forging his own modern hip style of funky soul. Far removed from P-Funk but still deep in the DNA at the same time. Luscious.
Dawn Silva – “All My Funky Friends” (Groovin’ Records 2000)   Dawn blew minds and bootys when she dropped this non-stop zapp-a-delic dance affair in 2000. She was truly On The One with this club funk monster session. It still holds up 9 years later.
Mudbone – “Fresh Mud” (Influx Music 2006)   The former Bootsy’s Rubber Band singer sounds like a cross between Bobby Womack and Andre 3000 doing deep groove soul. Mudbone is in his element as one of the worlds greatest funk singers on an album of soulful R&B and rock that is transcendent at almost every turn. It is available as an import and worth absolutely every penny.
P.C. Munoz – “California” (Beevine Records 2004)   Easily the most original set I’ve heard recently. Somewhere between hip hop attitude, Minneapolis nasty and latin rock playa chops, P.C. Munoz has an instantly compelling sound that defies definition and continues through the entire diverse record. Look him up on myspace and listen and you’ll see.
The Coup – “Party Music” (Tommy Boy 2001/Epitaph 2004)   Everything conscious hip hop and funk were heading toward comes alive in Boots Riley’s masterpiece. Musically it is the west coast Outkast, and lyrically Boots is the Huey Newton of hip hop. The P-Funk loops on “Ride the Fence” and “5 Million Ways to Kill a CEO” are nutz, and the thump on “Pork and Beef” and “Lazymuthafucka” is thunderous.
Paris – “Sonic Jihad” (Guerilla Funk 2003)   If Boots is the Huey Newton of hip hop then Paris is the Eldridge Cleaver of hip hop – uncut fire breathing threats to the power structure delivered with pristine P-funk hip hop chops. An incredible session.
Bootsy Collins – “Play With Bootsy” (Thump 2004)   If it weren’t for the opening track, a lukewarm ramble, this album would stand out as one of Zilla’s best. Boot takes things everywhere with all his funky friends, once he gets going. I was told Boot was trying to get the P-Funk reunion jam session from one of those Nike ads he was doing, but it fell thru. Put that “funkship” long version on there and Bootsy is #1 again.
Slapbak – “Fast Food Funkateers 2nd Edition a.k.a. Ghetto Funkography” (Toxic Funk 2004)   These fools just keep the heat on every time they record a set. Slapbak belongs to the vicious groove funk school, where bridges aren’t necessary, just riffs. Sometimes it gets tired, but this time everything works. Handed to me as “Fast Food Funkateers 2nd Edition” the disc was re-released as “Ghetto Funkography” a couple of years later. This is their best session either way. Don’t sleep on Slapbak.
Zootzilla – “P’n All Over Da Place” (Flamoneous Records 2004)   One of the best of the funk clone sessions. Lead zinger Zootzilla is a hilarious, stanky nastay Clinton clone, and the country-funk of Phil Jones and Dave-id K-os hits the right spot. Just deal with “Hot Spank, Pimp Stew and Monkey Woo”, “Pussy Foot” or “Woof Whistles and Cat Calls” featuring Mike Hampton and you’ll understand.
P-Theory – “From The Hood To The Wood” (2006)   A bizarre collaboration is actually the most authentic Funkadelic-ism of the 2000’s. Deep, hard and out, Kevin Goins channels Plainfield soul through some European musicians that just bring the stank. Only some awkward spoken word vamps that break the spell take this massive set down to the bottom of the list.

Funkee honorable mentions

Michael Franti & Spearhead – “Everyone Deserves Music” (2003)   Franti is the most righteous artist out there, but like KRS-One, being righteous doesn’t always mean producing a record that can be listened to throughout. This is Franti’s most coherent vision, most heartfelt songs and most consistently listenable album.
Maceo – “School’s In” (2005)   This is Maceo’s groovin’est recent session, that is also thematically linked throughout. If you are into Maceo’s modern stuff, this is a great funky blast. As usual, Maceo doesn’t take many chances, but he always delivers a good time.
Roy Hargrove – “Distractions” (2006)   One of the only true jazzers that understands funk and jazz can live on the same album. Lots of trippy turns, Miles Davis tones, and thunderous bounce. Some Roy Ayers – style smooth grooves don’t stop the funk of it all. Hargrove’s earlier “Hard Groove” was just too mellow & uneven to call a giant of the decade.

I also should mention the great new music this decade from Joi, Steve Arrington, Charles Wright, Lonnie Jordan, Burnt Sugar, Shock G, Zigaboo Modeliste, and the last release from James Brown in 2002 “The Next Step”

+ some double CD’s that rock but rarely get played all the way through:

420 Funk Mob – “Live on the Off Days”: Just a teaser of what the king of the P-Funk spinoff bands does on a regular basis. I got their live tape of the SF show that is even thicker.

Tom Tom Club – “Live at the Clubhouse”: Some of this is massive P-Funk quality underground elevation. Some of it is jam band gibberish.

Victor Wooten – “Live in America”: The man is nutz, but 2CD’s worth starts to grate instead of elevate.

So what did I miss?