It was June 9 of last year when Funkoars took to Facebook to reveal that DJ Reflux was leaving the group.
This was big news – perhaps bigger than the Adelaide-based rap crew anticipated – with over 200 comments of support and commiseration flooding the post.
It was a bracing reminder not only of the fans’ affection for Reflux, but the impact Funkoars have had in general on Australian rap music over the last 14 years.
“I think it surprises me that anyone pays attention to anything we do,” says MC Trials, born Dan Rankine. “The fact that people realise Flashy was really integral, especially in the early days of our stuff when we had no idea what we were doing – it was really cool, man.”
Reflux – or Flashy, as he’s often known – had been with Funkoars since 2003, and Trials explains his departure as simply a case of shifting priorities. “He’s just moved onto focusing on adult things now,” Trials says. “He’s got a family and whatnot. We’re quite happy being on the road and chugging along and doing our thing, whereas he’s a bit more concerned with the bigger picture, I think.
“Ten years hanging around with anyone is pretty full-on, let alone hanging around with us … everyone was really, really cool. We started talking about it maybe a week after we went away for my buck’s night. We wish him nothing but success but we’re gonna ride this Funkoars wagon until the wheels fall off.”
Talking of wheels falling off, Funkoars spent a good chunk of 2013 in the studio preparing a new album. It was easy to imagine Reflux’s departure shaking that process. But Trials reckons it’s hardly had an effect. “The songwriting process remains the same as it’s ever been from the first album,” he says.
“Me and [MC] Sesta make the beats between us. We bounce them around … and if they sit around long enough we might use them and toss them into a song. Then Reflux would come in at the end to do the mixing and engineering. And that ended up becoming more of his role rather than DJing, which kinda sucks because he’s an exceptional DJ.
“But it’s different now ... It’s been fun and it’s been quicker, if anything, because we’ve all been doing it in our own studios. We [used to] go back to our main studio, which was at Flashy’s house. Since we split, we took our part of the studio and left him with his part. But we set straight back up at Sesta’s house and kept going straightaway.”
The new album was originally scheduled for a late-2013 release. But with the departure of Reflux and a busy calendar of Golden Era releases scheduled for the year, you wonder when we’ll get to hear the final product. “We’ve got an EP coming out in February. That’s been done for a while, we’re just sitting on it,” Trials says.
“It’s one of the first times where we’ve actually been ahead of ourselves. Usually there’s a certain panic stations feeling about this time. But we’ve got the EP and we’re really happy with it: it’s six tracks, and it’s a broad range of what the following album is going to sound like. It’s a lot of the old stuff and then definitely a lot of new stuff – a lot of territory that we haven’t quite explored yet.”
In among the EP release, the album release, and a raft of features for other Golden Era artists, Funkoars are set to play the Big Pineapple Music Festival mid-May. A relatively new instalment on the Australian festival scene, last year’s inaugural event was a sold-out but by all accounts relatively civilised affair, which suits Trials down to the ground.
“People are asking if we want tour guides,” he says, laughing. “We’re men of a certain age now and we enjoy scenery and things like that, so if people want to take us to a nice spot to eat and a real casual place to drink, then that would be great.”
Funkoars Tour Dates
Fri Jan 10 – The Espy Hotel (Melbourne)Sat Jan 11 – Westernport Hotel (San Remo VIC)
Sun Jan 12 – Barwon Heads Hotel (Barwon Heads VIC)
Thu Jan 16 – Carmens Nightclub (Miranda NSW)
Fri Jan 17 – Waves – Towradgi Beach Hotel (Towradgi NSW)
Sat Jan 18 – The Small Room (Newcastle NSW)
Thu Jan 23 – Harvey Road Tavern (Gladstone QLD)
Fri Jan 24 – Magnums Hotel (Airlie Beach QLD)
Sat Jan 25 – Miami Shark Bar (Gold Coast QLD)
Sun Jan 26 – Racehorce Hotel (Ipswich QLD)
Thu Feb 20 – The Gov (Adelaide)
Sat May 17 - The Big Pineapple Music Festival (Sunshine Coast QLD)
