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Do you have a favorite Funky Butts song? Let us know! There's lots to choose from. :-) Rock on, dudes!!!
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Check out the five instrumentals posted to our page. They come from Dr. Box and the Electric Fishsticks, the band that immediately preceded the Funky Butts. You can hear Marathon Man's guitar style evolving, with faint echoes of later Funky Butt songs. Enjoy these rarities!
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by Curt Moder
As I walk into the interview room inside a high-rise near the heart of Dallas, the Blade takes a quick swig of his Dr Pepper.
"Got this on special...99 cents," he mumbles, pointing to the bottle. "Good deal."
Dressed in all black, the Blade - with his sunken eyes and mysterious, angular features - is a bit heftier than he was 20 years ago when the Funky Butts first formed in Denton, Texas.
But he hasn't lost his sense of belief.
"We were ahead of our time 20 years ago," he intoned, while taking yet another swig of soda. "Now, in the summer of 2010, the time feels right."
Then he pauses for effect.
"After all, it's the age of Lady Gaga - right?"
And so the interview begins.
Q: How did the Funky Butts come about?
A: Just a college band - University of North Texas in Denton. But the four of us knew each other back in high school.
Q: Describe the other three members.
A: Marathon Man is our musical force. He plays guitar and bass, and he composes all the music. Not the greatest technique in the world, but good in composition. Puts lots of feeling into what he does.
Slinkmaster MC4 is one of our two primary songwriters. We also call him Speed, for reasons that shall remain private. His claim to fame is "Purple-Hatted Lady" - he wrote that before "The Crying Game" ever came out. It was hilarious.
MC Mike is our other primary songwriter. He's actually a pretty decent vocalist - check him out on "Denton Town," it's good stuff.
Q: And your role?
A: I just dabble. I'm not a true musician by any stretch of the imagination. That's why I took the vocals on "Dreams" - it's my theme song, really: "I have no talent, but I'm recording an album anyway." There's a little bit of punk attitude in that.
Q: What was your band's approach to writing songs?
A: Quite simple. Strum the guitar and come up with lyrics on the spot. We did that with 99 percent of our stuff. Only "Dreams" and "Ooh, Baby Baby (Don't Delete My Love)" required any advanced thought or work.
The rarities and demos we posted on ReverbNation are actual recordings of those original songwriting sessions. We obviously didn't take ourselves very seriously.
Q: How did you narrow the songs down to 12 for the proper studio album?
A: We just picked what sounded appropriate. I personally pushed for a lot of diversity - hard rock with "Frat Dudes," country-rock with "The Nut Song," an acoustic ballad with "Purple-Hatted Lady," power pop with "Ooh, Baby Baby," blues-rock with "I Hate School," Caribbean with "Denton Town," heavy metal with "Dreams," a Latin flavor with "Borders," and rock-funk with "My Old Cooked Meat." We hit on a lot of different genres - I love albums like that.
Q: Has your band ever played live?
A: Nope. We're today's version of Steely Dan. Back in the '70s, Steely Dan would release albums but not tour in support of them. It gave them a bit of mystique. But I wouldn't rule out future performances, though. It's never too late.
Q: After 20 years, is a second album in the works?
A: I hope so. We're overdue, for sure. Just like we called the first one "Meat the Funky Butts" in a nod to the Beatles, we would call our next one "Let It Die" - another nod to the Beatles.
Q: What kind of material are you looking at?
A: We have some blues tunes I'd love to tackle in the studio. "They Call Me Elvis" is a foray into rockabilly and one of our great outtakes. And we also wrote lots of bits and pieces of nonsense - most of them are a minute long or less. I think we could incorporate all that and make our own lunatic version of "Abbey Road." That would be fun.
Q: What is the Funky Butts' legacy?
A: It is still being written. As they say, to be continued...
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Welcome to the universe of the Funky Butts. We've got a presence here and on Facebook, with more to come! Thanks for joining this ride - it's a lot like Six Flags!!!
Feel free to spread the word about the Funky Butts. Your support is appreciated!
Sincerely,
The Blade
Reply
The Funky Butts / Blog
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http://www.facebook.com/funkybutts
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you guys rock!
What's your favorite song?
Do you have a favorite Funky Butts song? Let us know! There's lots to choose from. :-) Rock on, dudes!!!
Reply
Five New Rare Tracks!
Check out the five instrumentals posted to our page. They come from Dr. Box and the Electric Fishsticks, the band that immediately preceded the Funky Butts. You can hear Marathon Man's guitar style evolving, with faint echoes of later Funky Butt songs. Enjoy these rarities!
Reply
The Blade: The Non-Rolling Stone Interview
by Curt Moder As I walk into the interview room inside a high-rise near the heart of Dallas, the Blade takes a quick swig of his Dr Pepper. "Got this on special...99 cents," he mumbles, pointing to the bottle. "Good deal." Dressed in all black, the Blade - with his sunken eyes and mysterious, angular features - is a bit heftier than he was 20 years ago when the Funky Butts first formed in Denton, Texas. But he hasn't lost his sense of belief. "We were ahead of our time 20 years ago," he intoned, while taking yet another swig of soda. "Now, in the summer of 2010, the time feels right." Then he pauses for effect. "After all, it's the age of Lady Gaga - right?" And so the interview begins. Q: How did the Funky Butts come about? A: Just a college band - University of North Texas in Denton. But the four of us knew each other back in high school. Q: Describe the other three members. A: Marathon Man is our musical force. He plays guitar and bass, and he composes all the music. Not the greatest technique in the world, but good in composition. Puts lots of feeling into what he does. Slinkmaster MC4 is one of our two primary songwriters. We also call him Speed, for reasons that shall remain private. His claim to fame is "Purple-Hatted Lady" - he wrote that before "The Crying Game" ever came out. It was hilarious. MC Mike is our other primary songwriter. He's actually a pretty decent vocalist - check him out on "Denton Town," it's good stuff. Q: And your role? A: I just dabble. I'm not a true musician by any stretch of the imagination. That's why I took the vocals on "Dreams" - it's my theme song, really: "I have no talent, but I'm recording an album anyway." There's a little bit of punk attitude in that. Q: What was your band's approach to writing songs? A: Quite simple. Strum the guitar and come up with lyrics on the spot. We did that with 99 percent of our stuff. Only "Dreams" and "Ooh, Baby Baby (Don't Delete My Love)" required any advanced thought or work. The rarities and demos we posted on ReverbNation are actual recordings of those original songwriting sessions. We obviously didn't take ourselves very seriously. Q: How did you narrow the songs down to 12 for the proper studio album? A: We just picked what sounded appropriate. I personally pushed for a lot of diversity - hard rock with "Frat Dudes," country-rock with "The Nut Song," an acoustic ballad with "Purple-Hatted Lady," power pop with "Ooh, Baby Baby," blues-rock with "I Hate School," Caribbean with "Denton Town," heavy metal with "Dreams," a Latin flavor with "Borders," and rock-funk with "My Old Cooked Meat." We hit on a lot of different genres - I love albums like that. Q: Has your band ever played live? A: Nope. We're today's version of Steely Dan. Back in the '70s, Steely Dan would release albums but not tour in support of them. It gave them a bit of mystique. But I wouldn't rule out future performances, though. It's never too late. Q: After 20 years, is a second album in the works? A: I hope so. We're overdue, for sure. Just like we called the first one "Meat the Funky Butts" in a nod to the Beatles, we would call our next one "Let It Die" - another nod to the Beatles. Q: What kind of material are you looking at? A: We have some blues tunes I'd love to tackle in the studio. "They Call Me Elvis" is a foray into rockabilly and one of our great outtakes. And we also wrote lots of bits and pieces of nonsense - most of them are a minute long or less. I think we could incorporate all that and make our own lunatic version of "Abbey Road." That would be fun. Q: What is the Funky Butts' legacy? A: It is still being written. As they say, to be continued...
Reply
Funky Butts Universe
Welcome to the universe of the Funky Butts. We've got a presence here and on Facebook, with more to come! Thanks for joining this ride - it's a lot like Six Flags!!!
Feel free to spread the word about the Funky Butts. Your support is appreciated!
Sincerely, The Blade
Reply