Couchfunk: Lounge Music

What started out as an experimental vehicle for Byron Bay act Dealer has rapidly grown into a solo drawcard in it’s own right. From their origins lugging their lounge furniture to the Great Northern Hotel (hence the name) Couchfunk have been creating tasty improvised atmospheres from the comfort of their portable living room.

While the line up, by the very nature of Couchfunk’s music being improvised, has been quite fluid, peaking at twelve for Splendour In The Grass. Now trimmed down to a consistent five members (vocalist/bassist/DJ Tone Broker, vocalist La Mo, harmonica/guitar/didge artist Juzzie Smith, flautist Jaemmy Basirudin and percussionist Monoman) Couchfunk’s live electronic explorations should have you moving this Sunday where they will be joined by Canadian DJ Brad Vortex, rhymer Bex Becket and digital visual artist Motion Factory.

“I really want to make the point that this is not a band,” Tone explains. “After years of playing in bands and working on the same things over and over again I just didn’t want to do that any more. There’s not freedom and on creativity in it. This is about just getting out and creating”

The work with Couchfunk has borne fruit for other projects.

“Man our improvisational skills are getting better and better. There are points where you can tell everything is just working perfectly. The risks are bigger, but when it works out the rewards are just off the scale. We’ve been recording a lot of what were doing, and we’re going back and taking the bomb ideas and working on them for other things. Some of the things that come out of Couchfunk might end up as parts of Dealer songs on the album.”

 While normal Couchfunk sets can extend to the three-hour mark, the limited time available on a festival stage means the act has to rein in it’s improvisational meanderings, and get focused on making the maximum impact in a short time.

“We’ve really got to think about where we’re going to take something. When we perform, you can sit back for a few minutes and just soak in what’s happening before you feel you can add something to what’s going on. With the short time you’ve got to know what you can do and just jump in.”