Treat your ears right. Listen to this track.
Married to the Mob
Punk Funk Mob is a resolution, and a stylistic departure.
We gonna say it loud, We’re funky and proud,Femi Andrade and Quincy Ramone, co-leaders of Punk Funk Mob, wailed over the tightly syncopated grooves of Ramone’s low-slung, popping bass, his brother Jeff Logan’s scratchy, Jimmy Nolen-inspired guitar chunk-a-chunks, and Michael Williams’ solidly throbbing traps. The quartet — color-coordinated in black and white — delivered the tune with fierce abandon. It was one of six from the group’s ten-song debut CD, Revolution, that comprised its set at last month’s second annualSan Francisco Winter Music Festival atCellSpace in the Mission. Femi, who goes by her first name only, jerked and bounced about the stage as she sang and rapped, often kicking her feet in the air to match the aggressiveness of the instrumentalists behind her. “Have a drink on us,” Femi told the audience after “Funky & Proud” came to an abrupt halt. “Tell ‘em to charge it to Leather Feather,” she added. Femi, who considers herself something of a comedian, was playfully referring to the rather menacing punk band that preceded them on stage. Its members’ bodies and faces were covered entirely in white cloth, save for eye slits. Leather Feather, Punk Funk Mob, and the show’s headliner, singer-rapperKeno Mapp, all record for Mooremapp Records, a label run by Mapp and Fishbone frontman Angelo Moore. Moore, a saxophone slung over his shoulder, served as emcee for the evening and sat in on Punk Funk Mob’s closing song, “Funky 2 Me,” trading chants with Femi of oh, oh, hey, hey andit’s that funk, that funk, that uncut funk that makes me wanna ride. Punk Funk Mob’s sound, which draws on punk rock, funk, and elements of new wave, is quite a stylistic departure for the singer, who only a few years back was making a name for herself on the Bay Area neo-soul scene with mellow original music reminiscent of Sade and India.Arie. But, the Berkeley-born vocalist admitted she has always been a punk at heart. And she never liked the term “neo-soul,” preferring instead to call it “neo-fuckin’-soul.” Of mixed African-American and Puerto Rican heritage, Femi moved back and forth between Spanish Harlem and East Oakland as a child. She took an early liking to the salsa sounds of Willie Colon and the soul music ofTeddy Pendergrass, The O’Jays, and Earth, Wind & Fire, as well as toJoan Baez and Joni Mitchell. “She was my dad’s favorite,” Femi said of Mitchell. “He just liked skinny white girls with guitars.” In Oakland, where she sang with the Castleersat Castlemont High School, her dad took her to both Jehovah’s Witness meetings and Church of God in Christ services. Her mom studied Buddhism. “I feel like a hippie in the sense that I have had pretty much every religious experience,” she said. Ramone moved around between Concord, San Diego, and Fresno as a boy, and listened to his parents’ Jackie Wilson and Soul Stirrers records. Then, as a teenager, he heard the Ramones. “That’s the first band I wanted to be like,” he said. “They just looked cool. They looked…” “Bad ass,” Femi said, finishing her musical partner’s thought. “They had guitars in their hands,” he continued. “They didn’t have knives or guns, but they looked like they could have.” “I’m the sixth Ramone,” he stated. It’s not his real last name, of course, but then it wasn’t the real name of any of the Ramones either. Of Punk Funk Mob’s style, he said, “It’s rooted in funk. It’s rooted in George Clinton and Sly Stone and Curtis Mayfield, Bootsy, Slave, andCameo. But at the same time I listened to Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, and the Ramones.”“My tastes are kinda varied,” Femi added. “… It’s almost impossible to not be inspired by rock or pop or new wave or funk or jazz.” Ramone traces the movement’s origins to Fresno, where he was once a member of a regionally popular band called the Dixons. He also worked there with funk legend Fugi. Although Rick James popularized the term “punk funk” some thirty years ago, little of his influence can be heard in Punk Funk Mob’s music. “Even though he did coin it, he didn’t have too much punk in his music,” Ramone explained. But, Femi said of James, “He was a punk. He was a rude boy.” After relocating from Fresno to Oakland six years ago, Ramone started playing guitar in Femi’s soul band. On the side, he began working on his concept for Punk Funk Mob. He tried a couple women as lead singers, but when they didn’t work out, he turned to Femi. “I had some songs written and recorded already,” he said. “She just came in and fit right in and added her flavor.” She also proved to be an ideal songwriting collaborator. Since the release of Revolution last April, Punk Funk Mob has played on bills with a wide stylistic variety of bands. “We’ve played with straight punk bands and with straight R&B acts, and then we can get in a hip-hop club and turn it out,” Ramone said. “Even though we’ve always been the odd band that’s playing that night, each time be play, we find somebody. We don’t fit in nowhere, but we fit everywhere.”
RV’s top ten funk sessions of 2010 (Punk Funk Mob is #7)
1-Orgone — Cali Fever I saw these guys in 2009 open for Gil Scott Heron and wasn’t tripping off ‘em. Then “Cali Fever” was sent my way & it blew my socks off! Such a magnificent groove, such tickly & tangy rhythm guitar work, tight vocals and nonstop THUMP. Clearly the jam function the year. 2-Fatback Band – Bill Curtis and Friends, vol. 1 and 2 Bill Curtis is a dog dirty funk genius, and he’s been hitting HOT dancefloor music for 40 years! His latest set is on itunes but the nonstop licks on “Gooshy Sushi” and “Open House Partay” are just too much, too much funk from an O.G. 3. Jesse Johnson – Verbal Penetration The most serious session from a Minneapolis legend in a long time. Jesse has some spectacular chops and a helluva lot to say this time. Songs like “Propaganda” and “Slave to our Freedom” aren’t the kind of topics you’d expect from a loverman like Jesse Johnson, but he has matured in his vision – channeling some Curtis Mayfield - and he’s never been tighter musically. Disc 1 stands alone as a masterpiece. Get into disc 2 at your own risk. 4. Socialybrium – For You For Us For All Oh what a solid crunchy bounce Bernie does for us here, with Blackbird on guitar, Melvin Gibbs on bass & J.T. Lewis on drums, this deep, trippy, drippy session is the BEST of the funk rock instrumental madness of the year. Most of this kind of stuff gets you bugged, then you forget it. Not this one. I play Socialybrium every day. 5. Nick Rosen – Into the Sky Hypnotic jazz from a bass player produced by members of the “Build and Ark” camp. Don’t sleep, to me this is some of the best serene but substantial jazz since Lonnie Liston Smith was recording on Flying Dutchman. Listen all the way through this and if you don’t feel better about life, you get your money back. It is that good. 6. John Legend and the Roots – Wake Up Finally a great contemporary black act takes on the great soul legends and delivers a completely satisfying album, one that treats the original material with respect, and still speaks to the times we’re in today. Finally the classic soul sound has been honored. Now it is time to take it beyond the masters. This disc has raised expectations. ***7. Punk Funk Mob – Revolution*** Still can’t wrap my head around the transformation the sweet soul singer Femi undertakes when she throws down as lead singer of this musical monstrosity of a band. Bandleader Quincy Ramone puts down a cross between Erykah Badu & the Bad Brains, so be warned, this ain’t no lightweight groove, it’s the heavy sh*t. 8. Lige Curry – The Naked Funk P-Funk bassist Lige Curry is at it again, with this understated swamp funk masterpiece. Gurgling funk undertow keeps a sinister grind going all the way through this jazzy effort. Lige creates his own category of music with this one. 9. Dr. Illenstein – Listen While I Tell You of the Clones PTFI (Phil The Funky Instrumentalst) put this madness together that brings a range of talents to put Marlon “Dr. Illenstein” Kemp on the musical map. The beats are nutz and the funk is on overload in this lunatic fringe funk session. 10. L.A.W. – The Planet 12 Syndrome – This NYC youngster comes from heavy funk stock and blasts some hot and heavy funked up party favors. Check out “Thick Girly Girls” and “With Your Heels On” and you’ll see that this multi-instrumentalist funkateer came to serve it up. Also digging on: Street Sweeper Social Club - Ghetto Blaster EP Boots Riley and Tom Moreno packed a monster punch in this 7 song b*tch slap of a session. The remake of The Coup’s “Everythang” is worth the price of admission. Wayman Tisdale – The Fonk Record Yes Wayman Tisdale, the NBA star turned smooth jazz bassist came with a thunderous p-funkadelic funkblast for his last recording. Some of the sharpest jazzy funk this side of George Duke, and totally maxxing on the funk vibe here. I’m also into Browmark’s “SYX Mil BREACH” and Blackbird McKnight’s “Bout Funkin’ Time” for ripping jams. Gil Scott Heron’s incredible “I’m New Here” is as deep as it gets, so don’t sleep on that either & I can’t stop playing Steve Arrington’s “Pure Thang.” & I’m waiting for Ronkat to get his new CD “Change Generation” out there to back up his magnificent single “The One” Let’s see if 2011 will be as ‘on the one for the funk’ as 2010… + there is 3 more weeks of this year to go. Who gots tha funk?from Rickey Vincent
“Another year and another wide ranging collection of funky discs have come my way, and I’m going to share my favorite ones from the year. The best criteria I can give is that these discs have been playing in my ipod nonstop since they came out. Simple as that.”
