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THE FUNK HUNTERS: DJ duo have a new album coming out and bring travelling holiday show back to Vancouver
The Funk Hunters are bringing their annual tradition Funk the Halls back to the Commodore Ballroom.
The tradition began in 2015, as a one-off show in Vancouver.
“We wanted to do something at the Commodore at Christmas-time,” said the duo’s Nick Middleton. “We were a bit unsure what would happen, but it was a success. And it’s turned into a cross-Canada tour.”
This is the second year the Funk Hunters have taken Funk the Halls on the road. This month they performed on the East Coast, and are finishing up in Western Canada.
“For Vancouver and a lot of the bigger shows, we’re bringing in our own production,” Middleton said. “We do our own audio/visual performance. And we’ve got a whole new stage design. We’ll have LED walls and lights and lasers.”
Middleton and co-DJ Duncan Smith started out playing house parties on Galiano Island nearly a decade ago. Today, the Funk Hunters are an in-demand performing/ producing duo. They have toured and recorded with rapper Chali 2na, of ’90s alternative hip-hop act Jurassic 5. They have performed hundreds of times, all over the world, as well as at major festivals such as Coachella, Burning Man, Osheaga, Shambala and Red Rocks.
In addition, their singles, remixes and collaborations have accumulated millions of plays on assorted platforms. And yet, they never recorded a full album — until now.
Earlier this year, the duo completed Typecast, an 11-song record slated for release in early 2018.
“How does an album fit in your career?” Middleton said. “That’s a huge question for anybody in music in this digital streaming age. Owning music is less and less important. I think that weighs heavily on the decision to invest so much time into putting together an album.”
Middleton notes this is especially true in the world of electronic music, which revolves around singles and remixes. The Funk Hunters have remixed, among others, Gramatik, Imagine Dragons, Selena Gomez and Big Gigantic.
“Creatively, it felt like it was time to step out of our comfort zone and work in some different genres. It’s a pretty diverse album.”
The Funk Hunters have released two singles from the record, Hands Up (Raise Your Fist) and Say Something. Like many songs on the album, both feature guest vocalists (Leo Napier and Georgia Murray, respectively). Middleton and Smith have been previewing tracks from the album since the summer.
“The challenge has been that some of the songs aren’t necessarily songs for the dance floor,” he said.
“That was important for me going into it (Typecast). We’ve been making a lot of DJ-focused songs over the years. Diving into the record allowed us to work on songs more than DJ tracks. There are 11 songs on the record, and nine of them have a featured vocal. I would call them ‘songs’ more than anything. That was a big focus for us. There are some pop songs, there are some DJ songs, all different genres of electronic music. It’s been a challenge to figure out how to incorporate those into our set, because it’s a dance party.”
An official release date has yet to be determined. Middleton expects to release the record (on his label, Westwood Recordings) early in the new year, in time for the spring festival season.
He’s not saying, however, which guest vocalists, if any, will appear as guests on the remaining Funk the Halls shows. (Georgia Murray guested on Say Something at a recent Victoria tour stop.)
“We always have a revolving door of guests,” he said. “We’ve had some different guests along the way, to keep the night exciting and fresh. We try to keep it a surprise.”