The Kazoo Funk Orchestra

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The Kazoo Funk Orchestra
The Kazoo Funk Orchestra performing at the Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow, Scotland.
The Kazoo Funk Orchestra performing at the Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow, Scotland.
Background information
Origin Glasgow, Scotland
Genre(s) Indie, Pop, Experimental Rock
Years active 2005–present
Label(s) Unsigned / Planet Groucho Records
Website www.kazoofunkorchestra.com
Members
Little Beard, Big Beard, Mechanical Monkey, Smalls, Herbal Gerbil, Boyce, Mr Bruff, The Boy Blunder and El Baterista

The Kazoo Funk Orchestra are an alternative genre mashing collective from Glasgow, Scotland who provide whimsical indie mix-tapes of ramshackled mayhem and nonsensical pop. The collective deliver said music as free MP3 downloads from their website via a creative commons agreement.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

The Kazoo Funk Orchestra formed in 2005 during a finger painting session attended by chief songwriters Little Beard and Big Beard. Taking inspiration from various artists and genres, they created a unique mesh of indie, pop, rock and hip-hop. Within a couple weeks, the duo formed the backbone of the band with a few friends and had already begun recording tracks for the debut album 'Midnight Finger Painter'.

Out of the blue, an impromptu set was performed at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut when Misty's Big Adventure pulled out at the last minute. This urgency of this set brought together two new members of the band, Grum and The Boy Blunder who joined Little Beard on stage for the Kazoo Funk Orchestra's first ever live performance.

With no set songs, a guitar, a kid’s roll out keyboard mat and a couple kazoo's, the brightly clad trio took the audience through a 20 minute set of improvised music to a bewildered audience.

As the recording of 'Midnight Finger Painter' continued the size of the band grew with various musicians appearing at sessions including renowned scratch DJ Krash Slaughta. Once the album was nearing completion, members of the band facilitated finger painting sessions at local music venues where anyone could join in and create a unique finger painting, which would be given away with the first 500 copies of the album. In May 2006, 'Midnight Finger Painter' was released online and in selected record shops under their own label Planet Groucho Records.

With great feedback from the album and finger painting sessions, the collective decided to book a few shows with the new lineup, featuring Boyce, Jim 'n' Tonic, Smalls, Mechanical Monkey, El Baterista and the aforementioned. They played the local student union and a few respected venues in Glasgow and Edinburgh in front of packed out crowds. The response was so good in fact, bookings started coming in for more shows.

Late in 2006, Krash Slaughta and Jim 'n' Tonic left the band to work on their own material. This was around the same time that Little Beard and Smalls relocated to Toronto, Canada. So the collective decided that it best use this gap to do some more recording and started work on 'Adventures In Fuzzy Felt Land' a 13 track E.P. featuring a more laid back side to the collective. The majority of the record was recorded by passing audio files back and forth over the internet, sometimes taking only 20 mins each to come up with new parts for a track. The E.P. was released online and in selected record shops, January 2007.

As the summer of 2007 approached, The Kazoo Funk Orchestra had booked up their first full UK tour featuring a couple festival dates (Wickerman Festival & Connect Festival) and took their show on the road with the addition of new scratch DJ Mr Bruff. In an explosion of balloons and confetti, they turned each gig into a party, inviting the crowd to join in on the fun. And with standing room only outside the Solus tent at the Wickerman Festival, the collective secured the closing slot for Wickerman 2008.

[edit] Achievements

See External Links for newspaper articles and video clips.

[edit] Discography

  • Midnight Finger Painter (2006)
  • Santa's Dead (2006)
  • Adventures in Fuzzy Felt Land (2007)
  • This Album is Self Titled (2007/08)

[edit] Members

[edit] Current Members

  • Little Beard
  • Big Beard
  • Mechanical Monkey
  • Herbal Gerbil
  • Smalls
  • The Boy Blunder
  • El Baterista
  • Boyce
  • Mr Bruff

[edit] Past Members

[edit] Gig History

[edit] External links

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