Holy Funk! “Pam Pam’s Full Of Posh Racists”

The Tab caught up with the three funk brothers (Funklefester, Funklestein and Funklestiltskin) to find out about the phenomenon sweeping Bristol and the nights that they are bringing with them.

Tab: So first off, what exactly is Holy Funk?

The Funk Brothers: We give people the sort of music that you won’t have heard before but will want to dance to. We hope to bring new music and a new experience to Bristol.

It is all about having fun to great music and it’s always a crazy party. We’re away from the mainstream; there are a lot of other house nights but no funk for students. We hope to offer that.

Tab: So what can someone expect from a Holy Funk night?

TFB: We play anything from hip hop to ghetto funk, any music that we deem funky – whether it’s the drum beat, bassline or guitar riff.

You can be sure of one thing, we may sample one or cut it up but we will never play a commercial tune on its own.

As we’re not a niche genre we can keep going for hours – our resident DJ (Funk Brother Big Bad Buggé) played in Room 2 of Bunker for 4 ½ hours straight without difficulty.

Tab: How did Holy Funk start?

TFB: We all saw A Skillz at Timbuk2, it was the first time we had heard that sort of music live- it sounded great, was fun to dance to and really galvanised us.

We then hosted our first event as a charity night in order to help 2 girls in our halls raise money which showed us that it could work.

During the summer the Funk Brothers travelled to Morocco and that’s where we laid down a lot more of the detailed plans.

Tab: So Morocco was where it all came together?

TFB: Yeah, despite having run-ins with the Police on numerous occasions we managed to escape and planned everything over there. We also gained our first fan out there, Abdul the Tea Seller and he fully endorses everything funk-related.

Tab: What do you make of the other clubs in Bristol?

TFB: We love the Triangle clubs in general for a fun night out. Mainly Bunker, especially Room 2, and we love to f**k s**t up in Lizard Lounge.

If we’re going more for the music then we’ll head down to places like Timbuk2, The Croft and The Exchange.

Basement 45, which is the home of Holy Funk, is a great mix between the two. We hate Pam Pam, though, it’s full of posh racists.

Tab: What made you choose Basement 45 as your ‘base’?

TFB: Well we love being next to Bent and the Queen’s Shilling. We also chose it as our headquarters/secret lair due to the fact that it is an intimate venue but has a great sound system, which is important because we have a lot of bass.

Tab: So when is the next Holy Funk night?

TFB: It’s on the 5th December. This time we’ve got Bear Twists playing who’s a Bristol local and has recently played alongside DJ Yoda and Dub Pistols. You’ll see us cruising around in our Funkmobile (A red Skoda Fabia) and handing out flyers on our knees.

Tab: Any big plans for the future?

TFB: We’re going to keep on with the Holy Funk nights hopefully as long as people keep on having fun and maybe something a little bit bigger later on but we’re happy for now.

It’s great having our base and then showcasing our night elsewhere, like we did in Bunker. In the meantime we’re focusing on a live element – any aspiring funk saxophonists should get in touch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U1KYdP_gag