FunDubMentals

"On Feb 3, I listened to a couple interesting bands at Churchill’s for the Bob Marley Birthday Bash. The opening band of the evening, The FunDubMentals, started the night off with easy listening reggae/dub music. The band consisted of four people, a guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, and drummer. The bassist and guitar exchanged turns singing, with the drummer occasionally contributing to smooth, harmonic vocals. Some of the songs they played were Bob Marley covers, while other songs carried a rhythm similar to ska. The more my ears took in the relaxing riffs and rhythmic vocals, the more my mind fell into a trance; if I could have traded my chair for a hammock and my glass for a coconut, I’d honestly have thought I was on a tropical island. To hear their music, check out www.reverb-nation.com/fundubmentals." - The Michigan Times

There might be a debate about the fundamentals of our economy, but the Traverse City reggae band, The Fundubmentals are rockin’ steady.
The Fundubs, as they are affectionately known, have been busy gigging around the state in Lansing, Grand Rapids and Flint. Locally, they have been playing regularly at the Union Street Station. On Devil’s Night, Thursday, October 30th, they will be playing at the Serenity Tea House in downtown Traverse City.
The band is Marc Alderman on drums, Marc’s wife Dede Alderman on vibraphone, Sean Dye on guitar, Tree VanderMolen on bass and Jack Fivecoate on keys.
The band’s genesis was at a casual weekly get-together at the Alderman’s that they called Sunday Dub. It was an open invitation to their musician friends.
“The idea was, whoever showed up, we’re going to play this genre of music,” Dede Alderman said in an interview with the band at TC’s Homegrown Organic Eatery. “But what we noticed was, the same four or five people would come, and that’s when we became a band.”
Dub is the the term for the style of reggae, with big beats and ample amounts of reverb and delay that gives the music a spacious, dreamy sound. “What draws us to dub is that is very explorative,” Alderman said “It is not necessarily set by: ‘This is the song.’ It gives us moments to explore.”

GROOVE POWER
Dub is where they start, but they also play ska, (the faster, more excitable cousin of reggae), roots reggae and an occasional Bob Marley cover. The one constant is an emphasis on the groove. They are able to do what fewer bands seem to be able to do nowadays, which is fill up the dance floor. Their shows feature a gradation of actual dancers close to the stage, to those swaying to the rhythms on the edges.
Northern Michigan is a long way from Jamaica and the Fundubmentals are respectful of that and do not pretend to be Rastas, pepper their raps with “Jah, mon,” or ever ask the crowd “Are you feeling irie?” Still, they have a strong connection with the spirit of the music.
“It is great to play danceable music,” Sean said. “I feel we are called to that, but we are all big fans of reggae music and we are also dedicated to the spiritual doctrines of love, higher love, that greater power. That’s the connection. That’s the vibe. There’s a little bit of a bigger meaning to what we are doing.”
When asked what the wildest dreams they might have in mind for the Fundubmentals, none of the band members express any interest in fame, fortune or extensive touring. They all have other musical projects. Marc and Dede perform at schools and festivals as Rhythmic Adventures, play jazz together as a trio with bass player Tim McKay and host a weekly drum circle at Sun Radius at Logan’s Landing in Traverse City. Sean plays acoustic music every Thursday at Oryana’s Lake Street Cafe. Tree also plays folk and bluegrass music.

FUN FIRST
“We think of the Fundubmentals as our fun band,” Dede said. “We don’t want to get caught up in the business aspect of it. My biggest dream is that it remains fun and we keep that collaborative vibe. We just want more and more people in the area to have a chance to hear reggae music.”
The Fundubmentals have a new CD for only $5. Marc Alderman said they, “front loaded their expenses on the recording and went bare bones on the packaging.”
In addition to the Devil’s Night show at the Serenity Tea House, the Fundubs will be playing at Short’s Brewery in Bellaire for a Winter Solctice Celebration, December 19-20. For more info see www.myspace.com/fundubmentals.
by Jack Pine - Northern Express

FunDubMentals

December 18, 2009

Fundubmentals makes the most unlikely music from the great white north...reggae. This release is light on the dub, though. Despite the band's name, the only dub to be found here is the cool instrumental, "Dye Ditty Dub". Otherwise, this five-piece band from Traverse City seems to have created straight-up reggae rock. Rebecca Ruth - WYCE 88.1 FM

Best New Band
Rick Coates

Members are not looking to form a band.

That was the case with the FunDubMentals, the Traverse City based Reggae/Ska /Dub band that took home our Readers Poll honors for “Best New Band.” While this was good news in the FunDubMentals camp, the better news came a week earlier when band member Marc Alderman was told he would be able to return home.

On December 2, 2009 Marc Alderman was involved in a three car accident near Interlochen.

A driver crossed the yellow line, crashing head-on into Alderman leaving him in serious condition with a broken femur, shattered knee, shattered ball socket in his ankle, a broken arm and a broken pelvis, along with several broken bones in his hands. A woman who stopped to assist Alderman was struck by another vehicle and killed.

Marc spent one month in intensive care in the hospital and another two and half months in a long-term care facility before receiving the news that he could return home to continue his recovery.

“First I want to say that I am very humble, thankful and grateful for the out pouring everyone extended to me and Dede (his wife and band mate),” said Marc. “The road to recovery is a long one and the fact that so many have been so helpful has made it easier.” The Alderman’s have been givers to the Northern Michigan community donating their time and talents to many causes and music events. Dede teaches percussion at Marshall Music in Traverse City.

So does Marc Alderman plan to return to the stage?

“Yes, right now we are scheduled to play the Island Music Festival on June 19 in Kalamazoo,” said Marc. “We might play a warm up show prior to that at the Loading Dock, we will see how I am doing.” For Dede, she chuckles a little bit about the Best New Band honors.

“We formed three years ago, but we pretty much gigged downstate for the fi rst year before we started playing local,” said Dede. “I’m not sure if we played Radius Recording fi rst or the Loading Dock but it was about two years ago for our fi rst show in the area. Our fi rst ever public show was three years ago at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor.” Marc recalls they never really ever planned to perform out in public in the fi rst place.

“We started as a group of musicians who got together weekly for what we called a Sunday Dub (Dub is a type of Reggae style) at our place,” said Marc. “Well the weekly jam was the same four or fi ve players so we decided to put together a band.

The band still has the original line up: Sean Dye on guitar, Nick “Tree” VanderMolen on bass, keyboardist Jack Fivecoate, Dede Alderman on Vibraphones and Marc Alderman on drums.

“What I like is everyone in the group is a songwriter and I think that makes for a better dynamic than when just one or two members are the songwriters,” said Marc. “Everyone also has other musical projects so we stay energized when we come together as FunDubMentals.” The band has a self titled EP out and plans are in the works for a CD in the future. To hear a sampling of their music and to keep tabs on future gigs in the region go to myspace.com/ fundubmentals. - The Northern Express