LISTENING to dynamic funk and soul collective Breakestra, one could be forgiven for thinking someone had mistakenly slipped on an old James Brown or Funkadelic record – the music is just that funky.
It’s not bad going for a contemporary Los Angeles band that exists decades away from the funk ground zero of 60s and 70s America.
Energetic African-American vocalist Mixmaster Wolf looks and sounds the part of an authentic funk performer, but Breakestra’s main creative force is Miles Tackett.
Tackett can be found plucking and slapping the bass in Breakestra’s live show, though in the studio he is a multi-instrumentalist who even provides some soulful vocals to a couple of tracks on 2009 album Dusk Till Dawn. Perhaps surprisingly, considering the pedigree of the music, Tackett is a white guy.
Tackett said his first exposure to classic funk came not through listening to the old recordings of the funk masters, but through a next generation of artists in the 80s and 90s who built on the foundations laid by the founding fathers of funk.
“I really got a lot of exposure to funk music and funk sounds through 80s and 90s hip-hop samples, but I also got exposed to a lot of bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers, whose first couple albums were really funky,” he said.
“Growing up in my house I used to hear a lot of Jimi Hendrix and the funk that he had in his music.
“Later on, I came across DJs playing funk music, like this one cat DJ Dusk, who played really good all- round hip-hop, funk, Jamaican sounds.”
In following years, DJ Dusk and Tackett would collaborate many times, but this relationship tragically ended when Dusk was killed in a 2007 car accident.
Tackett said both the title and music of Dusk Till Dawn was a tribute to his departed comrade, but the music remained as inherently fun-focused as ever.
“The tracks on this record are celebratory, even though there might be some intense emotion attached to it,” he said.
The line-up coming to Australia will include recently added female vocalist Afrodyete, who just completed her first tour with Breakestra through Europe.
Tackett said Afrodyete’s powerful voice and commanding stage presence further enhanced the Breakestra live experience.
“She calls herself the African Goddess of Love and she’s great; she’s all love,” he said.
Breakestra will open the Beck’s Music Box season of the 2010 Perth International Arts Festival in suitably grand style, and Tackett wants to see Perth punters getting into the groove of the occasion.
“Just come with an open mind and be ready for a good party with lots of funk sounds,” he said.
Breakestra play at Beck’s Music Box on February 6 as part of the 2010 Perth International Arts Festival.
Christian Wilkinson