TROUBLE FUNK
- Venue:
- Islington Assembly Hall
- Date:
- Fri, 15/03/2013 19:00 and Sat,16/03/2013
Trouble Funk - 35th Anniversary Concert
+ DJ Snowboy ( Meet me at the Go-Go )
+ DJ Chris Philips ( Jazz FM )
Trouble Funk, a musical group born on the streets of
Washington, D.C., is synonymous with the emergence of the non-stop, percussion driven, best seen
live, experience the party, audience participatory call and response, grassroots, homegrown music
called Go-Go. As the world wide ambassadors of this musical genre,
Go-Go, a distant, but older cousin of Hip-Hop, Trouble Funk has
taken their sound from the gritty streets of D.C. to the clubs of the nation and the festivals
around the world for the past 30 plus years.
The band and their sound, developed by mixing an uproarious blend of
swinging, up-tempo 70’s funk with a 60’s style horn section, heavily laden with infectious
percussion, topped off with booming vocals and the genre’s trademark call and response, burst
onto the music scene in 1978. Trouble Funk, in its infancy, consisted of the
writing team of band leader, bassist and vocalist Tony “Big Tony” Fisher, keyboardists Robert
“Syke Dyke” Reed and James Avery and trumpet player Taylor Reed. The group was rounded out with
the musical prowess of drummer Emmett Nixon, percussionists Mack Carey and Timothy “Teebone”
David, guitarist Chester Davis, trombonist Gerald Reed and saxophonist David Rudd while they
peppered the musical landscape of the 1980’s with anthems “Drop the Bomb”, “Pump Me
Up”, “Let’s Get Small”, “So Early in the Morning”, “Saturday Night Live From Washington, D.C.,
Parts 1 & 2”, “Say What?” and two R&B/ Hip-Hop Billboard charting tracks,
“Still Smokin’” and “Good to Go”.
“Drop the Bomb” was the first Go-Go record to be
released outside of Washington, D.C. and was released on the pioneering label, Sugar Hill
Records.
Trouble Funk, with their raw, party driven style, was able
to capture the attention of musical enthusiasts of a variety of genres catapulting themselves
onto the national and international music scene. They would frequently tour with notable punk
rock acts Minor Threat and the Big Boys, while still gracing the stage on major
music festivals with legendary artists such as Curtis Mayfield, Parliament Funkadelic,
Red Hot Chili Peppers, UB40, Def Leppard and Fishbone, to name a few.
Trouble Funk also recorded with Kurtis Blow and appeared in his
video, “I’m Chillin’”.
From 1986 to 1988, Trouble Funk toured extensively
throughout the United States playing legendary venues such as Madison Square Garden and the
Apollo Theatre and on worldwide stages with multiple stops in Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, London,
Spain, Nice, Denmark, Germany and Japan. A stop in Switzerland included a performance at the
highly regarded Montreux Jazz Festival. 1994 brought Trouble Funk back to Japan
for an extended tour.
In the mid 80’s, while Trouble Funk was signed to Island
Records, their live performances were captured on the big screen in the film “Good to
Go” starring Art Garfunkel. The film, produced by Island Pictures, showcased Go-Go
music and most prominently, the music of Trouble Funk with the group featured on
5 of the 13 tracks on the soundtrack.
During Trouble Funk’s obligation with Island Records, they
worked with the legendary Bootsy Collins who produced the album “Trouble Over
Here, Trouble Over There”.
“Pump Me Up” is one of the most sampled tracks of
all time being sampled in over 70 different songs by various artists including Will
Smith, Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster
Melle Mel and the Furious Five, M/A/R/R/S, Guy, Public Enemy, 2 Live
Crew, George Clinton, Vanilla Ice, EPMD, Run-DMC, George Michael and Black Eyed
Peas to name a few, with some gaining chart topping hits. “Pump Me Up” is also featured in Style Wars and the
fictional R&B radio station WildStyle in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
Trouble Funk return to play London for the first time in over 20 years to
celebrate their 35th Anniversary. Do not miss this
event - tickets will fly out so buy now.
