Funk on Life

Bootsy Collins has rightfully received accolades as funk's second officer (after George Clinton – and it should be third after James Brown and Clinton). For decades he has been sampled by every rapper from Snoop Dogg to OutKast, and virtually created the bass sound that made the Red Hot Chili Peppers a household name and that created a career for Les Claypool. Yet, his most influential sound emanated not from his tenure with James Brown or P-Funk, but his own Rubber Band, and until now that wooly, wild, and surreal unit has never been properly anthologized. Rhino, in their usual thorough, crazy fashion, have directed the folks at the Warner archives and have created a massive, drop-the-bomb two-disc set that sets the record straight.

Funk, rhythm-driven musical genre popular in the 1970s and early 1980s that linked soul to later African-American musical styles. Like many words emanating from the African-American oral tradition, funk defies literal definition, for its usage varies with circumstance. As a slang term, funky is used to describe one’s odour, unpredictable style, or attitude. Musically, funk refers to a style of aggressive urban dance music driven by hard syncopated bass lines and drumbeats and accented by any number of instruments involved in rhythmic counterplay, all working toward a “groove.”

2013 album from the funky supergroup. Last year, a group of guys got together at The Baked Potato in Studio City, California to play some Jazz and Funk. It was so much fun that the guys - guitarist Joe Bonamassa, drummer Tal Bergman (Billy Idol, Joe Bonamassa, LL Cool J, Rod Stewart), bassist Mike Merritt (The Basic Cable Band on Conan), guitarist Ron DeJesus (Planet Funk, Groove vol 1), and keyboardist Renato Neto (Prince) - decided to gather in the studio to make an instrumental record, bringing in sounds from Jazz, Funk and Rock that captures the vibe of the early 70s and 80s, and bringing it into the modern age. From that, Rock Candy Funk Party was born. RCFP is powered by a lineup of world-class players collaborating for the sheer joy of making music, and a mutual love of genre-blurring grooves.