Setting fire to the funk

The Vancouver-based 11-piece juggernaut Five Alarm Funk will once again bring their heavy afrobeat-inspired funk sounds to Golden this weekend for an evening of frenetic and hypnotic grooves.

The band is on tour to promote their recently released album, “Voodoo Hairdoo,” which has been praised by critics for offering a more mature and developed sound than their previous self-titled album.

Justin Kennedy, who plays the shekere, a large gourd-like beaded instrument from Africa, explained how the band got started. “A few of us went to an Antibalas show at the Vancouver Jazz Fest about five years ago and we were blown away. We agreed we wanted to start something along those lines, with horns and all.” The Antibalas are a popular band from New York that plays afrobeat, a style of music conceived of in the 1970s by musician and human rights activist Fela Kuti. One of the band members was playing the shekere, inspiring Kennedy to pick up the instrument himself.

Five Alarm Funk has since consisted of the four core members, including Kennedy, who went to high school together in Vancouver, along with a steadily increasing horn section made up of their friends and other recruits from local music schools.

Kennedy said although it can be hard to co-ordinate 11 band members, it’s all worth it when they play a good show. “We recently played the Vancouver Jazz Festival and I heard we sold out of a thousand copies of our CD in the first three songs. That was a good show.”

With their steadily increasing popularity and band bank account, they’ve bought a new 15-passenger van and have arranged for a new manager, Matt Laundrie of High Tide Entertainment, to co-ordinate their gigs. “It used to be our guitarist Gabe that booked all our shows. We’ll give this new guy a chance, see how it goes.”

They recently returned from a tour that took them the furthest afield they have been yet, playing at the Ness Creek festival in Saskatchewan. But Kennedy said they are hoping on touring further east or down to the States now that they have their new van.

They’ve also got an important show lined up September 6 in Victoria, opening for the legendary Sly and the Family Stone. “We heard he (Sly) is kind of a nut job, actually. It will be really cool to see him play though, as long as he shows up.”

On their newest album they’ve attracted the help of a couple of popular singers to fill out their sound, Tim Fuller of popular Vancouver funk and soul act Soulstream, and a friend of theirs from high school, Dawn Pemberton. “It’s great to have these guys on the album. Normally our drummer is our MC, but generally he just yells at the audience.”

Gabe Boothroyd, guitarist with the band, agreed that the changes they’ve made have been good for the band. “It just keeps getting better.” He said he has a couple of part-time jobs to keep himself fed, but the band has become the priority in his life. “It’s definitely number one on my list at this point.”

Catch Five Alarm Funk when they set The Lyric ablaze with their high-energy funk grooves Saturday night. Cover charge is $5 before 10:00 p.m., $10 after 10:00 p.m.