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Sound the alarm, Funk en route

Big band, big sound, big stage presence. That doesn’t describe a lot of bands, but it does describe the high energy musical onslaught which is Vancouver’s Five Alarm Funk.

Big band, big sound, big stage presence.

That doesn’t describe a lot of bands, but it does describe the high energy musical onslaught which is Vancouver’s Five Alarm Funk.

Five Alarm Funk makes two stops in the Bow Valley as they head out on tour to support Rock the Sky, their fourth album, which will be released today (May 10). On May 17, the 10-piece opens its tour at the Canmore Hotel, then return on June 11 to play Wild Bill’s as they return to the Left Coast.

FAF is Gabe Boothroyd (guitar), Oliver Gibson (guitar), Neil Towers (bass), Tayo Branston (drums, vocals), Justin Kennedy (percussion, vocals), Carl Julig (timbales), Nimish Parekh (trombone), Dameian Walsh (sax) and Kent Wallace (trumpet).

FAF has always relied on drums, percussion and a tight horn section to bring the funk, but with Rock the Sky, Boothroyd and Gibson step a little further into the fray on an album that adds a rock enthusiasm to the sound.

“There is more of a rock influence with this album,” said Boothroyd. “It just kind of happened. We started out with more of a funk sound, but we’ve turned up the distortion some. A lot of us guys grew on rock bands and we love to get the rock sound going with some rockin’ riffs.

“Iron Pegasus” has the most rockin’ riff, it’s Iron Maiden style. Everything else was coming together and I had to figure out something awesome to do, so I worked on that riff for quite a while.”

When a big band like Five Alarm Funk sets out to record new songs, it’s an all hands on deck collaborative effort. “Everyone gets their two cents in,” said Boothroyd. “Sometimes guys bring a song to the band in a more advanced stage, sometimes it’s just a skeleton and everyone works on finalizing the arrangement.

“It’s quite a process, with writing, arranging and rehearsing.”

Heading out onto the road again, FAF packs into a well used 15-passenger van, trailer in tow. They’ve put about 100,000 kilometres on in the past three years and, unlike their last tour, in February, members are looking forward to clear roads on this tour.

“A year ago, we left in February and hit Grande Prairie and Edmonton when it was -30C. We (Vancouverites) don’t know how to deal with that, so we’re looking forward to this trip”

Prior to heading out, the band posted it’s official video – live action from a couple of days at the Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival – and Boothroyd says the new songs are a good representation of the band’s live sound.

The band’s sound has attracted enough notice that it won a Best Instrumental Recording of the Year Award at the Western Canadian Music Awards. Chart Attack dubbed the band’s third album, Anything is Possible, “a potent, mind-altering substance.”

Most of the songs on the new album were written in the last couple of years. “Some didn’t take long, but “The Critic” took forever,” said Boothroyd. “It took about three months; it was re-worked, re-written, and had a bunch of transformations.

“Pyramid” is something different, it’s gypsy-oriented, which we haven’t done before, with a Balkan beat.”

In heading on tour again, continuing to build a fan base wherever they travel, FAF, like other bands, hopes to gain the kind of following that would allow them to work at their music full-time.

Currently, some bandmembers teach and some hold down “regular jobs”, kidded Boothroyd. “Right now, with our music, we’re on the edge of making a meagre living.”

The band plays about 80 gigs a year, all the while working to “make our live show as good as it can be.”

The band has graced the stage at the Vancouver and Whistler 2010 Olympics, Canadian Music Week, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Ottawa Blues Fest, Shambhala Sunfest in London, Ont., Ness Creek Festival in Saskatchewan, Summer Meltdown in Wash., the Keelung Mid-Summer Festival in Taiwan, and numerous sold-out shows at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver.


Rocky Mountain Outlook

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