The band rarely plays live these days, but will reunite on Oct. 7 at High Noon Saloon.
While rushing to fill out a registration form for a battle of bands at the UW’s Memorial Union many years ago, Al Falaschi was struggling to remember the band names he and his friends had considered.
“I know it had ‘funk’ in it and I remembered ‘phat’ was mentioned — both spelled with a P-H because it was the ’90s — so, I just quick wrote down ‘Phat Phunktion,’” he recalls. “It wasn’t meant to stick.”
It stuck.
More so than their name, the music of Phat Phunktion — a nine-piece band known for blending ’60s soul and funky ’70s grooves into timeless jams — has stuck in the minds, memories and playlists for many in Madison, the Midwest and around the world.
Now, as they’re set to celebrate their 20th anniversary, the group is ready to revive and relive those memories when they take the stage Oct. 7 for a reunion show at the High Noon Saloon.
With tracks like the lively “Well Run Dry,” a horn-heavy tune with a catchy chorus about changing your life around, and the guitar-led track about facing reality, “Eyes of Mine,” the group’s success and longevity is no surprise. Their songs are as upbeat and polished as they are infectious.
“The only thing we cared about was learning about our craft,” says keyboardist Tim Whalen, who is also one of the group’s three singers. “We always wanted the new project to be better than the last.”
Over the years, this approach has paid off, says Whalen, who along with Falaschi, a saxophone player and singer, writes most of the songs. “We know everyone’s strengths and personal style, and they all have a part written for them, and they have the chance to put their own feelings on it.”
The band has rotated a few members over the years, but the current lineup — in addition to Whalen and Falaschi — includes Jon Schipper and Jim Doherty on trumpets, Courtney Larson on vocals and trombone, Vincent Jesse on guitar, Nick Moran on bass guitar, and Darvonte “Turbo” Murray and Pauli Ryan handling percussion.
Things have slowed down over the last few years since their fourth album release, Real Life...High Fidelity, in 2011. The members’ lives, day jobs and families have taken away from time once reserved for the band. There have also been other challenges, such as Whalen’s 2010 move to Washington, D.C., and the death of Falaschi’s wife from cancer in 2009. These two events put a halt to live shows, with one major exception: The band reunites every two years to play a popular Funk Out Cancer benefit for the UW Carbone Cancer Center.
During the early 2000s, the group regularly packed the house at some of the city’s hottest clubs (Luther’s Blues, Mango Grill, the Angelic). They also toured extensively here and abroad, including visiting their large fanbase in Japan twice; they’ve played with everyone from Mama Digdown’s Brass Band to Kool & the Gang.
And they’re still at it, just working at a slower pace. In fact, they’re working on a new EP set to be released sometime next year and are considering a tour in Europe.
“There’s been a lot of starting and stopping for us, so we figure we might as well keep doing it how it feels good to us,” says Whalen. “Why not?”
