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♪ (Music playing) ♪ - Dunk Maxwell and D Funk.

- Can you say it together?

- Dunk Maxwell and D Funk.

How about if it was you all were WWE tag team.

- Dunk Maxwell and D Funk.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ - Welcome to Sounds on 29th at Skylark.

I am Stephen Brackett, your host and I am so hyped to be introducing Dunk Maxwell and D Funk.

Who is hyped for that you all?

[Cheering] - I got to talk with them a little bit before the show.

I'm sure it's no news to anybody in the audience that they are an incredible group of eclectic geniuses.

Fronted by a front man who looks like Dr. Who meets Wolverine meets Nick Cave and somehow I think that's actually appropriate for the sound of the band.

Dunk Maxwell and D Funk.

Make some noise for that band you all.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ - Changes when it's over.

Sailed the distance in between.

Just like the signs along the highway.

All these messages I see.

And there's more time over, more time waiting through them.

And I'm not trying to drag my feet long.

I almost had enough.

I can't complain, could have been around to call my name and lived another day.

Would've been one slip away.

I can't complain.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ You don't even have to miss me.

I'll be playing with the band.

And everybody will be with me.

If it's only in my hand.

And every time you hear me crying.

I will be laughing at myself.

No one else can do it for me.

But I never need help.

I can't complain if you were around to call my name.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ I can't complain, I really want to live.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ [applause] - Lavender Jones was the early version of D?

- So that was the first funk band that I played in.

I was full and really committed to that idiom.

And it was actually where I first met Will.

We were playing with another group he was playing with at the time No Touch great pop act around here.

And we saw him play and we were like hey can we steal him?

So.

- It was hilarious, the three Maxwell brothers approached me right after the show and were like hey, we really like you.

You're going to be part of a band right?

- It did not sound as threatening.

- No it was sort of like right they were standing-- I do remember being charmed and flattered though, that was it that was my beginning with them.

That's when we really started getting into outsider music for the first time, we were approaching it and my favorite band of all time as well as [indiscernible] which was very much and funk metal band they were an inspiration to my playing style and the freedom to be weird, so Dan the guitar player for Lavender Jones never taken a lesson or been in a band before but one of the truly most gifted musicians you will ever meet play any style he encouraged me to get outside of my box and push myself so without Lavender Jones and without them and without will all that stuff I would not be here today.

I would not have the chops or the confidence.

That was really where I learned to be the musician that I am today in that group.

- What is the thematic base for your band?

- I think about it in terms of time travel.

Where we live in an era where with the Internet and streaming and privileged enough to be able to enjoy even with very little means of our own to be able to buy music and enjoy and learn from music from different areas so D Funk is a Time Machine where we can travel that 60s, 70s stage band, like tower power JVs kind of feel, travel to something that's 90s, 2000's D'Angelo flavor and then travel to something that is something you have not heard before.

So for us it was an ability to just kinda have this consistent theme that carries us to all these different wonderful and beloved areas throughout the era.

So I would say it's our vehicle to time travel basically.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ Wait for me.

I will come, come to you.

Please let me be where you are.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ Stay, stay with me.

The one that I want all that I see.

I've been sitting wondering what it takes to get to you.

There is nothing that I would rather do.

All those moments wondering what am I to say to you?

If it's something meant to be, I will be with you.

I will be with you.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ I will be with you.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ I'll be with you.

I will be with you.

So please show me a sign.

Tell me I'm yours, say that you are mine.

I'll wait, ever to see.

You went in there but not for me.

So please.

If you will wait for me, wherever you are.

I'll be on my way going insane.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ I've been sitting wondering what it takes to get to you.

There is nothing that I would rather do.

All those moments wondering what am I to say to you?

Hoping if that is something meant to be.

I will be with you.

I will be with you.

I will be with you.

I'll be with you.

I will be with you.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ I have been sitting wondering what it takes to get to you.

Knowing there is something that I would rather do.

All those moments up and wondering what to say to you.

If it's something meant to be, I will be with you.

I will be with you.

I'll be with you.

I'll be with you.

I'll be with you.

I will be with you.

[Cheering] - In the Colorado funk scene who are your peers?

- Let's see, one that comes to mind just like that is a band called Hand Turkey, our trombonist Stephen he actually started the band a few years ago, I'm not sure how to really describe the sub genre they do, but they have a really tight sound and really impressive large stage presence I think they have like a four horn section, we actually played our first show with Hand Turkey first show ever and so they have been kind of there with us kind of uplifting us since the beginning of the band.

And I just love their sound.

I love their sound immensely.

Stephen is a great performer and songwriter.

- Also we both play together in another group called Candy Corn Bread and the Biscuit Boys.

The guitar player Even and percussionist James goes as Jimmy Stix in that band but we basically took like three defunct I went and started filling in with this band.

I love the people I was like Collin, can I still be your whole band?

So he only gigs once every couple months.

It worked out really well.

It was not like I was to be taking work away from him or anything so Kenny is one of the best front men in Colorado, truly so talented and he's talked to me a lot about being a freshman and the music side of it.

So Candy Corn and the Biscuit Boy, Cactus Cat that's a really great original band that Stephen plays in.

I would also say Jewel House we came out playing with them when they were still known as Monkey [indiscernible].

Which is the name I'm sure you'll recognize because people cannot spell it they changed their name to Jewel House I understand respect the choice and their music is so good they're such a tight stage band with real pop sensibilities without like leaving the genre too far they just know their niche and they go so hard after it so gotta give Jewel House a shout out as well.

Also another person we started playing with more recently is Cat Ackerman.

Really really talented singer and piano player that play around in town so these are people that have all contributed to really great bills with us and really put their energy in.

- The woman I love has to have a lot of appetite.

The woman I love at home treats me right.

The woman I love.

Has got a whole Lotta love for me.

The woman I love.

She doesn't let me down, she sets me free.

She has a love that's full of joy.

The woman I love.

Keep on bringing me back.

The woman I love.

The woman I love.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ The woman I love I know that she will forever be the woman I love.

The woman I love.

(Music playing) Yes she won't let me down now.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ I just want to be the one to love you.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ The woman I love.

Keep on bringing it back to me.

The woman I love.

It's going to have a little heart in place with the one that you love.

And never leave another lonely day.

The woman I love.

The woman I love.

Keep on bringing me back to her.

The woman I love.

The woman I love.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ [cheering] - You all have talked about switching band members a lot and different things with the funk scene being so incestuous in some way, can you tell us about the connections of some of the members in your band?

To your family?

- Absolutely.

So I mean with Aiden it's obvious he's my younger brother, or my second younger brother sorry, and so he and I have been playing together since we were little kids obviously.

So Evan we met through the Candy Cornbread family as it were through Will.

James was also a percussion player that way Will we met through Lavender Jones and we got Stephen through Hand Turkey as well, and Dave who's going to be playing harmonica with us tonight he's been a bandmate of my partner's dad for years.

So when they were starting to bring in the family whatnot and I'd go to their jams, I was like you are one of the best harmonica players I've ever heard.

So we stole him too.

So there's a theme here like I like you to come with me.

- But I also heard that one of your home grown musical heroes will be sharing the stage with you.

- My dad, he's not even in the heroes category.

He's the foundation of music and expression, so he's going to be joining us for a song tonight.

When I told him I was doing this, he said okay, is it the 19th?

I will book a flight, so he was just going to come out to support and I'm like if you're coming out I will make you play.

So he's like great, so it's been eight or nine years since I said did actual notation saws like okay, I hope this doesn't stink too bad and he's like no it's great he's playing with us for the first time last night and man it just fills the song out so well and fills my heart because I been playing with him on stages since I was like 10 years old, he's always been a part of my musical life and even before that, just him playing the violin when I was a kid, and even though he had an injury and couldn't do it very often when he would bring that violin out, it was just so special, and I could tell even that five minutes of time he could play because he had a bad hand injury it made me and my brothers realize how precious music could be.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ - Will, how about your musical influences, what got you into it and what led to your musical awakening?

- My musical awakening was a fifth grade band where the made you play an instrument.

I originally wanted to play saxophone, but the message was there are way too many saxophones already we're going to make you play clarinet.

I thought it was too dorky for me.

So I got on trumpet.

It turned out I had kind of an affinity for it, but that did not really show itself I think until I got accepted for all state jazz band for my junior year of high school.

And that kinda made me reconsider if this is just a hobby for me or could I actually make a profession out of it.

And once I got into Lavender Jones, I think that was kind of a watershed moment for me like oh my God I love doing this.

I've never loved the trumpet.

I've never loved playing music as much as I have now and that feeling has persisted throughout D Funk as well.

And now I'm here.

- In 29 seconds can you tell me the best funk band of all time?

- Oh man that's on you.

That's on you.

- I'm going to go ahead and say Parliament Funkadelic.

They have the most iconic, most influential I would say they just kind of wrote the book on how to do it from so many different perspectives, so many different eras.

So it's a very clear influence I will state right up front that they are the biggest influence on this band for sure.

- Fantastic.

- Herbie Hancock and the Head Hunters for me, I think they change the fusion game right off the bat and their three albums of their study continuously obsessively listen to.

Yeah I love them to death.

- All right you guys have been amazing, thank you so much.

♪ (Music playing) ♪ - Thank you so much.

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