(The Free Press)
Now I don’t know how sweaty you like to get at concerts, but at a Five Alarm Funk show you don’t get a choice. Their booming bombastic beats have you jumping with the mob of audience that are their fans. No time for rest, as the musicians themselves are bouncing all over the stage and you can’t leave ‘em hanging on their own.
Five Alarm Funk is an eight person Vancouver-based band. Drum kit, timbales, congas, bass, guitars, trumpet, saxophone, and a never ending supply of costumes.. it’s something I’ve never seen unfold on stage. My first experience of their live performance was at Victoria’s Ska & Reggae Fest in 2022. The conga player was a banana.. then in a tutu.. and it didn’t stop. Did he have a trove of costumes behind the drums? Clearly he did. I was laughing, I was bouncing, I was trying to take photos but too lost actually wanting to watch.. it’s hard to take photos when you’re dancing.
(Five Alarm Funk)
Five Alarm Funk was first formed in 2003 by drummer and lead vocalist Tayo Branston, guitarist Gabe Boothroyd, and original bassist Neil Towers. It began as a bunch of friends jamming together, each feeding off the other’s beats until something undeniable was created. Vancouver’s got a great music scene, but on top of all that grunge, alt, indie music they knew something was missing. FUNK. Their first show was at The Fairview Pub with a whopping 300 people, next would be Richards on Richards with room for 800. Their fan base continued to grow and now the group tours Canada yearly! Maybe you saw them at Vancouver’s Folk Festival.
“We aren’t the most physically profound young men, but we’re all up on stage, shirts off, just buckets of sweat,” Tayo Branston said in an interview with the Revelstoke Review, “Five Alarm Funk is an all out gypsy power funk explosion of musical mayhem.”
Check out their hit “Wash Your Face” below. A quirky set of lyrics that came out much before COVID, but I couldn’t help but sing all through the pandemic. I mean, once I saw the dance move incorporated with this tune I was left wondering… is this a friendly face wash? Tell me what you think in the comments.
FIND MORE ABOUT FIVE ALARM FUNK HERE:
Written by Volante Matheson, Radio Arts & Entertainment at BCIT
Contact: vmatheson1@my.bcit.ca