Punk Funk Mob

“We gonna say it loud ‘cause we’re funky and proud,” Punk Funk Mob sings over a heavy haze of distorted guitars, the syncopated chuck-a-chuck of a rhythm guitar, a throbbing, popping bass and the steady crunch of trap drums. The track is one of the highlights of “Revolution,” the East Bay band’s recently released debut CD.
Punk Funk Mob is the brainchild of producer and multi-instrumentalist Quincy Ramone and vocalist Femi Andrade, who bills herself by her first name only. Both collaborated in writing the 10 tunes on the disc, with Ramone’s brother, guitarist Jeff Logan, pitching in on “Funky & Proud.” The group’s retro sound draws on funk, punk rock and elements of new wave.
“It’s rooted in funk,” Ramone explains while sitting behind a drum set in the band’s San Leandro studio. “It’s rooted in George Clinton and Sly Stone and Curtis Mayfield, Bootsy, Slave and Cameo, but at the same time I listened to Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell and the Ramones.”
“I’m the sixth Ramone,” he jokes.
“His favorite is Ani DeFranco,” interjects Femi, who’s wearing a Debbie Harry T-shirt in honor of the new wave band Blondie.
“My tastes are kinda varied,” she says. “I like Teena Marie, Patrice Rushen and Sheila E., but I also like Blondie. It’s almost impossible to not be inspired by rock or pop or new wave or funk or jazz. It’s a hybrid. It’s a new movement.”
Ramone traces the movement’s origins to Fresno, where he was once a member of a regionally popular band called the Dixons and also worked with funk legend Fugi, best known for his 1968 underground psychedelic funk hit “Mary Don’t Take Me on No Bad Trip” and composing Etta James’ classic “I’d Rather Go Blind.”
Femi, a fixture on the Bay Area neo-soul scene for over a decade, was born in Berkeley and raised between East Oakland and Spanish Harlem. She sang with the Castleers during her days at Castlemont High School. She released a six-song solo EP titled “Sweet Water Soul” two years ago.
Although Rick James popularized the term “punk funk” some 30 years ago, little of his influence can be heard in Punk Funk Mob’s style.
“Even though he did coin it, he didn’t have too much punk in his music,” Ramone explains. But, Femi says of James, “he was a punk. He was a rude boy.”
Punk Funk Mob’s personnel varies from gig to gig, but for the one at 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 19, at Hotel Utah, 504 4th Street in San Francisco, the band will consist of Femi on lead vocals and keyboards, Ramone on bass, guitarist Logan and drummer Mike Williams. The San Francisco pop-funk duo Super Adventure Club is headlining the show.
“We don’t fit in nowhere, but we fit everywhere,” Ramone says of Punk Funk Mob. “We’ve played with straight punk bands and with straight R&B acts, and then we can get in a hip-hop club and turn it out.” - The Oakland Post Online