by SCOTT C

God Made Me Funky first appeared on the scene back in 1996, playing in Toronto as an instrumental funk-fusion experiment, but in 2006, vocalists Kaybe and Breanne Arrigo, and rapper Phatt Al, have helped to round out the nu-funk sound of the band. Along with keyboardist Sean Nimmons, Cam Dougall on bass, guitarist Rich Grossman, drummer Alan Witz, and the horn section of Mark Jarvis and Arthur Kerekes, GMMF pack quite the punch throughout their funk, soul, R&B and hip hop repertoire. Montreal gets a taste of all things funky when this nine-piece monster play a release party for their new CD, We Can All Be Free, at Jello Bar this weekend. The Mirror spoke to Phatt Al over the phone from Toronto.

Mirror: A lot of groups making live hip hop will point to the Roots as a prime inspiration, or the standard of what live hip hop should be, but when I listen to your new album, it sounds like you guys are pulling in a lot of different directions.

Phatt Al: Because of the large amount of people in the band, you get so many different influences, so when you’re writing a song, you’ve got 10 people saying they like this and they like that. You have to find some way to let all of these influences come together, all the time remembering that it’s supposed to be a song. I guess that’s how you find your own voice and sound, through your influences. People say we sound like Black Eyed Peas, Outkast and the Roots, and we’re absolutely influenced by them, but we also go further back to their influences, like Stevie Wonder, Micheal Jackson, Prince, Afrika Bambaataa and Kool and the Gang, so even if people think we sound a little like Gnarls Barkley, we ain’t mad at that. We may not have the same budget as a lot of these artists, but we have the same spirit, and that’s what’s important to us.

M: Anybody making music in Canada that isn’t making rock, indie rock or straight-up pop has their own point of view on how the music industry works. Do you think that God Made Me Funky falls into the periphery of Canadian music by default?

PA: The way that the whole industry is structured in this country isn’t really meant for us. When you go to a label and they have one rep dealing with urban music, and that guy doesn’t even have the ability or power to sign anybody, it’s really frustrating. It’s a bit disheartening that you even have to convince a person at a major that hip hop and urban music are just as viable as anything else, especially today. At that point, it makes you work that much harder, and that much smarter, to put it out yourself. But by going it alone, or taking that independent route, you’re always going to be on the fringe of the mainstream, unless you give in and just emulate Black Eyed Peas, Outkast, or whatever’s hot right now. For us, it’s just about making songs that are going to last, however they manage to make it out into the music world.

CD launch with DJ Pierre PerpalL Jr.
at Jello Bar on Friday, Nov. 3, 10:30 p.m., $10

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