Who are we?
The FUNK BUDDIES are 8 professional musicians from Melbourne, Australia. Between us there are many years of experience on stages and in studios, at festivals and functions, in dingy pubs and swanky clubs, in Melbourne, around the country and all over the world. Members of the band have shared the stage and studio with many local and international greats, at big events and on television. We make our living playing, recording, teaching, writing and arranging music. But when we want to let loose, we get together and unleash our favourite sound, New Orleans Street Funk.
What is New Orleans Street Funk?
New Orleans is known to most people as the birthplace of jazz. But as pop music took over the rest of the world, the New Orleans street bands were still doing their thing. They evolved too, influenced by ground breaking funk artists such as James Brown and Parliament. Bands took the music of the street into the Bourbon Street clubs. This down-to-earth back-to-basics brass driven funk spawned a whole new generation of bands and musicians, such as Trombone Shorty, the Youngblood Brass Band and the FUNK BUDDIES.
Our repertoire includes original music, along with tunes by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Youngblood, Funk Off, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Aerosmith, Michael Jackson and more.