Well, 2003 certainly has been the year of the funk record, at least when looked at from within the confines
of the Tantallon area. Along with Fillmore North’s debut, we have been given this eleven track feast for your ears by
the boys in F*nk You. One half of the group in composed of the Stockermans family, with drummer Adam, guitarist Joey (currently
en España) and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Ben; the rest is made up of André Provencher on bass, Mike MacMillan on guitar,
and Tyler Crane on tenor sax. The band’s album is entitled Hello Friends: A F*nk You Christmas, and as its liner
notes would indicate, it is "the perfect stocking stuffer".
Referencing both 50 Cent, and a few Concerned Children’s Advertisers commercials along the way, the band offer up
covers as diverse as a polkaed-up version of German metal band Rammstein’s "Du Hast", and the Kill Bill and Pink
Panther themes. They also give us their takes on not one, but three Herbie Hancock songs, as well a fresh adaptation of
the funk classic "Pick Up the Pieces" and an elegant cover of Van Morrison’s "Moondance". Not strictly an act who borrows
other artists’s material, F*nk You present two original cuts, the groovy "Leonardo’s Workshop", and the ridiculously
titled "Señorita Velvita Fajita: Awful Belgian Waffle Falafel", which comes complete with an epic piano outro.
I’m unsure of the number of copies currently in existence besides those which were handed out at the most recent
coffee house, but I’m sure that if you ask politely, any of the band’s members would be happy to make you a F*nk
You Christmas to call your own.
