biographical info
Funky Dory was born one fateful night when two
ambitious but intoxicated musicians dared to dream of a thousand-piece
funk orchestra taking over their isolated town. Forces were assembled
from the local talent pool and Funky Dory version 1.0 brought the
groove from the bars of St. John's, Newfoundland to a showcase at the
2002 Juno Award Conference as well as CBC television's national show
Zed hosted by rapper Kardinal Official. Over the next few years the
band changed a lot as people moved away for school and work as most
young people on this island end up having to do. For a while the joke
was made that all our gigs seemed to be farewell shows for one member
or another. Either way, whatever couldn't kill the funk only made it
stronger... we've got a huge set of original tunes now, written by past
and current members, and have just released our first groovalicious
album, Fists of Funk. It's over an hour of super tight funky
instrumentals, as well as hip-hop and vocal tunes. It comes with a
funk-superhero comic about the adventures of Funky Dory fighting off
the evil haters to restore peace and funkiness to the land. This new version of the band has gotten crowds moving at countless bar
shows, two MusicNL awards conferences, St. Pierre's (a small island
owned by France) Bastille Day celebrations, St. John's Peace-A-Chord
festivals, a number of charitable events, and several appearances on
Roger's television's "Out of the Fog" and "Summer Breeze". The media
have been taking notice of the album, too. We just had a great review
in The Telegram (the province's main newspaper) and we've recently done
radio interviews on CBC and Newfoundland's K-Rock. We've just been
asked to play at the MusicNL (the province's music industry
assosiation) awards show, and have been nominated for three MusicNL
awards: Group of the Year, Entertainer of the Year, and Jazz Group of
the Year.
lineup
Adam Foran keys, guitar, vocals
Mark Belbin guitar
Josh Ward bass
Susan Evoy alto sax
Greg Bruce tenor sax, breakdancing
Rich Blenkinsopp trumpet
Adam Staple drums
influences
James Brown
Tower of Power
Jamiroquai
Curtis Mayfield
Parliament Funkadelic
K-Os
Buck 65
Jimmy Smith
Maceo Parker
Medeski, Martin & Wood
Galactic