FattyBoomBasstic

Kid Pensioner feels the funk of Fattyboombasstic

They kid not. Fattyboombasstic are true purveyours of the tightly grooving funk that should accompany the tumbling cardboard boxes of a Starsky and Hutch car chase, or the incessant rubberised thwack that endlessly circles Bootsy Collins’ brain. Wah-wah specialist Jonny “JD” Diver, a man so obssessed with frequency tweaking that he plays in his sleep (”I had a dream about surfing on a wah-wah”) also advocates caressing his beloved pedal with bare feet as it provides “more control”. Add to the mix bassist Pete Gibbs, drummer Martyn James and Laura’s sultry voice (”I add the pop element, coz I’m a Stock Aitken and Waterman girl from the 80s, Jonny adds the rock”) and its impossible not to get the party started. A spin of their sampler “Superfunkysexotronic” immediately reveals that the band are all players if high ability indeed three out of the four are music tutors - with huge collective experience at playing at weddings and corporate events and a vast interconnected network of cover bands. “We all play in quite a lots of bands, ” Martyn admits “so there’s all sorts of influences there, from function bands to soul, jazz and rock n roll”

Jonny: “Me and Laura started this band after we met in a disco function outfit, getting bored with that and having taken it to its limit. Personally I have always wanted to write my own stuff and do original things,”


- Venue Magazine

I have reason to believe that the readers of this article will appreciate a break from the norm, and FattyBoomBasstic offers just that. Despite the rather appalling name of the band, I can assure you that it is appropriate in that the bass playing is top notch -- I'm not sure where the fatness comes in. The band comprises of four members: John Diver (guitar), Peter Gibbs (bass) and McFly (drums) -- oh, and there's Laura too. Laura James is, if you'll excuse the cliche, a foxy vixen. She has quite the Afro, not to mention quite the voice. Her voice is tangibly the rhythmic teasing debonair that a funk band like this needs.

On the musical side of things, John Diver seems to have a certain mutation that is a certain sign of evolution: his foot seems to have an extendable wah pedal mechanism, and when plugged into his Fender Telecaster, he delivers some funk riffs and solos that a certain John Frusciante would be pleased with. Pete Gibbs is a slapping rioter of a bassist, and his groove on tracks like Supersexyfunkotronic is a joy to behold. I don't even like dancing in private, but it is fortunate that the walls of the house I live in don't have a surveillance system to them... I'm not a very good dancer. Drawing from Jamiroquai, funk rock out of the '70s, and of course, some rather salacious allusions to alternative sex live, FattyBoomBasstic deserves to arise from the depths of McFly's basement where they record. I think they will 'wake up the clouds', being far more worthwhile than the pop rock angst-ridden guitar bands that FBBT claims to be an antidote to. By the way, FattyBoomBasstic is a funk band.
- Ultimate-guitar.com