Hear that sound? Raw, loose and nasty funk recorded straight to analog tape. It’s just like the old days, but so new it’s sporting a badass teenage moustache.
Not many bands release their first single on seven-inch vinyl these days. Far fewer release two vinyl singles internationally before they turn eighteen. Melbourne funk sensation The Cactus Channel have done just that. Now they’ve graduated High School, they’re taking their own brand of high-octane, instrumental car chase funk and smooth soundtrack soul to the people: On the road and on the airwaves, 2012 is the year The Cactus Channel come of age.
Back in 2009, the founding members of The Cactus Channel were already jamming on some classic soul feels, tripping on Eddie Bo, James Brown and their contemporaries, and using words like “Boss” and “Cat” while trying make it through year 10 in 21st Century Australia. What began as experimentation in Junior Stage Band developed into outright insubordination in Senior Jazz Ensemble and by 2011 The Cactus Channel were an out of control ten piece funk orchestra with the momentum of a runaway train who could count The Dap Kings’ Tom Brenneck and soul legend Charles Walker as fans.
How did members of the iTunes generation get on to those rare and deep seventies sounds at the age of 14? The internet of course! Also, who really cares? It works! No matter what year it is, or sounds like it is, these records are great. From JJJ Unearthed in Australia to FatBeats Records in New York, people all over the place love this band. The Cactus Channel’s Emanuel Ciccolini b/w Budokan single is available online and in stores in March on HopeStreet Recordings in both 7” vinyl and digital download formats. The band will also be touring with Charles Bradley and The Menehan Street Band nationally in March and have a super heavy full length LP full of deep funk, soul and boogaloo hits scheduled for release in June. Roll on!
Visit The Cactus Channel at:
www.thecactuschannel.com
www.facebook.com/thecactuschannel
“The Cactus Channel hit you with a hard funk groove to rival the likes of James Brown or The Meters and you find you just can’t stop moving. But what’s that? They’re still high school?! With a musical maturity beyond their years you know that this 10 piece collective will go far. And that they’ll get a whole lotta rumps shaking along the way” – DJ Manchild (PBS 106.7 ‘The Breakdown’).
“The Cactus Channel are a fantastic young teenage funk band. They have managed to capture the fun and looseness of what funk truly means. They are right up there with the great Melbourne funk scene. They have a great future ahead of them. Playing with jazz sensibilities and a funky feeling these kids truly belong on the BIG stage!!!” - Chris Gil (Northside Records, RRR 102.7).
