It’s time for Season 3 of Harley Rock Riders, a rock music fest that offers a platform to some of the country’s indigenous bands. 10 bands will take to the stage and among them is Chennai’s very own alternative funk band Frank’s got the Funk.
Started in 2009, this band released their first album, ‘Next Level’ last year. “We started when we were in college. We began performing at college events and at small gigs. This was working out well and then we thought we would take this seriously and start making albums. The album we released last year has been doing well. A lot of people have told us that they enjoy our songs and we’ve sold 5,000 copies so far,” says front man and manager Bjorn Surrao.
Alternative funk is music that one can bob their heads to or even shake a leg. “We’ve performed at IIT Saarang, at a TedX convention in SSN College of Engineering and have performed gigs at pubs. Most of our songs are catchy, which is basically our USP. Even if you don’t understand the song, you’ll find yourself humming parts of it. We call it the hook,” he explains.
But why the name, Frank’s got the Funk? “Frank is an imaginary character and our initial album was based on him. We call him our alter ego and narrate his life and events through different songs,” says Bjorn. “Our title song, ‘Frank’s got the Funk’ is about Frank being a little boy, and how he was a roadside musician and people would gather around to listen to him. So it became our band name too.”
The opportunity to perform at the Harley Rock Riders came at a time when the band was looking to perform at a major rock fest. “A friend of mine from Rolling Stones magazine had called about the Harley Rock Riders and we were thrilled to be asked to perform. It feels good because we’ve always wanted to play at a biker fest and I think people will really connect with our music.”
The Harley Rock Riders will take places at Clarks Exotica, Bangalore today, between 12 noon and 10 p.m.
