What did the chicken say to the egg? Come out on out baby, it’s time to do the funky chicken. With that in mind, it was a long cold Thursday night on June 26 filled to the brim with solid live performance inducing the random soon to be drunk guy on the dance floor to do the funky chicken all night long. Sneak Peak hosted a wild mash up this time round for the monthly party at The Evelyn showcasing all that is funky, soulful and rock’n’roll in Melbourne right now.
The crowd started to gather round for the nine o’clock cheap drinks roll-call when the five piece funk/soul band Soul Deep opened the night. They were celebrating their new recording filled with a mix of classic covers and originals; they should have been celebrating the sheer amount of guts it took to get on stage because it was the first time these boys had performed all together with their new members in public. Though no one noticed that fact because their fresh funk stage presence woke up the growing crowd with some surprising vocals. Kudos goes to the band member in the James Brown inspired get up playing keyboards and mixing it up with some beat box styling. It was at this point that the resident funky chicken dance man threw in some off the cuff dance moves. Hell it was entertaining!
The Funknecks trio kept the funk raw a show as excitingly confusing as it was fun. They attempted to set a new benchmark in the Funk/Rock realm as they rolled out on stage shoeless and in augmented strait jackets to exude a bizarre visual presence. Singing the track, Yeah Yeah from their EP Soon Baby, Soon, frontman Dallas has a quiet and concentrated energy to lead the original sound that has the guys easily compared to the B52’s and Talking Heads. It reminded me of structured yet rhythmic traffic noise at times however, the milder track, Calm showed the slower pace of this trio as the set came to a close.
Cheap drinks and friends deep in conversation followed and the punters were left looking more bleary eyed at their watches come 10pm waiting for the Deadly boys to get their gear together. Deadly Are The Naked carry the torch for the early 90’s raw funk-blend. Breasts and funk just seem to go together with tongue placed firmly in cheek when they play the body loving tune, Breastify from their live EP. The four piece invoke the funkier side of Rage Against The Machine for Nudity in the 90s to get the crowd moving. Their intensity and on stage antics are entertaining and the front man Adam has a Jack Black vibe about him to keep the crowd amused. Towards the end of their set they did well to improvise after the bass string busted which gave way to lead guitarist Dion and drummer Tim having a jam session. The boys may not always hit the right notes but they encourage the funk and are always gracious.
Taking a break from their EP recording schedule Cold Sweat brought in the big-band funk feel. Their massive seven piece outfit includes a brass section and their solid old-school grooves made the dance floor irresistible to who ever was game enough to share the dance floor with funky chicken man. The sweat inducing vocals were surprising with High proving to be the stand out track of the set.
If the crowd was needing to be woken up some more and then slapped on the arse home then long time locals Ethanol certainly did the trick to close the Sneak Peak party. The boys were jam-banding to the end with their hot bag of ‘semi-arranged’ rhythms and up-beat shenanigans. Their track, High Roller has rocker laden vocals not too different from AC/DC with melody and soul. Their songs are best served ice cold with a beer. Any excuse for a good beer at midnight will do after hearing some of the notes that were delivered in such a harsh rock funk fashion to make you think you’ll never drink again. The Evelyn was well served at the end of the set and my only critique is the smoke machine that is still making me cough.
