Ah, Funky Butter. How beautifully backwards you are.
Funky Butter, the five piece funk rock firedrill from NYC, gave their farewell performance this past weekend at the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, PA. Though I only caught the last few songs of the night, they were all intricate and complex, challenging at times for a listener but always entertaining. The band has a song writing style all it's own, never to be accused of adhering to any formula, and while it's dynamic and different, it has it's own brand of organization, and always leaves room to show off the musicianship of the five members. Each piece is showcased tastefully, giving the audience a sense of the talent, but without showing off. And they are, contrary to their website bio, seriously funky. Overall, I'm sorry to see them go.
Though they're disbanding in the coming weeks, it's not without setting their legacy in wax for fans of the group, which they have been and will continue doing for the rest of the summer. It's definitely backwards -- get together, write a stable of songs, tour up and down the area playing them, break up... and then record your first album -- but it has a kind of purity to it that might get snickers from some, but respect, at least from me.
The act itself shows a love and respect for not only the audiences and fans, but also for the music that was created in the three year tenure of the group, and for the experience and memory of being together. It's a tribute to the family that a touring band becomes on the road, a sort of musical photo album that, hopefully, will allways remind them all of good times. Furthermore, the band decided to put every cent generated by their musical career into the album, supported additionally by donations from fans. Simply put, they're not in it for the dough, but for the love of music and performance, and I, for one, respect that.
God speed, Funky Butter, we'll miss you.
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