FUNK, EH? Hailing from Toronto, KC Roberts & the Live Revolution aren’t your typical Canadian act. While many of their fellow countrymen try to re-create the hip heights of indie rock bands like Broken Social Scene, Roberts and his eight-piece ensemble groove to a different, funkier beat. Joining headliners True Press on Friday, August 14, at Blind Tiger, they vow to wow with a blast of northerly funk. I interviewed KC via email to discuss his current tour, funk music, and the homogeneity of indie rock.
How is the tour going so far? Any highlights? The tour has been a blast so far. Ridiculously scenic. From the big Alberta sky, driving into the mighty Rocky Mountains, the whole band is on a cloud of inspiration and purpose, as we move through these old giants. Every town has a different personality. We're playing for a lot of new faces, and it’s nice to watch the surprise drift through the crowd when we start playing. The first couple songs start out with people really trying to figure what we are musically. Then they just give in, and soon we've got ’em dancing, singing, and having a time. Calgary was a definite highlight. It was a full-on, raging dance party from start to finish.
For a tried-and-true genre like funk, where does inventiveness come in for you guys? We have solo sections in at least half of our music. We try to give everyone a feature a couple times a night. It's fun to give everyone a chance to speak. We have nights when we’ll just completely change moments in a song, and enter some jam and pocket that makes us all smile. We are not funk "purists" in that we are not interested in only looking back and re-creating a particular vintage sound. To us, this is an artistic and creative endeavor moving the genre forward. I discovered funk more through bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jamiroquai as a teen, and also filtered through electronic D&B. That hit me more at first than Earth, Wind & Fire and James Brown, but we've made our way back, and have a deep reverence for the lineage.